Bílovice nad Svitavou and Těsnohlídek Valley: In the Footsteps of the Vixen Sharp-Ears

Bílovice nad Svitavou lies just south of the Moravian Karst, right on the edge of Brno. The writer Rudolf Těsnohlídek lived here from 1914 to 1922, and the woods around the village are the setting for his Liška Bystrouška (The Cunning Little Vixen), the story on which Leoš Janáček based his opera. Above the village stands the Vixen Sharp-Ears forester’s lodge (myslivna lišky Bystroušky), built in 1907 and still the headquarters of the local forestry district. From here the Red Path (Červená cesta) leads past the Leoš Janáček spring to Těsnohlídek Valley, home to the spring of the painter Stanislav Lolek, whose drawings inspired the tale. The woods also hold the Liduška memorial, marking the spot where Těsnohlídek and his friends found a child before Christmas 1919 – a discovery that gave rise to the tradition of the Republic’s Christmas trees. Trains run to Bílovice from Brno every few minutes. Everything is free and open all year round.

QUICK LINKS 🦊 Vixen Sharp-Ears · 🎄 Liduška and the Christmas tree · 🥾 A walk through Těsnohlídek Valley · 💧 Springs and the Foresters’ Pantheon · 🚆 Getting there · ❓ FAQ

Bílovice was already a popular day-trip destination for the people of Brno in the days of the First Republic. They would walk here from the tram terminus in Obřany, following the River Svitava. Artists came to paint and write, too: the Čapek brothers, the painter Alois Kalvoda, and the poet S. K. Neumann, who lived here and wrote The Book of Woods, Waters and Slopes (Kniha lesů, vod a strání) who lived here and wrote The Book of Woods, Waters and Slopes (Kniha lesů, vod a strání). For visitors to the Moravian Karst, Bílovice makes a good start or finish to a day out, as paths lead from here to Adamov and into the Říčka valley.

Vixen Sharp-Ears

The tale began life as text to accompany pictures by the painter and huntsman Stanislav Lolek. The newspaper Lidové noviny ran it as a serial from 7 April 1920. In his manuscript, Těsnohlídek had named the vixen Bystronožka, but the typesetter misread the name and Bystrouška was born. The characters speak in the dialect of the Brno area, chiefly that of Bílovice, Adamov and Líšeň. Leoš Janáček used the story for his opera The Cunning Little Vixen (Příhody lišky Bystroušky) of 1924.

The Vixen Sharp-Ears forester’s lodge stands about 150 m beyond the Sokol hall. It was built in 1907 and still houses the Bílovice forestry district today. According to the municipality, it is the setting of the book, where the gamekeeper Bartoš lived with his dog Lapák. It remains a working forestry building, so you can only admire it from the outside.

Liduška and the Republic’s First Christmas Tree

Before Christmas 1919, Těsnohlídek set off into the woods around Bílovice with his friends, the painter František Koudelka and Josef Tesař, to find a Christmas tree. Beneath a spruce they came across an abandoned, half-frozen little girl of about seventeen months. They carried her to the gendarmerie station in Bílovice, where she was looked after. They named her Liduška. A Brno family adopted her; she later married and moved to Prague, and died in 1997.

The experience gave Těsnohlídek the idea of a collection for abandoned children. The first Christmas tree of the Republic, a spruce from Bílovice, was lit on 13 December 1924 in Freedom Square (náměstí Svobody) in Brno. The tradition spread to other towns, and the collections led in 1929 to the founding of the Dagmar children’s home in Brno-Žabovřesky.

On the spot where she was found stand the Liduška memorial and the memorial to the first Christmas tree, not far from the forester’s lodge, above a small pond. The former gendarmerie station on the village green is still standing.

A Walk Through Těsnohlídek Valley

Těsnohlídek Valley is a narrow, deep, wooded valley just beyond Bílovice. The village recommends the following circuit:

1. From the Vixen Sharp-Ears forester’s lodge, follow the woodland Red Path to the Leoš Janáček spring, about 100 m from the lodge.
2. Continue to the wooden bridge by the reservoir, where you will find a signpost.
3. Turn right over the Liduška wooden bridge and follow the unmarked gravel track gently uphill to the Na vyhlídce (“At the Viewpoint”) spot, with views over Bílovice.
4. Take the woodland ridge path, with glimpses to your right into Těsnohlídek Valley. After about a kilometre you rejoin the Red Path.
5. Follow the green waymarks to the Lolek spring in Těsnohlídek Valley, about 200 m below Ressl’s gamekeeper’s cottage (Resslova hájenka).
6. Return to the Red Path and follow it back to the forester’s lodge.

The village does not give a length for the circuit. Allow for a few kilometres on woodland paths with a gentle climb. As for why the Red Path is called red even though it no longer is: when the forestry company built it in the 1930s, they surfaced it with red sand from the local Lower Devonian arkose.

Springs and the Foresters’ Pantheon

Since 1929, foresters here have been building springs and small memorials to people with a connection to the forest. The whole ensemble is known as the Foresters’ Pantheon (Lesnický Slavín). It now has almost a hundred features, most of them reached by waymarked hiking trails.

• The Leoš Janáček spring, dating from 1978, has bronze plaques by Josef Kadula, and you will find water in it all year round.
• The Lolek spring, dating from 1966, bears a concrete portrait of Stanislav Lolek with a vixen in his arms and the inscription “Inspirátor lišky Bystroušky” (“The inspiration for Vixen Sharp-Ears”).

You will also find memorials of the Foresters’ Pantheon in the woods around the Křtiny Arboretum.

Getting There and Where Next

• By train: the Bílovice nad Svitavou stop lies on the Brno – Česká Třebová line and is served by the S2 line of the IDS JMK regional network.
• By bus: city bus line 75 from Brno.
• By bike: the Amber Trail runs through Bílovice along the Svitava, from Brno to Adamov and Blansko.
• Onwards on foot: along Ressl’s Path (Resslova cesta) to the U Lidušky lookout tower and into the Říčka valley with Pekárna Cave. The village of Ochoz recommends this route in the opposite direction, from Ochoz to Bílovice.
• To the Alexander Lookout Tower: the village website suggests a cycle trip from Bílovice via Rosenauer’s Path (Rosenauerova cesta). I write about the tower in the article on Adamov.

FAQ

Where is The Cunning Little Vixen set? In the woods around Bílovice nad Svitavou. The Vixen Sharp-Ears forester’s lodge stands above the village, about 150 m beyond the Sokol hall.

Who was Liduška? A little girl whom Rudolf Těsnohlídek and his friends found in the woods near Bílovice before Christmas 1919. Her story gave rise to the tradition of the Republic’s Christmas trees.

How do I get to Těsnohlídek Valley? From the Vixen Sharp-Ears forester’s lodge, follow the Red Path and then the green waymarks to the Lolek spring.

Is it suitable for children? Yes, the circuit follows woodland paths with a gentle climb, and children know Sharp-Ears from the fairy tale.

Information checked on 13. 10. 2026. Sources: Bílovice nad Svitavou municipality: Tips for trips, Sights, Springs; Wikipedia: Rudolf Těsnohlídek, Liška Bystrouška, Bílovice nad Svitavou; Kudy z nudy: Těsnohlídkovo údolí.

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