Ivan Staňa (4. 5. 1948 – 18. 8. 2025)

Respect for his life and work

On Monday, 18 August, during one of his regular bike rides, a tragic accident ended Ivan Staňa´s life.

The long-time head of the Průhonice Park Management, took up his position in 1992 as a highly skilled and experienced expert in the field. His solid education in horticulture continued by postgraduate studies in environmental sciences (Charles University in Prague) as well as in the history of architecture, fine arts, and heritage conservation (Czech Technical University in Prague). His practical experience was as rich, partly due to his cooperation with the exhibition department of the Olomouc Flora, with the Central-Bohemia Centre for conservation care or the Teplice and Prague horticultural centres where he picked up the skills to manage very diverse groups of workers.

This is why he had a clear vision of his professional goals, he did not shy away from difficult decisions and was fully capable of defending and enforcing them. Many criticised him for his steps but he wasn´t scared of conflict. He often had to deal with what others, the majority of which had zero professional experience, thought he should or shouldn´t do. Just remember what the alley in front of the Castle looked like… composed of trees of various types and ages. And look at it now!

Before Ivan came along, the Park lacked a courageous manager who wouldn´t be afraid to cut down trees: he launched large-scale tree felling and replanting in the Park. Those trees are now about thirty years old and thanks to them the Park is not full of unsightly clearings.

The Park ponds were in pretty bad shape, too: the dams urgently needed fixing, layers and layers of mud from their beds had to be removed. As Head of Park management, Ivan Staňa had to deal with several catastrophic situations which left the Park almost in ruins. Mainly the 2002 summer flood and smaller floods later that year caused the destruction of most of the Park weirs and bridges as well as significant erosion and sedimentation in the ponds. With ample eurofund assistance these damages we quite quickly restored.

In such critical situations, Ivan Staňa´s qualities could fully shine: mainly his quick and well-qualified decision-making. He was well capable of outsourcing tasks to reliable companies and then supervise their work carefully.

In this period, I was the Director of the Institute of Botany and I was relieved that I didn´t have to pay much attention to these issues. My task was to secure the funds necessary for all the reconstruction work. Some thought the works were too extensive, the colours of the new granite wall below the Alpinum were “too loud” which people compared to the dry walls from local slate. They were proved wrong during the next big flood which followed ten years later. After the flood, it became obvious that Ivan´s choice was the right one, as the damage was only relatively minor. And in the present, many visitors don´t even notice that the walls are new.

When Ivan Staňa´s took up his position, the Park wasn´t all fenced in. The fact, that fences were gradually put up and that illegal entry points were being closed off one by one aggravated many people living in Průhonice. In the early 1990s, the Park was largely surrounded by fields which is now different, just have a look at some drone pictures. The extent of devastation of the Park in the wild nineties may seem incredible to some: thieves took newly planted trees, and came to get their Christmas trees, Park benches and rubbish containers were targeted, attacks on the Park information system were a daily occurrence. Those of us who remember these times can make the comparison. Others wouldn´t believe us.

The fact that the Park survived these years and continuously kept improving, is one of Ivan Staňa´s undisputable achievements. He never gave up, despite often being frustrated. He was also among those whose shared efforts lead to the Park being included to the UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites. Not only the Institute of Botany and the Průhonice Park, but also all the nearby villages owe Ivan Staňa a great debt of gratitude for uplifting the Park in this way.

Prof. František Krahulec