Szarvas Arboretum Nature Reserve, Botanical garden and protected area in Szarvas, Hungary
Szarvas Arboretum is a protected nature reserve spread across roughly 82 hectares with thousands of tree and shrub species from around the world. Paths lead through distinct planting zones where visitors can see how different species grow side by side.
General Péter Bolza became a landowner in Szarvas in 1798 by marrying Antónia Stockhammer. His son József, nicknamed Pepi, and his wife Anna Batthyány planted the first trees on the higher ground safe from floods, moving the first sequoias and ginkgos there by cart from a Viennese imperial estate. Pál Bolza later laid out the Pepi-kert with Austrian gardener Joseph Grines, and in 1943 he entrusted it to the state, which declared it protected that same year.
The garden is nicknamed Pepi-kert after József Bolza, called Pepi, who planted the first trees on the higher ground safe from floods. His brother Pál later laid out the park with the Austrian gardener Joseph Grines. Since 2013 the grounds have also held Mini Magyarország, a miniature park with models of the Heroes' Square, the Hungarian Parliament, the Chain Bridge, the Esztergom basilica, Tihany Abbey and Szeged Cathedral.
The arboretum lies outside Szarvas, reached from the 44 main road by turning onto the 4631 road toward Mezőtúr at the town's western edge. The five collections are spread over 82 hectares, so allow time to walk between them. The Mini Hungary model park opened within the grounds in 2013.
The first giant sequoias and ginkgos reached the Körös bank park as balled saplings carried by cart from the imperial estates in Vienna. During the regulation of the Hármas-Körös in the 1880s they were moved again, still with their root balls, to their present place in the arboretum.
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