Forest exhibition about the forest or About one great adventure

Czech Switzerland? A bark beetle, fire… it probably won’t be much for a few years – some people think. but who has been living and working in Děčín for more than twenty years, a my, who live here, we know well, that it is just the opposite. To, what is there to see and more precisely to experience now, no true nature lover should miss this. Why? In many places, the shape of the landscape has changed radically, the forests thinned out and rocky reliefs appeared, completely new views and exposed horizons – for example, Pravčická Gate can now be seen from many places, which was simply not possible two or three years ago. moreover, many will finally discover the less “overcooked” places of our little New Zealand. And the incinerator? Sure, we can walk on it, wringing hands and wailing, but it will be crying over spilled milk. It makes far more sense to take it as fact and follow it. If you allow me, I will now take you to an open-air exhibition, which explains a lot and gives a little guidance, how to perceive the heart of Czech Switzerland now. Rosťa Křivánek invites you.

It’s been a hundred years, which invaded the local forests and the spruce monocultures were arranged with taste by the nun. This panorama, on which Gabriel’s bare trail is beautifully visible, reminiscent of many of these, what can be seen here today. However, this historical photograph is also the first panel of the exhibition, which I recommend to you today. This is where the process began, which the exhibition is about. The process of the first regeneration of the Czecho-Swiss forest. But let’s go in order.

Mezní Louka – Gabriela’s trail around the foot of the rock walls – Pravčická brána. One of the busiest tourist routes in the Czech Republic. CLOSED. Indefinitely. Rock walls and towers are not completely stable after a fire, they are, to put it mildly, erratic, and the trees on their tops as if swept away. That would be it, please excuse me, or hubbub. National Park, that’s certainly mainly nature, but also people. Admirers, Airmen, tourists, pilgrims – whatever you want to call them. To deprive them of Pravčická brana? It just doesn’t work. But how about her?, if I don’t want to wander in the trellis from Hřensk? The post-war development was not very favorable for this jewel of folk architecture, a wonderful alternative route, which not many people knew until today. From Mezná Louka, without a doubt, the most beautiful Czech-Swiss avenue to Mezná. (By the way, no need to step on asphalt, which is also followed by a car every now and then, a parallel footpath runs along the adjacent meadow.)

Mezna is a charming place – the only village on the territory of the national park. Place, where to rest, have something to eat, to satisfy thirst or appetite, there are several of them – for example, the terrace in front of the guesthouse and restaurant Na Vyhlídke. The view of Růžák and the sharply descending slopes of the Wild Gorge is truly extraordinary from here. We’re done 1700 meters and we are still waiting for the place anyway, where the exhibition awaits, to which we travel.

When you leave Mezná on the yellow road to Mlýnská cesta (up to the exhibition, it is quite comfortable even for prams and wheelchair users), remember this eight year old photo. It’s different here today. And yet breathtaking and captivating. As if exposed.

You will soon meet the silent witnesses of last year’s fire behind the last houses. And you start to be surprised. After all, the fire reached as far as Mezná… The uninitiated might have expected the apocalypse already here.

After the aforementioned seventeen hundred meters, a place equipped with binoculars emerges. Long walls, Little Pravčický cone, Pravcice Gate, Wing wall – everything in the palm of your hand in a completely different context.

Focus on the rock walls around Pravčická brana. This is Václav Sojka, a national park ranger and a great photographer, which will be discussed later, he asked, what i see. I said Right Gate, rocks, heaven… And he told me about the meeting with Václav Cílek, who once asked him the same question and he answered as I do today. “Try to look at the scenery through the eyes of a prehistoric man and think about it, what could fascinate him about this place.” Aha, sure – symbols. Male symbol and female symbol. Both energies in one place. Sign. Stay here. Live here. (And indeed – traces of a prehistoric settlement were found under the walls, and some of them were even found by the already mentioned Vašek Sojka himself.)

If you use the boon of binoculars, you will have that female symbol optically within reach and you will be able to wave it to each other, who is currently operating the same telescope on the other, rocky shore.

which was originally built as a Lutheran church and only later became a Catholic stand. To the left of the path – the opening panel of the exhibition. Come and see the story of the Czech-Swiss forest.

Photo after photo, text after text. How was it, how is it, how will it be. Photographs by Václav Sojko. Lyrics by Rostislav Křivánek. (of course, that’s why I married you .) Concept by Jakub Juda, produced by Dana Štefáčková, both from the Czech Switzerland National Park Administration.

Exhibition panels await visitors to this very different gallery. Open FURT. (I mean, until the end of the holidays.)

Walk through the story of the forest, the story of people, who are unteachable, but also a story of hope.

In just ten panels, in a minimalistic nutshell, without further ado, simply.

Vašek Sojka is a great photographer. Everyone has a good eye, equipment likesmet, but Václav knows all about it, what is he taking pictures of?. Wallet, what is he looking for. He is fused with this landscape, he is more falcon and eater than man.

I can’t invite you to the opening, but it’s still worth mentioning. She was very unassuming, but very nice. In addition to the director of the national park, the mayors of four municipalities – Hřenska – also cut the ribbon, Genoa, Krásné Lipy and Srbské Kamenice. Year, no rip off paparazzi, dinner of, for which the local landscape and the forest in it are, the alpha and omega of action.

This experience is probably not waiting for you either, however, it is possible to meet Vašek Sojka everywhere in the national park… At the opening of the exhibition, he went through all the panels and talked and told and explained… I would like you to experience that.

We had a feeling for a while, that we are experiencing it, what did he take pictures of?.

The post-war development was not very favorable for this jewel of folk architecture, you might not be lucky with Václav Sojka, but if you meet another of the national park rangers here, don’t be afraid to ask. It’s worth it.

When you go through the exhibition, don’t forget to start looking around you. I’m sure, that it will be a little
with other eyes. A new life is really starting to sprout at the bottoms of charred or burnt trunks…

…the black and ash is already showing through the green…

…and although the charred bodies of fallen trees look like sleeping crocodiles…

… in the middle of the burnt landscape, small islands of adult life have miraculously survived

And foxgloves ring the forest at dawn, not a dying man.

After all, revival doesn’t always have to be green. Rusty mosses are crawling, as far as the eye can see.

After all, revival doesn’t always have to be green. Rusty mosses are crawling, as far as the eye can see.

Let’s say goodbye to the exhibition with one of Václav Sojka’s photographs, which you will see on it. It’s a prophecy. Here, on Havraní vrch above Jetřichovice, it was exactly the same incinerator sixteen years ago. And today? In just sixteen years. We humans are irritable and impatient. We measure everything by the length of our lives. Year, many of us will no longer experience the new forest under the walls of Czechoslovakia. But we all have a chance to see, how they are born. Here and Now. Each with their own unique eyes, with other details, other accents. So go to the exhibition and then maybe continue on, On the mill road to the Three Springs and beyond, up to Pravčická brána. And keep your eyes open, because every day is different here now. And that’s an adventure, which you won’t experience anywhere else.