Biometrical characteristics of Norway spruce (Picea abies [L.] Karst.) trees were evaluated in the rest of a commercial forest (age 85 years) at the locality of the Křtiny Arboretum (area 23 hectare, eastern aspect, altitude 450-500 m, mean annual temperature 7.7°C , mean annual precipitation 620 mm, forest type 3B6) with the aim to determine effects of long-term well-defined conditions of a lower vegetation zone on the growth and performance of an artificially planted spruce stand. Three sample trees were selected in a sample plot corresponding to an average tree in terms of diameter at breast height (d.b.h.), height and crown length. In the sample trees, branches from the various depth of tree crown were analysed in detail in terms of diameter increment (annual ring analysis at the base of branches), length and dry matter (DM) of particular shoot year-classes, their stem parts and needles. In needles, their area, pigment content and other derived characteristics were also analysed. In particular sample trees, the following characteristics were determined: detailed crown architecture, number and spacing of whorls, weight of needle DM of the whole whorls, branch length, branch parts with and without needles, orientation of particular branches to cardinal points, angle of branches, branch diameter and bark thickness, branch annual ring analysis and annual ring analysis of stems below the crown. By means of data extrapolation from the sample trees, stand architecture was demonstrated, data were presented on the total and partial above-ground biomass of the tree layer, relationships were determined between the total foliage area of the crown layer (or a chlorophyll unit) and radiation transmittance and also relationships between the relative insolation of a herb layer and requirements of the undergrowth synusia for light according to Ellenberg et al. (1992). Results were compared with some data determined in a natural beech stand within the same site potential conditions of the Arboretum. Through the evaluation of tree growth and stand structure it was possible to demonstrate acceleration of stand ageing starting already from 60 years of stand physical age, to recommend shortening the rotation period and to substantiate the necessity of return to a richer species composition.