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As of January 1, 2026, Czechia introduced a new amendment to its Criminal Code, placing communism on the same legal footing as Nazism. So, what does the law actually prohibit? Why was it adopted, and how does it reflect Czechia’s understanding...

Getting a tattoo may leave a lasting mark not only on your skin, but also on your immune system. This is the conclusion of a groundbreaking international study involving researchers from the Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences. The...

Czech conductor Jakub Hrůša has been named Artist of the Year for 2026 by the International Classical Music Awards. Often described as the “Oscar of classical music,” the honour recognises his exceptional international career and his work with...

Celebrations of regional folk music and dance take place around Bohemia, Silesia and Moravia each year, drawing hundreds of admirers. And while the tradition is only brought out on special occasions, the good news is that those charmed by their...

The Metoděj Vlach Aviation Museum in Mladá Boleslav has a new exhibit: a replica of the Kuňkadlo sport aircraft. It was built by designer Juraj Tinka and donated to the museum. The original aircraft was constructed 100 years ago by brothers...

Marie Provazníková ranks among the most outstanding figures of modern Czech history. As the head of Sokol, an Olympic coach, and a pioneer of women’s physical education, she managed to resist both Nazism and Communism. She was born in 1890 in...

A treasure trove of more than a thousand rare books has been returned to the monastery library of the Association for the Preservation of the Monastery of St. Francis of Assisi in Votice. The books were taken away 75 years ago, and for many...

Women in the South Moravian town of Lednice have created a new online collection documenting more than one hundred traditional woollen shawls known as vlňáky. Once a common part of winter folk costume in the Podluží region, these scarves...

In the deep forests of the Vysočina region, in the unassuming village of Tři Studně (Three Wells), Bohuslav Martinů composed one of his most lyrical works. Two small forest springs – Barborka and Vitulka – inspired the composer to create the...

Visitors to the Lipno Reservoir in South Bohemia witnessed something unusual at the end of last year. The ice on the lake turned green, a striking sight in the middle of winter. The cause was an unexpected build-up of cyanobacteria trapped...

In this episode of Prague off the Beaten Track, we head to Baba, a rocky plateau just north of Hanspaulka. Built in the 1930s as a model housing exhibition, the Baba villa colony combines functionalist architecture with sweeping views over...

TEDxUNYP returns to Prague on Saturday, March 7th, bringing international speakers to the Prague Congress Centre for a one day event focused on how we connect in a changing world. The 2026 edition introduces the theme “Currents of Connection”...

Visitor numbers at heritage sites managed by the Czech National Heritage Institute (NPÚ) rose year-on-year last year. See more here. Author: Hannah Vaughan

In 2025, sales of new passenger cars in the Czech Republic rose by 7. See more here. Author: Hannah Vaughan

Cynthia Paces is the author of Prague: The Heart of Europe, which traces the city’s fascinating history from the 10th century to the modern era. The US historian also has strong personal ties to the city, from which the Pačes family were forced...

Czechia is in for a musical onslaught in 2026 the likes of which it has not seen in a long time. Prague, Hradec Králové and Vizovice will welcome hard-rock legends, metal icons, pop-punk stars and unique projects linking music with gaming...

For this week’s Radio Prague Sunday music show, we are presenting one of the musical highlights of 2025: the 80th Prague Spring International Music Festival, featuring Smetana’s My Country—the pinnacle of the Czech classical music calendar and...

Winter coats roads and bridges with salt, and when mixed with moisture, it slowly and relentlessly eats away at metal structures. Scientists at the Institute of Physics of Materials of the Academy of Sciences are trying to combat this. In their...

Jiří Viktor Daneš is a name many Czechs may not recognize today. He was a geographer, explorer, and diplomat who set out for Australia in 1920 as Czechoslovakia’s very first consul on the continent. During his travels across Australia, and...

Florenc21 is Prague’s largest urban renewal project. It’s taking a neglected brownfield along a major road and transforming it into a green walkable neighborhood. Launched through an international urban design competition in 2021, the project...

Bohem Brewery is a London-based Czech brewery that does more than just brew authentic Czech lager. It also runs two pubs and a taproom, all with a wider mission in mind: to teach Britons what good lager can taste and look like. I visited one of...

Time magazine has named Tomáš Cihlář, a Czech virologist at the US biopharmaceutical company Gilead, among the 100 Most Influential People of 2025, alongside biochemist Wesley Sundquist of the University of Utah. Their work focuses on...

Thanks to freezing temperatures, Czechs are enjoying the winter season not only in the mountains. Ideal conditions for winter fun can also be found in Prague’s parks, for example in Stromovka. See more here.

When Antonín Dvořák conducted the Czech Philharmonic’s very first concert on January 4, 1896, few could have foreseen that it was an orchestra destined to become one of the symbols of Czech culture. Standing on the podium of Prague’s Rudolfinum...

Hanspaulka is the focus of a new episode of Prague off the Beaten Track, now part of the podcast Czechast. This quiet Prague 6 neighbourhood is known for its interwar villas, famous artists and intellectuals, and a strong sense of place. Today...

The Symphony No. 9 in E minor, “From the New World, popularly known as the New World Symphony, was composed by Antonín Dvořák in 1893 when he was director of the National Conservatory of Music of America. It premiered at New York’s...

The Wallachian Open-Air Museum in Rožnov pod Radhoštěm marked the 100th anniversary of its founding in 2025 with a record-breaking celebration. A total of 1,449 people wearing traditional folk costumes gathered in Masaryk Square in late June...

An exhibition devoted to activist art is currently underway at Prague’s Municipal Library. Organised by City Gallery Prague, it explores Czech activist art of recent decades in dialogue with international movements such as Black Lives Matter...

Commemorating exactly fourteen years since the death of former president Václav Havel, candles and flowers are laid in remembrance – not only of a president, but also of an artist, playwright, dissident, and public figure. Havel has come to...

Precisely ten years ago, the Paris Agreement was adopted by a record 195 parties – a moment of relief and euphoria for Stéphane Crouzat, who was among the architects of the landmark deal and is now France’s ambassador to Czechia. What does he...

In 2025, Czechia ranked as the world’s sixth-best performing economy, according to The Economist. But did it really perform that well? In my interview with Vladimir Vano, Chief Economist at Wealth Effect Management, I asked him what factors...

The debate over mobile phones in Czech schools has moved from the margins to the mainstream. One of the voices shaping this discussion is lawyer Jan Vobořil, who supports the parental initiative “Cell-less Childhood” (Dětství bez...

A magical evening took place at the pilgrimage Church of St. John of Nepomuk on Zelená Hora in Žďár nad Sázavou. Dozens of worshippers honoured St. Lucy’s feast with songs and prayers, celebrating her name, which comes from the Latin word for...

New data on alcohol addiction treatment reveal stark regional differences. Most Czechs undergoing treatment for alcohol addiction come from eastern, northern, and central Moravia. The districts of Vsetín, Zlín, Jeseník, Kroměříž, and Přerov are...

Fragments of some of Brno’s best-known buildings are about to travel hundreds of kilometres to Britain. They’re headed for a Liverpool cemetery, where they will become part of a new memorial to Ernst Wiesner, a leading architect of interwar...

The statue of 82 children in Lidice, which commemorates the destruction of the Central Bohemian village by the Nazis in 1942, is set to undergo a major restoration in the next five years. The Lidice Memorial has now presented what the...

Thirty years ago, on 13 December 1995, Veletržní Palace reopened after a long reconstruction. The National Gallery thus gained a representative home for its collection of modern and contemporary art, spread across 13,500 square meters. The...

In this episode of the Sunday Music Show, we’ll be presenting music from the rock group, Čechomor, A group of ex-rock musicians who’ve revitalized traditional Czech music. Czechomoravian Music Society, better known simply as Čechomor...

For Prague Off the Beaten Track, Masarykovo nádraží, known as Masaryčka, is one of those places that feels both central and strangely overlooked. Opened in 1845, it is Prague’s oldest railway station and a rare example of a historic terminal...

In the Winter issue of the Czech & Slovak Leaders magazine, ( next week it will be online), we will feature a travel article about Rwanda. Until then, in every newsletter, we will publish a promo for it.   The big adventure – the Zip Line...

The Vietnamese Heritage Club “Ao Dai” in the Czech Republic celebrate his first year of activity in a glamorous event, which took place at the Hoang Thanh Convention Center, Sapa, Prague Opening remarks by Mrs. Nguyen Tuyet Hanh, Chairwoman of...

Rutland & Partners established in 2010 by Monika Rutland, is also a part of Andersen Global, an international network providing best in class tax and legal services around the world.   This year, the 15th traditional Christmas friendly...

On Saturday, Czech scouts lit lanterns with the Bethlehem Light in Linz, Austria, and brought it to Brno by train that evening. The flame, taken from the so-called eternal fire that travels annually from Bethlehem around the world, will be...

The Christmas market on Old Town Square is rated by the world media as one of the most beautiful in the world. Every year it attracts some 750,000 visitors from at home and abroad. So what makes this Christmas market so special and what is in...

Online communication with authorities should be accessible to everyone by law, but in practice, this is often not the case, as Klára Šimáčková Laurenčíková, the government’s human rights commissioner, points out. She explains that people...

Behind the doors of a small workshop in Velvary, near Prague, simple ingredients are transformed into soft, delicious gingerbread. Gingerbread maker Kateřina develops her own recipes and shows that gingerbread can be more than just a Christmas...

A digital replica of Prague’s famed astronomical clock is now on display in the Knights’ Hall of the Old Town Hall. Thanks to the virtual model, visitors can gain a clearer understanding of how the world’s oldest functioning mechanism actually...

Vojta Berka, a Czech artist and illustrator, recently took a trip to the United States and saw it all — from the skyscrapers of New York City, to the vast countryside of Utah. Along the way, he filled his notebook with sketches of American...

Arnošt Lustig, one of the great figures of Czech literature, would have turned 100 next year. On the occasion, FestivAL100 will celebrate his enduring legacy. His powerful message of humanity, even in the darkest of times, resonates to this...

The Czech Republic has dozens of castles and chateaux whose history is well documented and whose interiors are open to visitors. However, some castle ruins have yet to reveal their secrets and modern technology is helping to uncover what lies...

Keep getting lost in Prague’s city centre? Residents and visitors can now find their way more easily thanks to “Prague Walker”, a new pedestrian signage system that shows that sometimes walking really is the quickest way to get around. The new...

The Czech Nightingale Awards, Český slavík, are the country’s annual popularity poll for singers and bands, decided entirely by public vote. This year, Ewa Farna triumphed among female singers for the third consecutive year, also claiming the...

In December 1905, Austrian ophthalmologist Eduard Konrad Zirm performed in Olomouc the first successful corneal transplant in the world. Czech medicine thus became a pioneer in a field that continues to develop even in the modern era – for...

Czechs embrace the Christmas season with enthusiasm, but long-term statistics show that church attendance in Czechia is among the lowest in Europe. In this episode of Czechast, we explore why these two realities coexist — and where the roots of...

After five years of renovation, the main building of the Museum of Prague at Florenc is reopening to the public. Visitors will find a completely new digital and interactive exhibition called City Through Time, based on the museum’s most...

The UNESCO committee has added amateur theater in Czechia to its list of intangible cultural heritage, the Czech Ministry of Culture announced on Wednesday. This is the tenth item that Czechia has on the list. Since Tuesday, the UNESCO...

On the occasion of the National Day of Romania, The Ambassador of Romania in the Czech Republic, H.E. Mrs. Antoaneta Barta, and Mr. Bogdan Barta hosted a reception at Prague – Kaiserštejnský Palác. RNDr. Miloš Vystrčil, President of the Senate...

In the Winter issue of the Czech & Slovak Leaders magazine, we will feature a travel article about Rwanda. Until then, in every newsletter, we will publish a promo for it. Lake Kivu is the biggest lake in Rwanda, with many islands in the...

On the occasion of the 113rd Anniversary of the Independence Day of the Republic of Albania, H.E. Mr. Ilir TEPELENA – the Ambassador of the Republic of Albania to the Czech Republic, and Mrs. Marsela Tepelena, hosted a reception at the Oriental...

It’s become a great tradition, to support Ukrainian youth by the Korean Embassy in Prague, at their beautiful hall of events. The concert starts with a Christmas Song performed by H.E. Mr. Youngki HONG, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea, H.E...

Excellent news reached us from Riyadh on Friday, November 28, 2025: the winner of the Best Cookbook award at the Gourmand Awards International, during the Saudi Feast food festival, was announced. It was the Indonesian cookbook “Indonesia...

Alfons Mucha’s sculpture “Nature” sold at a major Prague auction for CZK 18.35 million including fees, setting a new domestic record for the artist, according to the European Arts Investments auction house. The bronze bust, created in 1900 and...

The Renaissance chateau in the east Bohemian town of Pardubice will have a new representative hall with a unique wavy bubble ceiling designed by architect Eva Jiřičná. It consists of 1,100 bubble-shaped pieces made of plaster that will ensure...

The Madonna from Havraň, a rare medieval sculpture of the Virgin Mary, has gone on display in the Convent of St. Agnes of Bohemia in Prague. The National Gallery acquired the object three years ago, and it has since undergone careful...

Have you ever wondered where to send your Czech Christmas wishes to? It’s not to Santa Claus at the North Pole, but instead to little Baby Jesus (or Ježíšek) whose “official” Christmas address is the post office in Boží Dar, the highest-located...

Roráty, the centuries-old Advent dawn Masses, remain one of the most distinctive spiritual traditions in Czech and Central European culture. Celebrated in darkness and by candlelight, they offer a quiet moment of reflection before sunrise. A...

Bhutan and Czechia are not two countries we would immediately link together. Yet, they share a 20-year history of collaboration, with Bhutan being UNICEF Czechia’s most consistently supported partner. Current aid focuses on 9,000 young Buddhist...

Exactly 220 years ago, on December 2, 1805, one of the most significant battles in European history unfolded near Slavkov. Emperor Napoleon I of France defeated the joint Russian-Austrian army in a brutal clash that claimed around 60,000 lives...

Czech and US scientists have just launched TerraDrought, the first global system for monitoring drought and forecasting its impacts. To better understand how this tool works, what kinds of data it provides, and who it can help, I spoke with...

In the heart of Olomouc stands the monumental Baroque Holy Trinity Column, a 32-meter landmark consecrated in 1754 in the presence of Empress Maria Theresa. Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000 for its exceptional authenticity, it...

A major retrospective of Eva Švankmajerová — painter, stage designer, writer, and a leading figure of Czech surrealism — is now on display at Prague’s DOX Centre for Contemporary Art. Titled Woe to the Painting…, the exhibition spans her entire...

The number of women driving buses, trolleybuses, and trams in Czechia is rising. According to the Association of Transport Companies, there are now 1,293 women drivers, about 12% of all public transport operators. The organization presented a...

Beekeeping has become a surprising new tool in the fight against poverty in Zambia, helping many poor families in rural areas to survive. Beekeeping has big potential but many locals lack the necessary equipment to get started. How is the Czech...

In this episode of Prague Off the Beaten Track, we take you into Stromovka, Prague’s vast Royal Game Reserve. Once a medieval hunting ground, today it’s one of the city’s most beloved and tranquil parks. Just a short walk from Výstaviště, it...

Prague has been pulled into the Stranger Things universe with new installations at the Albertov and Chodovská tram-stops. A looming Demogorgon and a symbolic portal to the “Upside Down” promote the fifth and final season of the hit Netflix...

President Petr Pavel has described the Bedřiška settlement as a unique example of how residents of a socially excluded area transformed their neighbourhood into a thriving community. In his view – and that of many others defending the...

The Ambassador of the Republic of Colombia H.E. Ms. Solangel  ORTIZ MEJIA,hosted the opening ceremony of the cultural exhibition “Gold and Coca Leaf”  and the gastronomic event  “Flavours of the Colombian Caribbean in Prague”, at the at...

In the Winter issue of the Czech & Slovak Leaders magazine, we will feature a travel article about Rwanda. Until then, in every newsletter, we will publish a promo for it. “The way back to the Cyamudongo tourist centre took us about two...

The Ambassador of the Republic of Kazakhstan H.E Mr. Bakyt DYUSSENBAYEV, and his spouse, hosted at the Vienna Diplomat hotel farewell reception. Here are selected sections of H.E Mr. Bakyt DYUSSENBAYEV and H.E. Most Reverend Jude Thaddeus OKOLO...

A Ukrainian delegation, including children returned home under the Presidential program Bring Kids Back UA and civilian women freed from Russian captivity, was received by Pope Leo XIV in The Vatican city. Witnesses of Suffering: Each child and...

A new book has just been released that captures Prague’s famous St. Vitus Cathedral, in remarkable detail. Called St. Vitus Cathedral, The Stone Crown of the Kingdom, it was created by photographer Jan William Drnek and includes photos of...

Archaeologists are concluding a major investigation into the 12th-century origins of Třebíč, a Moravian town about 60 kilometres west of Brno. Their work has already earned the prestigious Patrimonium pro futuro award, presented by the National...

For the first time, visitors in Brno can see the city’s Christmas lights from above. Every Saturday until Christmas, you can hop on a hot-air balloon in front of the Janáček Theatre. See more here.

Porcelain mantel clocks with digital displays or vases shaped like rubber boots — these are just two of the iconic objects created by one of Czechia’s most outstanding designers, Maxim Velčovský. His work is now being showcased in a...

The expulsion of more than three million Sudeten Germans from post-war Czechoslovakia in 1945 not only changed the face of the region but left many German graves abandoned. Some municipalities repair and maintain the graves on regional budgets...

Czechia consistently ranks among the heaviest-drinking countries in Europe. A new addictology screening program aims to identify risky alcohol and tobacco use sooner and guide people to help before long-term harm develops. The online training...

Polish President Karol Nawrocki on Monday paid his first visit to the Czech Republic since taking office. Traditionally strong partners and allies, the two neighbours have been brought even closer together by the worsening security situation...

How do babies learn the language—or languages—of their parents? Can they distinguish between different dialects? And do bilingual children babble differently to their mom and dad? Czech psycholinguist Nikola Paillereau and her international...

Forged from weapons used by Russia in Ukraine, the “bell of freedom” now rings from the north tower of the Church of the Holy Saviour next to the Charles Bridge. Formally handed over by the Dutch royal couple in June, it was blessed last week...

Born in Červený Kostelec, Petr Novotný has become one of the most recognisable foreign outdoor personalities in Taiwan, a place he now calls home. Known as “Beast runner”, he has pushed himself through some of the island’s toughest...

A special smart T-shirt is being developed in collaboration between scientists from the Technical University of Ostrava and Masaryk University. The unique system of sensors will examine Czechia’s space crew’s reactions to stress in orbit...

In November 1985, Czechoslovak Radio made history in global broadcasting. From Prague’s Rudolfinum, a concert by the Symphony Orchestra was transmitted live to Tokyo—for the very first time digitally via satellite. This bold experiment became a...

Fans flock to see rock legends Lucie live as the band marks its 40th anniversary with a huge nationwide tour, promising their most spectacular shows yet. Founded in 1985 by singer-guitarist Robert Kodym and bass player Petr Chovanec (P. See...