Carvana
Carvánka (about 850 m) is one of the most famous places in Brdy, which we will probably visit when we head to the highest mountain of Brdy - Tok (865 m). A meadow near the top, bordered by forest, a small hunting lodge with a terrace, a well, a small pond and a memory of the original hájovňa - once the highest inhabited place in Bohemia, not counting the border mountains.
Carvánka is mentioned in 1893 in the Guide to Příbram and its surroundings, which describes the way from Klobouček to Tok, formerly also called Vysoký Tok, as follows: "From here we climb past the lonely hunting lodge of Carvánka to the top of Tok, so covered with forests that the view from it is insignificant (only the Zbirožský castle)."
Carvánka has always been inhabited by gamekeepers, hunters, forest workers or coal miners. However, Austro-Hungarian and First Republic tourists also found refreshment, rest and sometimes accommodation here. This is evidenced, among other things, by the story of Růžena Boučková, the last inhabitant of the Carvánec hut: "In summer, tourists and scouts came again. One such group of about twenty young people was caught in such a downpour that they got soaked to the skin. So we flooded the guest room, pulled the cords, hung up the clothes, and they all got back in order. They had better luck when they left, and it was beautiful again."
(Jan Čáka, Střední Brdy, landscape unknown, 1998)
In 1931, the original Carvánka mountain grove was liquidated, following a decision by the army, which gradually occupied the Central Brdy Mountains for its own purposes after 1926, despite substantial protests from both the lay and professional public. Dozens of other hunting lodges, gambling houses, accommodation, catering and farm buildings, and even several typical mountain villages gradually disappeared from Brda. Carvánka, however, was fortunate in its misfortune. One of the superforesters bought the grove, dismantled it and rebuilt it in the village of Strašice. Moreover, around 2012, a very plausible modern replica of Carvanka was built in the village of Těně according to the original surviving plans.
Even today, thanks to its location near the highest mountain in Brda, Carvánka is a resting place for Brda pilgrims. Some people spend the night here in a sleeping bag, under a blanket or on a bench under the roof of the veranda of a hunting lodge.
Jaroslav Hodrment
