The Jihlava Town Hall wants to modify Smetanovy Sady this year near the under-construction arena

Jihlava - The Jihlava town hall plans to renovate Smetana Gardens this year, near the under-construction Horácká Multi-Purpose Arena (HMA). The city hopes to make changes to the gardens before the arena opens, but it is possible that everything will not be completed by then, said Mayor Petr Ryška (ODS) to reporters today. The construction of the arena, costing 1.9 billion crowns, is expected to be completed in early October.

The revitalization of the park is estimated to cost around 20 million crowns, and the city would like to use a subsidy for it. "Smetana Gardens will transform, the road network will be completely different," the mayor stated. In the near future, the city plans to remove several coniferous trees that, according to landscape architects, do not belong there, and some shrubs will also be removed. Mature deciduous trees will remain.

The new arena will not serve only the Dukla hockey club; other sports events and social occasions will also take place there. Various events may also be held in the adjacent park, which is planned to have technical infrastructure for them.

In the location of Smetana Gardens, there was a cemetery from 1559, and the local cemetery church dates back to 1572. The area served as the main city cemetery until 1868. The gardens were established in 1891 after the cemetery walls were demolished. Part of the former cemetery affected by the construction of the arena was previously examined by archaeologists. After documenting, they removed the discovered skeletal remains to be respectfully reinterred elsewhere.

Construction of the arena began in the summer of 2023 with the demolition of the old ice hockey stadium, where a multi-purpose complex is rising. The original stadium was completed in 1955.