Obora Hvezda

By Jennifer Page

Another green, wooded park in the Divoka Sarka neighborhood is Obora Hvezda. Set in a (very) hilly, typical Czech neighborhood, Obora Hvezda draws in a minimal number of tourists because of “the létohradek Hvězda at the end of the main, straight corridor in the park. It’s a rather bizarre and very beautiful structure in the shape of a six-sided star (from which the building takes its name).  The Renaissance summer palace was built in 1555 by Archduke Ferdinand of Tyrol for his wife.”  The site of The Battle of White Mountain is very close by as well. The Letohradek Hvezda is open everyday but Mondays, and of course guess what day I went on? It is still a beautiful park to walk around even if you don’t go into the actual building. Scattered throughout there are statues and plaster work along the stone wall that encloses the park. When I went, there was a handful of joggers and bikers doing laps around the two main paths in the park. Around the “star building” there is a courtyard-type area with benches and beautiful flowering trees.  I do warn against standing underneath them though, as there are swarms of bees in them and they are very territorial.  The Obora Hvezda might seem a little out of the way, but the park and neighborhood are interesting to go and see and there is always the ubiquitous corner pub if you get bored, because you can find the most interesting people there.