Kaštanka

Kaštanka is a forest. It has one of the highest lying sets of chestnuts in central Europe. It is in a small town called Nasavrky. Nasavrky is in eastern Bohemia, Czech Republic. It is about 25 km south of county seat Pardubice.

History

Jan Adam von Auersperg came back from Italy with six seedlings of chestnut at the end of 18th century. He ordered that the seedlings were planted on the north side of Nasavrky hill. This happened between 1776 to 1778. The plants were the start of Kaštanka. In passing time, the set was expanded a lot. Kaštanka had over 110 trees in the turn of 19th and 20th century. Kaštanka was made a nature monument on 1 December 1990. At that time, Kaštanka had over 138 trees. One of the first planted trees survives to this day. It was named "Knížák" in honor of prince Auersperg. The chestnut became the sign of Nasavrky. It became the main motive in the emblem of the city Nasavrky, and the flag of Nasavrlky in 1996.

Main information

Kaštanka is natural monument which was declared as special protection area on 1st December 1990. The set of chestnuts is on a slight rise north ward. This area is in a built-up area about 100 meters from the city square. Kaštanka is at an altitude of 472 – 486. The area of set is 1,088 hectares large and all trees are chestnut trees expect a few that are on the edge.

Inspired by Kaštanka

Kaštanka was main theme of many artists like painters, sculptors and writers. Some writers wrote novels about Kaštanka. Two of the authors that did this were Marie Doležalová and Alois Stanislav Novák. Kaštanka gave Věra Vovsová, Jiří Poláček and Karel Pavlík the inspiration to make art. Vovsová said this about Kaštanka:

I have Kaštanka in front of my atelier windows. It is great inspiration in winter is without leaves and all covered in snow.
It is all green and fresh in spring. But mainly in fall. I go to park and pick up chestnut from ground and later I paint it.
But the chestnut must by in case. We are calling it ježek (hedgehog)
— Věra Vovsová

References

Vovosová, V. (1971), Deník Věry Vovsové, Nasavrky{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)