Prague Christmas tree finds new life as benches and flower beds at elderly home

The new benches and flower beds at the Malešice Senior Home (Domov pro seniory Malešice) in Prague 10 have quite the story behind them.

Earlier this year, we reported that the Christmas tree from Prague's Old Town Square would find new life as furniture for a local retirement home. Yesterday, Prague Mayor Zdeněk Hřib revealed that he had delivered benches and flower beds to senior citizens in Prague 10's Malešice neighborhood.

The sturdy-looking furniture comes from an 18-meter tall spruce that stood in Prague's Old Town Square during the past Christmas season. Traditionally the centerpiece of Prague's Christmas market, it was one of the few festive sights at the location this year as the market did not take place due to Covid-19 concerns.

The tree originally came from the village of Kamenný Přívoz outside of Prague, and had to be cut down because it had grown to a large size and began to pose a threat to a nearby road.

As the tree was removed from Old Town Square, Prague's mayor announced that it would be repurposed as a symbol of the city's recycling and sustainability efforts. Last week, the tree was given new life in the form of benches and flower beds donated to the senior home.

"The new wooden benches and flower beds for the Home for the Elderly in Malešice have an extraordinary story behind them," Hřib wrote on social media yesterday.

"They originated from the Prague Christmas tree. Because we support ecology in Prague, we want things to return to circulation and find further use. In this case, this happened in a completely exemplary manner."

The furniture for the senior home was created by students from the Jarov Secondary Vocational School who were studying gardening and carpentry. They created four mobile flower beds and two benches for the senior home, and had the benefit of honing their craft on a unique project.

Since it takes a significant amount of time to dry this type of wood in an industrial facility, the students were only able to start crafting the benches and flower beds some months after the Christmas season.