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I swam to that small coral reef almost every morning, but even after more than a week of my stay at the Red Sea I hadn’t made friends with its inhabitants. Dark, about ten-centimetre-long fish that shared it, didn’t show any intention to build...

Fifty-five years ago, on the night of August 20-21, 1968, the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia began, marking a definitive end to the hopes that the series of liberalising and democratic reforms that had taken place in the country in the...

A few months ago for an article in our magazine about Argentinian wine: Salud! World-class wines from Argentina I met Rodrigo Schmidt (a co-founder and co-owner of Productos Latinos, a company focusing on importing and selling wines from many...

Shooting began in Prague in 1983 on one of the most famous movies ever made in the city, Miloš Forman’s Amadeus, which later earned eight Oscars. Forman’s extremely successful film was based on a stage play by Peter Shaffer, who also wrote the...

Czech politicians have moved to quell anti-Ukrainian sentiment in the wake of two violent attacks against Czech women, which were reportedly committed by Ukrainian youths. President Pavel has warned against applying the principle of collective...

Prague was recently featured on the New York Times travel guide 36 Hours – where journalists give their best recommendations for local gems and places that tourists may not find in their guide book. I caught up with writer Evan Rail to talk...

Jan Hocek is an enthusiastic traveller, tourist guide and columnist, who has completed some of the world’s most challenging trails. In 2020, he created a comprehensive network of long-distance tourist and pilgrimage routes leading through the...

Petrin is one of the most popular parks in the city of Prague, attracting both locals and tourists. From the Petrin tower, to the beautiful fruit orchards, there is something everyone can enjoy in one of the cities biggest green spaces. See the...

Prague’s metro A line passes under Prague’s iconic monuments, has a uniform design and vestibules featuring figures of Czech kings. No wonder one its stations, Staroměstská, was ranked by the CNN among the most beautiful metro stops in Europe...

The 20th annual festival of new circus and theatre Letní Letná opened in Prague on Wednesday night with a breathtaking water show. The festival offers over 100 performances in its jubilee year. “Awesome, fascinating, incredible”...

The Krkonoše Mountains are a beloved spot in Czechia, but recently, they have become the focal point of growing concern amongst environmental scientists. Movement in the tree line boundary of the mountains is threatening the existence of other...

After 16 NHL seasons with the Boston Bruins, Czech-born David Krejčí announced his retirement from the National Hockey League on Monday. Krejčí played all 16 seasons of his professional hockey career with the Boston Bruins, developing a...

The news site Seznam Zpravy has questioned the moral integrity of one of the most successful managers in the health sector, the head of the prestigious Institute of Clinical and Experimental Medicine (IKEM) in Prague, suggesting that he had...

Prague has long been one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe, ranking in the top 10 of capital cities by visitor numbers and beating other well-known cities such as Vienna, Berlin and Venice, despite its relatively small size...

No sooner was Robert Fremr nominated as one of three new constitutional judges when accusations began to surface about sentences he handed out pre-1989. Now he has made the decision to step down, although he had already been approved by the...

Czech women remain conspicuously absent from most seats of power in Czechia. The country has never had a female PM or president and NGOs have repeatedly highlighted the lack of women’s representation in national politics. Moreover, female...

After several months of intensive preparations, on Monday 14 August Czechia submitted Basic Design Plan as necessary document before applying for Temporary Building Permit to the Osaka Authorities. This makes Czechia the second country, after...

The Dvořák music festival is a popular annual event, but this year’s 67th edition brings an exciting new twist to the tradition – it takes place on a boat on the Vltava River. Visitors can listen to the music of Dvořák while blissfully floating...

British linguist Danny Bate divides his time between Prague and Edinburgh, where he is completing a PhD. Given his academic background, the 26-year-old has many fascinating things to say on the Czech language, which he himself is studying. But...

Performances by Czech and international performers, students, and volunteers. Through their own bodies they interpret historical and contemporary facts about queer people and works in art history. Liquid Queer Memoria is a performative study of...

What connection do artists such as ABBA, The Beatles, Queen, Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan and Edith Piaf have with Czechoslovakia? Most of them never even performed in the country. However, Czech cover versions of their songs became huge hits in...

The Prague authorities said this week they were opposed to a planned performance in the city by Russian opera star Anna Netrebko, citing her ties to the Putin regime. The venue for the concert is now set to negotiate with the agency handling...

I missed the first two mountain bongos this year – by that I mean I did not see them on the day they were born – but the third one was a Sunday baby and I managed to be there. I found it lying at the feet of his now 14-year-old mother...

Although the substance known as ayahuasca is illegal in Czechia, there have been some scientific studies showing that it could have potential as a treatment for depression. In order to test its therapeutic possibilities, Czech scientists have...

The 13th edition of Prague Pride, an annual festival celebrating the LGBTQ community, took place in Prague on Saturday 12th August 2023.

From today, visitors to the Prague Zoo can observe the female nutcracker Šiška and her parents in daylight. Newly, the night exposition of the Indonesian jungle will be shrouded in darkness until 10 o’clock. The first nutcracker cub in...

The female short-tailed pinecone has reached the age of six months and has switched from mother’s milk to adult food. Last week, therefore, the Prague Zoo declared the first born shellac in Europe to have been successfully bred. In...

Recycling water from sewage treatment plants is a common practice in many countries with a warmer climate, including Texas, Israel or the southern European states. The purified water is used in industry, agriculture and even in households. A...

The head of the Czech police, Martin Vondrášek, has apologised after saying in an interview that women “very often” make up claims of sexual assault. However, advocacy groups says the force needs to do far more to reassure women. On Monday the...

A travelling exhibition of photographs by leading Ukrainian war photographers, has currently opened on the premises of the Červený kostel church in Olomouc. The collection includes the winner of the 2022 World Press Photo Award. The collection...

What connection do artists such as ABBA, The Beatles, Queen, Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan and Edith Piaf have with Czechoslovakia? Most of them never even performed in the country. However, Czech cover versions of their songs became huge hits in...

Modlivý důl (Prayer Valley) near Svojkov in the Liberec Region is one of the most haunting spots in the Lusatian Mountains. The monolithic rock chapel created in one of the sandstone rocks of a former mine is an old pilgrimage site that has...

In Prague on August 7, 2023 At the invitation of the President of the Republic, Petr Pavel, the President came to the Czech Republic for an official visit Filipe Jacinta Nyusi and his wife Isaura Ferrão Nyusi of the Republic of Mozambique. The...

The Prague Civil Society Center, located in the heart of the city, works with various stakeholders across 18 different countries, helping civic groups and independent journalists grow their audiences and expand their reach, even those in...

Many tributes have been paid to senior Czech diplomat Martin Povejšil, who has died at the age of 62. Mr. Povejšil held several key posts in over three decades at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and his death is being described as an enormous...

The Interior and Education Ministries have proposed a number of changes to the rules governing the language test required for foreigners to obtain permanent residence in Czechia. The proposal envisions an increase in the cost of the test, an...

Mushroom picking and foraging forest fruits is something of a national pastime in Czechia. Indeed, Czechs harvested nearly 39,000 tonnes of forest fruits worth almost eight billion crowns last year, and six out of ten Czechs visited the forest...

The importance of dealing with and seeking out assistance for mental health has become more common over recent years, but regardless of the decrease in societal taboos, young people in Czechia – specifically Gen Z and Millennials, are dealing...

Conventional is not the concept when it comes to the new bistro in Prague’s Vršovice operated by couple Meggie and Nugy. The duo have created a space that brings together a fusion of the food they love from all cuisines, curating a unique...

The World Scout Jamboree, an international meeting of Scout organisations from around the world which takes place every four years in a different country, was plagued by problems from the start this year in South Korea. Heavy rains, a lack of...

The 1983 World Championships in Athletics, held in Finland’s Helsinki, were the first edition of the competition – and proved the most successful ever for Czechoslovakia. Czechoslovakia took four gold medals in Helsinki, as well as three...

The controversy surrounding the nomination of Robert Fremr to the panel of Constitutional Court judges has flared up once again. New allegations have surfaced that he may have knowingly served the regime in over 100 communist-rigged trials pre...

Czechia was among 40 states attending a meeting in Saudi Arabia at the weekend focused on a possible settlement of Russia’s war on Ukraine. Also present were China, India and Brazil, which has been seen by some as a sign of progress. Czechia’s...

If you’re looking for the perfect place to spend a day in nature, the Botanical gardens in Troja is the perfect destination. Diverse plant life and magnificent views of Prague can be seen, making it the ideal place for plant lovers and families...

The female of Chinese pangolin Šiska was half-a-year-old on Wednesday. We can consider her breeding completed – and we can add another item to the list of historical achievements of Prague Zoo, in this case in bold. The breeding of Šiška...

It proved to be an exciting weekend for the world of Czech athletics, as the country collected three medals, two of them gold in men’s basketball, archery, and ice hockey. The 31st FISU World University Games wrap up today in Chengdu, China...

Regular blockades of the “magistrála” through road cutting across Prague have become a fact of life in the city, incensing some drivers. The protests are aimed at promoting the idea of a 30 kilometre an hour speed limit in the capital and are...

Heavy rains have caused catastrophic conditions in major parts of Slovenia, and lives are also at risk. Residents are assisted by all available forces.

On Friday, August 4, 2023 at 1:00 p.m., the President of the Republic Petr Pavel appointed Ph.D. JUDr. Josef Baxa as the President of the Constitutional Court, he will take up the position on August 8, 2023.

In the summer, the Prague Zoo invites you to Melon Wednesdays with the big turtles. Every third day of the week from 1 p.m., visitors can watch Galapagos elephant tortoises and giant tortoises from the Aldabra Atoll enjoying watermelons.

Nestor kea chicks inhabited the exhibit together with their parents. The little parrots were artificially fed in the background and therefore only now became acquainted with the parent couple - male Rudy and female Judy.

What do artists such as ABBA, The Beatles, Queen, Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan and Edith Piaf have in common with Czechoslovakia?

International headlines were made at the weekend when Czech police stopped a Russian player from entering the country to appear at a tennis tournament.

The Czech Republic is one of many countries marking Roma Holocaust Memorial Day on 2 August, the day in 1944 when 2,897 Roma were murdered in Auschwitz.

Prague’s annual Pride festival is set to begin on Monday, running one week of events and festivities that celebrate queer culture and understate the importance continuing to push for full gender and racial equity in Czechia.

For three decades, the Czech Summer Course for Expatriates has been bringing people with Czech ancestry from all over the world to their ancestral home to get in touch with their roots and brush up on their language skills.

A long-awaited new pedestrian bridge connecting Prague’s districts of Holešovice and Karlín officially opened to the public on Friday.

Recently there have been a lot of Czech media reports about tensions and conflicts between the Roma and Ukrainian refugee communities in the country.

Communist-era dissident John Bok has some great stories to tell. His parents met in the UK during the war and his English grandmother joined them in Prague after the conflict ended.

Selling real estate over the Internet is becoming more and more common. A comprehensive solution in this area is offered by the Quarter startup, which is supported by Jaromír Šimek and Jan Zelený.

Helppes is a non-profit organisation based in Prague that trains and matches assistance dogs to clients who have varying disabilities. I took a trip to their training facility to learn more about what they do, and the impact their work has on...

If you’re planning to watch the Barbie film, you might be surprised to learn that the drinks and pitchers in the Barbie bar were designed by Czech glassware company Klimchi.

If you’re looking for a tranquil spot to observe the red rooftops of Prague, the Furstenberg garden should be your next trip. With multitple terraces, fruit trees and rose bushes, the garden is a plant lovers' paradise.

Three Czechs who risked their lives to save nine members of a Jewish family from the Holocaust have been recognised in memoriam as Righteous Among the Nations, the highest Israeli tribute to Gentiles who saved the lives of Jews during the...

The Senate met on Wednesday to consider three judges nominated for places on the Constitutional Court. However, the candidacy of Robert Fremr for Czechia’s top court sparked controversy, following recent allegations of impropriety pre-1989.

Matěj Číp, a musician from a small village in Moravia, has devoted his life to playing the cimbalom, a hammered dulcimer from Central-Eastern Europe.

According to the Ministry of Interior’s biannual report on extremism, the anti-establishment, anti-government movement in Czechia has been gaining strength and is now overshadowing the traditional xenophobic extremist groups.

This morning, the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Petr Fiala, christened the foal Převalský’s horse at Prague’s Maiden’s Castle. The moon mare got the name Barunka from him. Prime Minister Fiala is not only the godfather...

As soon as it hatched, it was already fighting for its life. The baby Humboldt penguin was kicked out of the nest by an aggressive neighboring couple already on the 19th day of its life. However, the apparently dead bird was saved by a team of...

2022 and the start of 2023 brought a great deal of concern around affordability and inflation for Czechs. But new data from the Czech Statistical Office shows that Czechs are feeling slightly more optimistic about their country’s economic...

Some of the country’s biggest ever musical artistes, including Karel Gott, Helena Vondráčková and Waldemar Matuška, have recorded hits at Czech Radio’s storied Studio A. Studio A is located not at Czech Radio’s historic building on Vinohradska...

David Strauzz is a mixed media artist who was born to Czech immigrants in Ontario, Canada. Since 2015, he has lived in Prague, where he came to public attention mainly through his large-scale murals. He also runs the MEGA Gallery, located at...

Jiřina Šiklová and Madeleine Albright are just two of the women who streets and green areas will be named after in a new Prague district called Smíchov City, after a City Council vote this week. While Albright was a US secretary of state...

If you’ve toured around Prague, you’ve likely visited the historic Prague Castle. But some tourists and even locals in the city may not be aware of the beautiful gardens that lie just beneath the castle walls. Five interconnected...

One of Czechia’s biggest alternative music festivals, Pop Messe, takes place in Brno this coming Friday and Saturday. The third edition of the event has a slightly different venue but, with names like Spiritualized and Young Fathers, boasts...

With its monumental neo-classicist style and lavish interiors, Prague’s Petschek Palace was one of the most expensive buildings of its time when built in the 1920s. However today most Czechs don’t associate the palace with architecture but...

We’ve probably all taken back some sand or a shell from the beach as a souvenir from a holiday before. But what about a gecko or a turtle? According to Prague Airport customs officers, coming across illegal food items, plants or even exotic...

Along with its world famous sites, Prague Castle also boasts an unparalleled collection of historical fabrics. A new book details the 270 items in the valuable collection, which include pieces of garments from the tomb of Saint Ludmila, the...

270 years ago, on 24 July 1753, Empress Maria Theresa issued a set of regulations on healthcare in Bohemia, initiating some significant changes in the health sector, including obstetrics. Maria Theresa’s accession to the throne marked the...

After years of negotiations, the Jewish Museum in Prague has received a substantial part of a unique art collection discovered in 2018. Nearly 380 paintings and drawings by the artist Gertrud Kauders have been donated to the institution by her...

Scientists are warning that 2023 could be the hottest year in the world on record, and heat waves are predicted to become all the more common each year. This summer, heatwaves have swept across Europe, as the El Nino climate pattern leaves...

Youth Included, a grassroots organization founded in 2013, has been providing opportunities and support for migrant youth in Prague. Managed by foreigners for foreigners, the organization aims to bridge the language gap and create a sense of...

Prague football club Bohemians 1905 surprised almost everyone when an unexpected fourth place in Czech football’s top flight last season earned them a place in the qualifiers for the Europa Conference League – their first European competition...

Whenever we release in western Mongolia Przewalski’s horses transported from Europe, I experience a feeling of satisfaction. Of course… However, I had a similar feeling also last week, when we returned to the East of Mongolia, the Valley of...

The new movie Barbie is currently doing incredible box office around the world. And the film’s male lead Ryan Gosling has delighted many Czech fans by saying that the way Barbie was made reminded him of the work of the pioneering 1950s and...

In the enclosure of Cuban flamingos in the lower part of the Prague Zoo, visitors can observe a few remarkable foster children these days. An experienced pair of Cuban flamingos took in a baby of another species – a pink flamingo...

The second largest park in Prague’s city centre, the Wallenstein garden was built by Albrecht von Wallenstein and modelled after an Italian mannerist garden. Visistors can enjoy beautiful flower beds, fountains, and of course the famous...

Czech tennis has just enjoyed an unforgettable weekend. Markéta Vondroušová became the first ever unseeded champion of Wimbledon in women’s singles, while Barbora Strýcová lifted the women’s doubles titles in her last appearance at the All...

The annual Summer Festivities of Early Music get underway in Prague on Tuesday evening, bringing historical music to unique venues around the Czech capital. I discussed the event with its director Josefína Knoblochová and I first asked her...

California-based author Ethan Scheiner discusses his new book Freedom to Win, centred on Czechoslovakia’s 1969 ice hockey wins over the USSR, and the riots that followed. See the rest here. Author: Ian Willoughby

An exhibition marking 100 years since the start of regular radio broadcasting in Czechoslovakia will get underway at the Czech Center in New York this coming Monday. The commemoration will also feature a concert, live broadcasting from the US...

President Petr Pavel and his wife Eva ended their trip to South Bohemia with rescuers at the Lipno reservoir. The visit to Dolní Vltavica was intended to draw attention to the importance of volunteer work, prevention and education. During the...

Prague’s best-known attractions are familiar to millions around the globe. But now unconventional sights and secret corners of Prague, far from the usual tourist spots, are gaining online fame as a young generation of travelers seeks new...

The Myslbek Palace on Na Příkopě street is one of Prague’s newest modern palaces. Constructed in the late 1990s, the building connects two historically distinct areas of Prague, the city’s main shopping boulevard and the Old Town behind it. In...

To celebrate Czech Radio’s centenary, its creative team wanted to highlight not only its vast historical archives, but also its future. And so the idea was born for Gott Forever, a project to recreate the speaking voice of Karel Gott, who...

Czechoslovakia’s victories over the USSR at the 1969 ice hockey world championships – just a year after Soviet tanks had rolled into the country – represent a famous moment in the country’s modern history. Those games, and the riots they...

The number of foreign workers coming to Czechia continues to grow, as new data compiled by the Czech Statistical Office shows. To understand these new trends, we spoke with Dalibor Holý, Director of the Labour Market and Equal Opportunities...

Under the communist regime, Czechs were limited to say the least in terms of their travel destinations. Those who were able to get permission often went to the then Yugoslavia – and Croatia remains the leading summer holiday destination for...

Colours of Ostrava is set to take place in the Moravian city on Wednesday through to Saturday, bringing together a wide variety of musical performances and other entertainment. We spoke to Jiří Sedlák, coordinator of the festival, about what to...

The Bohemia Jazz Festival was launched in 2006 by the acclaimed jazz guitarist Rudy Linka with the aim to bring world-class jazz to the Czech Republic. Over the years, it has become one of the biggest and most popular jazz festivals in Europe...