Sady Svatopluka Čecha Park (Kubištovy sady Park)

On the site of today’s Kubištovy sady Park, Pierker’s plan from 1756 includes a swathe of open nature with two blind channels of the Orlice River, surrounded by rural buildings. The buildings and wild nature disappeared with the establishment of the fortress, i.e. the smaller forts No. X and No. XI. 
 

According to the 1890 regulatory plan, there were to be more public gardens and parks along the bank of the Orlice River near the old district hospital, connected to Vonešovy sady Park, which were to continue in a zone perpendicular to the Orlice River towards Kubištovy sady Park. However, an expansion of the hospital complex was planned there. Large city parks were designed further north, near six city blocks and the area of today’s Pospíšilova, Bratří Čapků and Buzulucká Streets.The trapezoidal park behind the convent of the 1903 De Notre Dame Sisters was founded in 1909. On the plan published in Melichar’s Guide in 1912, the park is lined by alleys on three sides, and in the middle, there is a lawn parterre without trees and with an artificial elevation.

 

In the 1909 regulatory plan designed by Václav Rejchl Jr., Vladimír Zákrejs and Josef Šejna, Sady Svatopluka Čecha Park was to be expanded and create a transversal green belt leading from Pospíšilova třída Street towards the Orlice River. Oldřich Liska and Otakar Klumpar, who took part in the same regulatory competition, designed a large exhibition center behind the park, which would occupy about ten street blocks and stretch from Pospíšilova třída Street to the Orlice River. As we can see in the 1924 city plan of Hradec Králové by V. Petrovický, this development was planned even in the 1920s and the trapezoid layout of the existing park still had a provisional form. Gočár’s regulatory plan designed between 1925 and 1927 included the expansion of the park in both northeast and southeast directions and the area was to be four time as large. The first expansion by about half took place in the northeast direction in the 1930s. This is evidenced by the 1943 cadastral plan and an aerial photo from 1949. Eventually, another significant expansion did not take place until after WWII, during the construction of the Orlická kotlina housing estate – however, the park was only partially extended to the east. As we can see in the photograph, the park was divided into two parts by a diagonal path – the northwest tip was planted with mature vegetation, while the southeast tip was an open lawn area. A 1954 aerial photograph shows that the park was transformed into a construction site during the construction of the Orlická kotlina housing estate, but in the early 1960s it was expanded towards a newly built nursery and day care center and more vegetation was planted. As late as 1969, there were almost no trees, only low bushes in the new parts of the park; however, in 1977, the vegetation was fully grown over the entire park area. The maintenance of the grassy areas was taken care of by the local Young Pioneer organization.

 

After 1990, self-seeded greenery was removed and the existing vegetation was maintained. In the mid-2010s, archaeological excavations and dendrochronological surveys were carried out to prepare a study for the overall restoration of the park.
 

LZL