Monument to the School of Forestry and Monument to Animalier Jiří Židlický in Nové Zákupy

At the place where the road from Zákupy to Kamenice branches off to Velenice, a monument to the school of forestry can be seen in the forest. It is a stone mound on which there are two large boulders forming a sort of giant mushroom. On the lower stone there is an inscribed polished plate commemorating the Forestry Academy, or State German High School of Forestry that operated in Zákupy in 1904-1940. In the surrounding area, other memorials linked with forestry are scattered, including the monument to animal painter Jiří Židlický.

After the restitution of the forests to the town of Zákupy, a movement emerged to renovate small monuments and memorials, crosses, chapels and water springs of which there are many in the valley of the Kamenice river. One of these was St Hubert Chapel where, according to memories preserved, students of the forestry school used to gather on the eve of St Hubert`s Day to pay tribute to their patron saint. When the chapel was renovated in 2002, the local enthusiasts continued not only to repair other small monuments, but also to create new places of memory, especially ones related to the history of the local forestry school. At the same time an educational nature trail started to be created, part of which was opened during the Zákupy festivities in September 2005. The trail has been fitted with information boards on the town, the local flora and fauna, the important figures associated with forestry, on forestry traditions and the customs of local forestry students, etc. The making of the trail and creation of new places of memory is funded by the municipality with money from logging.  

 

Close to Saint Hubert Chapel, not far from the monument to the forestry schools, there is a monument to Jiří Židlický (1895–1950) who studied here for a short while. He was a hunter, civil servant, writer, admirer of nature and above all a brilliant animalier (animal painter). He is considered one of the most important interwar artists depicting animals in the hunting concept manner. 

Židlický originally studied at the Czech Technical University but conscription took him to the battlefields of World War I. When it ended, he was accepted in November 1919 as a war veteran to the third grade of the Forestry Academy in Zákupy. But he was expelled shortly before graduation for his unruly student life. After this short episode in Zákupy Židlický first worked as a Forestry Assistant in his native Nové Město na Moravě and later moved to Prague where he worked as a clerk. In his free time, he studied nature depicting art techniques on his own. But above all, he drew and painted. He illustrated books of different genres from expert publications and textbooks to adventure literature. His drawings were published in the journal Vesmír (The Cosmos) and in Walks in the Bohemian Nature, he painted posters, board books for children, game-depicting postcards. He created over 850 drawings and 67 illustrated books in his life. 

Auerswald, Z.: Malíř zvěře Jiří Židlický. Kostelec nad Černými lesy 2010.
Fejfar, F.: „Jiří Židlický 1895–1950“, Myslivost. Stráž myslivosti 2010, č. 4, s. 30.
Uhlíř, J.: 160 let od založení lesnické školy v Bělé pod Bezdězem (1855–1904) a v Zákupech (1904–1940), přeložené roku 1945 do Trutnova. Boleslavica ’15 Vlastivědný sborník Mladoboleslavska, 8/2015, s. 75–85.
Jirotka, J.: Na počátku byla Boží muka sv. Huberta. Myslivost. Stráž myslivosti (únor 2007). URL: https://www.myslivost.cz/Casopis-Myslivost/Myslivost/2007/Unor---2007/Na-pocatku-byla-Bozi-muka-sv--Huberta [20. 8. 2021].

(Author: jam)

Detail of a memorial plaque. (Author: jam)

(Author: public domain)

(Author: public domain)

Jiří Židlický monument (Author: jam)