The establishing of the arboretum (or collection of living woody plants) was initiated by the owner of the Hrubá Skála estate, Jan Bedřich Lexa of Aehrenthal; the forester Leopold Anger was the expert supervisor. The Arboretum is significant as one of the oldest areas where foreign species of woody plants (mainly from North America) have been introduced to Bohemia. Approximately one third of the trees have survived from the time of the founding. In the case of some species (Douglas fir, great fir) these were probably the first attempts to grow them in Bohemia. Some of the oldest trees planted here include Canadian hemlock, Caucasian fir, Japanese larch and American tulip tree. More recently, e.g. the giant sequoia or the Indian bean tree (Catalpa bignonioides) have been planted.
The Hrubá Skála estate together with the arboretum were confiscated from the Lexes of Aehrenthal after World War II and the administration of the arboretum was taken over by the State Forests Service. At present, the arboretum is owned by the Lesy ČR association as part of the Hruboskalsko Nature Reserve and the Český ráj Protected Landscape Area.
Since its foundation, the arboretum has included a Swiss-style half-timbered gazebo, which today houses the information centre of the protected landscape area. In 2005, during the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Protected Landscape Area, the gazebo was reconstructed and the sculpture “Spirit of the Arboretum” was unveiled in the arboretum, carved from the torso of a dead Douglas fir tree by sculptor Ivan "Oldman" Šmíd. That same year, another new species of tree, the Ginko biloba, was planted here.
