With the area of 19 hectares, Šimkovy sady is one of the largest city parks in Hradec Králové. Its borders are formed by Šimek´s Street in the south, by Buzulucká Street in the east, by Pilnáček´s Street in the north and Akademik Bedrna´s Street in the west.
Their establishment in the fortress´s basin (which could be flooded) around the Piletický stream was initiated by the Hradec Králové Savings Bank between years 1932 and 1935. At the time when the city’s fortifications still existed, the area of today’s Šimek´s Park had the character of a desolate basin which could be flooded with the aim to defend the fortress. These specific factors had to be respected by all architects who were involved in designing the park. The Municipal Landscaping Guild, which was responsible for planting geographically non-native, attractive and important, tree species had a significant share in the appearance of Šimkovy sady.
The newly established park, at that time called Herman’s Gardens, had the character of an English park with elements of an Anglo-Chinese garden. That was evoked by the bridges that arched over a large water area of the park. In 1948, this park was renamed into Pionýrské sady. At that time, it was expanded in the north-west direction to the current city ring road. Since 1990, the park has been named after Karel Šimek, who fell in the anti-Nazi resistance at the end of World War II.
In 2012–2013, the park underwent a complete revitalization, which included landscaping improvements, removing of the silt from the ponds, creating of new paths and a playground, and reconstructing of the rotunda and bridges.
1 – European Beech (Fagus sylvatica)
2 – Yellow Cedar (Chamaecyparis nootkatensis)
3 – Hungarian Oak (Quercus frainetto)
4 – Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana)
5 – Green Ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica)
6 – Caucasian Fir (Abies nordmanniana)
7 – Grand Fir (Abies grandis)
8 – White Fir (Abies concolor)
9 – Eastern Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis)
10 – False Indigo Bush (Amorpha fruticosa)
11 – Silver Lace Vine (Fallopia aubertii)
12 – Common Snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus)
13 – Coralberry (Symphoricarpos orbiculatus)
14 – Alpine Currant (Ribes alpinum)
15 – Serbian Spruce (Picea omorika)
16 – Western Red Cedar (Thuja plicata)
