Jabkenice Park...     Nature on your doorstep

Protected game park Jabkenice Game Park is famed for the unique character of the countryside and its lovely cascade of fishponds. It covers an area of nearly 600 ha (including 30 hectares of lakes and ponds). You can walk through it on the Smetana path under the spreading crowns of ancient trees, in the company of 400 fallow deer and with the musical accompaniment of many species of birds. Smetana’s spirit invites quiet meditation. See more about walks in and around the park.

History

The Valdštejn family established the game park around 1625. In 1803 an engineer by the name of Jungmann, a forester in Jabkenice village, built a beautiful summer house "Gloriet“ with a small pond in the preserve. This summer house is now the forester’s lodge called "Loučeňka“.

Under the ownership of the Fürstenbergs from 1804 to 1808 red deer from Křivoklát were introduced. Thurn-Taxis took over in 1808 and In the second half of the nineteenth century, Prince Alexander Thurn-Taxis released into the park exotic game, such as kangaroos, mara, bison, ostriches, emus, flamingos, Japanese geese, and wild turkeys. He also added 50 deer including Sika, Virginia, Wapiti and Manchurian varieties, among many others. The water surface area was also extended, again mainly by Alexander Thurn-Taxis, an excellent angler, who introduced rainbow trout – the first in the area - to the newly-established fishponds. Alexander was also a keen hunter and went around the world, donating many of his prizes to the National Museum in Prague.

The preserve was abandoned in 1943, but was regenerated in 1964 and has enjoyed constant maintenance since then.

Bedřich Smetana, who found inspiration here for two parts of the symphonic poem Má vlast, visited the game park and, later, so did the painter Jiří Židlický, the poet Maria Rilke and the world-renowned novelist Mark Twain.

Today the park features 566 hectares; the forested portion (530 ha) is made up of 40% oak, 30% pine, 20% spruce and 10% various other trees. Jabkenice is an official breeding ground for fallow deer, maintaining a controlled population of 200. Annual total hunting stock is 400 pieces, including more than 200 points of CIC.

Public opening times:

1 January - 31 March	Saturday, Sunday and public holidayss 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
1 April – 31 May	Closed
1 June - 30 September	Daily (except Mondays) 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
1 October - 31 December	Saturday, Sunday and public holidays 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.