The inner block in Plzeň has a new playground and benches worth 10.5 million in honor of a longtime resident

Plzeň - A new layout with benches, an exercise set, and a modernized playground has been created in one of the courtyards on Sokolovská Street in Plzeň, which is one of the longest and most intricate streets in the Lochotín residential district. For 10.5 million crowns, the district also modified the greenery and sandpit and installed two benches. They are dedicated to local resident Jaroslav Bukovský, who actively participated in the development of the courtyard since the establishment of the housing estate in the 1970s and was involved in the preparations for its renewal. However, he did not live to see its completion, having died last year at the age of 84, local deputy mayor Miroslav Šuma (ANO) told ČTK today.

Thousands of people live in the panel houses around the revitalized courtyard, and the area is heavily used. In the future, a trolleybus route should also run along Sokolovská Street, reminded the district mayor Ivana Bubeníčková (ANO).

"Public meetings and discussions took place, where people expressed their thoughts on what they would like to see here and how it should look, and based on that, the architect proposed changes," Šuma said. Both children and seniors will find recreation in the area. There is a new sandpit, a playground with artificial surfacing, a workout area, circular seating under trees, as well as new sidewalks and paths. Gardeners removed invasive trees and clarified the trees and shrubs, establishing perennial flower beds. The municipal environment fund contributed half a million crowns to the modifications. The district plans to revitalize more courtyards on Sokolovská Street in the future.

The local resident and also an active Plzeň citizen Jaroslav Bukovský is commemorated by two designer benches placed opposite each other, made symbolically from beech wood. "Mr. Bukovský co-created the entire courtyard since the 1970s - planting trees and shrubs, collaborating with neighbors on the creation of the original playground, and cleaning the area. Even last year during the planning, he really cared about the courtyard looking as he envisioned it in the 1970s," Šuma noted.

Bukovský, a longtime chairman of the Plzeň local Czech Union of Fighters for Freedom, contributed to the care, maintenance, and establishment of several monuments in Plzeň, among other things. Thanks to him, the Memorial of Fighters and Victims of Wars at Míru Square was completed, the Memorial of Citizens of Czechoslovakia expelled in 1938 from the border areas was established in Bory, the Edvard Beneš Memorial was built at Beneš School, and the Memorial of Victims of the Airstrike on Slavs in April 1945 was created. He also arranged for the restoration and relocation of a commemorative plaque bearing the names of soldiers and officers executed during the occupation, which was removed from the wall of the Bory barracks, Bukovský's brother Stanislav recalled.