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A church in the village of Hojsova Stráž in the Šumava Mountains is one of the many properties the Catholic Church got rid of in recent years in an effort to stabilize its finances. The church was bought for a symbolic one crown by a local man...

Colette Kaines Lang takes us along on her student budget weekend to Harrachov. Surprisingly, the second hand clothes shops of Prague play a vital role in her preparation to ski, bobsleigh and boogie. A few weeks ago my flatmate announced ‘let’s...

The first written mention of the Harrachov glassworks dates back to 1712, but it was most likely established years before that. Today the oldest surviving glassworks in Czechia makes luxury glass for rich clients the world over and occasionally...

In Today’s edition of Sunday Music Show, we’ll look back at last weekend’s Czech Lion awards and listen to some of the music from the movies that won the prestigious film prizes, including Petr Václav’s “Il Boemo”, Beata Parkanová’s...

Inflatech Decoy is a Czech company from Děčín which has become a market leader in the production of high-end inflatable models of real military equipment that can be used to deceive the enemy about real troop deployments. Their products are...

A new documentary looking at many aspects of the Covid period in Czechia hits cinemas this Thursday, the third anniversary of the country’s first coronavirus lockdown. Entitled Velké nic, or The Great Nothing, the thought-provoking black and...

This article is part of a new column series written by Miroslav Bobek, Director of Prague ZOO.

Hundreds of people in Czechia brew their own beer at home. These “home brewer” enthusiasts are not allowed to sell their products by law, but if they could, they might put some of the big breweries to shame with their excellent...

The villa of the founder of the global shoe empire Baťa was not built by the famous Czech architect Jan Kotěra as had been assumed by historians for many decades. Freshly discovered evidence from the archives shows that the building, which now...

The Czech national baseball team enjoyed a winning debut at the World Baseball Classic tournament in Tokyo on Friday, beating China 8-5 in their Group B encounter. The Czech team qualified for the World Baseball Classic for the first time this...

A group of 66 Czechoslovaks, including women and small children, were abducted and forced to walk 1300 kilometres after being captured in Angola by members of the guerrilla UNITA movement, all the while suffering from diarrhoea, exhaustion and...

New issue of Czech & Slovak Leaders Magazine coming soon!

This article is part of a new column series written by Miroslav Bobek, Director of Prague ZOO.

Outgoing president Miloš Zeman ended his term in office at midnight on Wednesday, with the symbolic lowering of the presidential flag and the closing of Prague Castle’s Gate of the Giants. But that wasn’t enough for some Zeman critics – they...

High rates of unemployment and malnourishment, poor infrastructure and a lack of skilled labour make Zambia one of the least developed countries in the world. But supporting small businesses and farmers is one of the ways Czech development...

In ex-Yugoslavia in 1997, Vladimir Dzuro delivered the first European war crimes indictment from an international tribunal since WWII. The Czech also investigated the notorious 1991 massacre of Croat POWs at Ovčara near Vukovar. His story is...

Composer Viktor Ullmann, who lived in Prague before being sent to the concentration camps by the Nazis, is enjoying something of a revival in Czechia. Composer Viktor Ullmann was born in Těšín but spent much of his young life in Vienna. In 1919...

Since the war in Ukraine began, Czechia has given asylum to nearly half a million Ukrainian refugees. Only Poland and Germany have welcomed more immigrants from the war-torn country, but relative to the population, Czechia has helped more...

A significant percentage of the hundreds of thousands of refugees that have fled to Czechia since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine are children. The nature of the conflict means that some of them arrive into the country completely...

Small stores around the country are fast disappearing, giving way to multinational chains which are better able to withstand the impacts of the energy crisis and two-digit inflation. In the last ten years over 4,000 small stores –butchers...

Petr Pavel has just been sworn in as the new Czech head of state. While the president’s role in the Czech political system is largely symbolic, the way he communicates and presents himself to the public is all the more important, says expert on...

Like many cultural institutions, the National Theatre in Prague is struggling with growing energy costs and increasing demand to operate in a more sustainable way. It has recently installed innovative new heat recovery technology – using the...

The confluence of the Morava and Dyje rivers in South Moravia is set to be declared a protected landscape area, the Ministry of Environment has just announced. The “Moravian Amazon”, as it is sometimes referred to, contains the largest complex...

US journalist Mark Baker spent time in Czechoslovakia in the late 1980s and was long curious whether the Communist state’s secret police kept a file on him. Eventually he did discover that not only was he being monitored in the dying days of...

Prague’s Kampa Island, located on the west bank of the Vltava River, is among the Lesser Quarter’s most idyllic and romantic spots. The verdant oasis is set apart from the historic district by the Devil’s Canal and dotted with historic mills...

Retired general Petr Pavel was officially sworn into office as president of the Czech Republic on Thursday. The ceremony, which took place at Prague Castle, is part of a wider programme of inaugural events that will also see the new head of...

Photo: Matěj Procházka Miroslav Beinhauer is a pianist and player of the sixth-tone harmonium, an instrument conceived by the Czech pioneer of microtonal music Alois Hába in the 1930s. Beinhauer, who is probably the only person in the world to...

On Thursday, Czechia will welcome a new First Lady to Prague Castle – Eva Pavlová. But who is she? And what role does the First Lady play in Czech politics and public life? Some Czech First Ladies have been very active in the public sphere...

A new, never seen before product has hit the Czech market – a smart cradle. Developed by the Czech company Loonoy, the cradle is the result of more than five years of development and promises to make parenting a little easier for Czechs willing...

The Beskids or Beskid Mountains were named a protected landscape on March 5, 1973. They are the last living mountain range in Czechia, according to the area’s director. The brown bear, the common wolf, the Carpathian newt, the banded vulture...

First part of a series of regular columns written by Miroslav Bobek, Director of Prague ZOO

Thirteen film reels found in the Austrian Film Museum and almost 5 hours of footage, mostly from 1934 to 1937. Unique shots from the early years of Prague Zoo and other places. Who filmed them and who was the woman, appearing in the films? The...

The organisers of the One World Festival have just revealed plans for its 25th edition, three weeks before it kicks off in Prague. This year the event will offer 75 feature-length human rights documentaries, including a number focused on...

Three quarters of Czechs see the war in Ukraine as a case of “unjustifiable Russian aggression”, according to a survey conducted by the Median agency for Czech Radio on the occasion of the one year anniversary of the outbreak of the conflict...

One of the most beloved Czech cartoon characters, Ferdy the Ant or Ferda mravenec, turns 90 this year. Prague’s Villa Pellé is marking the anniversary with a new exhibition celebrating Ferdy the Ant’s creator, Ondřej Sekora. Ondřej Sekora, a...

At the end of her five-day fact-finding mission to Czechia, the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatovic criticized the country’s slow progress in addressing discrimination against Romanies. She said that, despite the...

General Emil Boček, the last living Czech airman who served in Britain’s RAF during WWII, celebrates his 100th birthday this Saturday. The veteran pilot, decorated with the highest state distinctions, served with the RAF’s 312 and 310 squadrons...

Gift for Putin has been one of the most active Czech civic groups providing direct support to Ukraine. Its best-known project has been a collection for a tank named Tomáš, which won international headlines. Now – as well as organising a concert...

Moldova is one of Europe’s poorest countries with a very high rate of migration. According to statistics from the Czech NGO People in Need, four people leave Moldova every hour for a better life abroad. The post-Soviet republic, located between...

Male close-harmony singing gained worldwide popularity in the 1920s. In 1930’s Czechoslovakia the leading representative of this trend was the Melody Boys quartet. This particular vocal style became all the rage in 1920’s Europe and...

The traditional spring fair Matějská pouť opened its gates to visitors in Prague’s Holešovice district at the weekend. The fair is the biggest in the country offering over 100 attractions. It will last until April 10. Source

New rules have just come into force in Czechia aiming to tackle the problem of light pollution. Their goal is to lower the negative impact on the health of people and wildlife by, for instance, setting a maximum level of illumination for street...

Hundreds of independent Russian journalists who fear being prosecuted by the Kremlin could benefit from a new project being set up by Czech Vice President of the European Commission Věra Jourová. Called “Radio Free Russia”, it would include...

This week saw the opening of the temporary Moravian Jewish Museum in Brno which offers an exhibition focused on the stories of local Moravian Jews through a variety of authentic objects. The site will operate until the new museum building...

Prague has changed enormously since 1990, but recently – with projects like the overhaul of the Masaryk Station area – it can feel like development is accelerating further. For an informed view, I spoke to the best possible guide to the city:...

A series of events, organised by the NGO People in Need, will take place in Prague this week to mark the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. They will include a video mapping on the building of the Ministry of the Interior, as...

The Zaporizhzhia Regional Youth Centre in Ukraine is one of the largest youth centres in Europe and has served as a volunteer headquarters since the outbreak of the war. The centre also received support from the Czech NGO People in Need and was...

Naďa Urbánková, one of Czechia’s most famous pop and country signers, died this month at the age of 83. Aside from being a performer, she was also known for her roles in some of the country’s most iconic musicals such as the 1965 movie ‘If a...

The Czech government is facing a major battle in the lower house over a bill which would reduce the indexation of old-age pensions. While the cabinet argues the need to economize, the opposition says the government is hurting the most...

February is traditionally a time of pig slaughter feasts in Czechia, an event accompanied by eating, drinking and comradery. Kevin Loo shares his impressions of one such event in Prague. With apologies to any vegan or vegetarian readers out...

Orchids are in full bloom in the Liberec Botanical Garden. Source

Nusle Bridge, connecting Pankrác plain with Prague’s Karlov, is one of the key transport structures in the city. Over 160,000 cars cross it every day, while 750 metro trains pass through a tunnel inside it. The first idea to span the Nusle...

Twenty-five years ago today the Czech national hockey team won gold at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano Japan. We spoke with all-star goaltender Dominik Hašek who helped lead the Czech team to glory, about how he remembers the game against...

“Continued support for Ukraine for as long as the war lasts” was the main message to come out of the Munich security conference last weekend. However, the Czech president-elect Petr Pavel stressed that Russia’s defeat could happen under various...

Nearly two-fifths of people who identify as LGBTQ+ in Czechia have faced harassment or insults because of their orientation or identity over the past year. And seven out of ten people think insulting remarks from politicians are widespread...

The government should this week consider proposals from the Foreign Ministry to terminate treaties allowing Russia free rent of land on which Russian-owned buildings stand in Czechia. The Czech side are also seeking rents paid for the use of...

Czechia’s national men’s baseball team is on the road to the World Baseball Classic in Tokyo this March, but many may not be aware that this team is largely made up of professional baseball players, who also have full time careers outside...

In a forthright speech on Tuesday, the head of the Czech Army said that if there were a war between NATO and Russia, the Czechs would immediately become active participants. Karel Řehka told the country’s top brass that preparations must be...

Czechia’s annual Muriel Awards for best comic book of the year went to a comic diary by the respected Czech comic author Lucie Lomová. The book, called Každý den je nový or Every Day Starts Anew, also won the prize of the Czech Academy of...

On the occasion of the first anniversary of the war in Ukraine, the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Markéta Pekarová Adamová, together with the representative of the Ukrainian Embassy to the Czech Republic, Vitaly Usaty, unveiled an...

Czechia has many friends in Cambodia. And small wonder, hundreds of Cambodian graduates of Czech universities, including King Norodom Sihamoni himself, cherish fond memories of their stay in Czechia and still retain some of the Czech language...

The Czech Society for Ornithology has announced that the Bird of the Year for 2023 is the common pochard. A common type of duck in this part of the world, its population has dropped by a third over the past 30 years. The common pochard is the...

There’s no doubt that Czechs love their beer, but with inflation at an all time high, the prices of pints are going up by nearly five or ten crowns per half litre. But the rising cost has less to do with beer itself getting more expensive and...

Prague Zoo employees in cooperation with their Mongolian colleagues and partners have completed selection of the locality for the planned reintroduction of Przewalski’s horses to the east of Mongolia. After a long-lasting process, which...

February 13 is World Radio Day. Under the slogan “Radio and Peace”, this year the UN put the spotlight on the role of radio as an independent medium of peace making, Radio Prague International brings you this special broadcast in collaboration...

The band Vesna has been chosen to represent the Czech Republic at this year’s Eurovision Song contest. The all-female group won the national round with the song “My Sister’s Crown”, beating competitors such as Markéta Irglová...

Prague got a new lord mayor on Thursday, with Bohuslav Svoboda starting his second term as head of the city council. Critics question whether the Civic Democrat, who is 79, will be able to devote all his energies to the role, given his other...

More than 8,000 people have already signed a petition initiated by the NGO Konsent, calling for the improvement of sexual education in Czech schools. What do Czech children learn about sex? And is it really the school’s role to educate them on...

Karel Čapek’s play The Mother, about a woman who does her all to prevent her son dying in war, got its premiere in Prague 85 years ago, on 12 February 1938. The famous Czech writer’s final play, like the earlier The White Disease, came in...

Brno-based startup Mewery has recently had a big breakthrough – it created the first prototype of cultivated meat in the region of Central and Eastern Europe. The company says its prototype has nutritional benefits and that the method to...

Czechoslovak Radio saw some of the most intense violence when the USSR led an invasion of the country in August 1968. That traumatic moment and the preceding Prague Spring period are the setting for a new film, Vlny/Waves, now being made by...

After more than 80 years, the Czech state has returned art objects that belonged to the family of a wealthy Jewish businessman Johann Bloch, who lost his property during WWII. The four paintings and 10 liturgical vestments were returned to...

Czech footballer Jakub Jankto has made major international headlines by becoming the highest profile player currently in the men’s game to come out as homosexual. The 27-year-old’s move has won support from the soccer community around the world...

“After the 1968 Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia we always rooted for the Czech hockey team” the Israeli ambassador to Czechia, Anna Azari, says in an interview for Radio Prague International. Azari is a seasoned diplomat with a special...

Flat prices went down for the first time since 2013 in Czechia in the last quarter of 2022, according to the index of Hypoteční banka, a daughter company of ČSOB bank. The index suggests that the cost of an average flat fell by 0.7 percent in...

Landscape protection, development of tourism and support of alternative social services – these are just a few examples of Czech development cooperation projects that are currently running in Georgia. The mountainous country located on the...

On Thursday morning I could see for the first time the newly born pangolin baby on the footage of the night camera. But I could hardly recognize only a part of the head and at a one point also the long curved claws of the left front leg...

In Czechia, ice hockey is one of the most popular and celebrated sports. But while men enjoy the privilege of being able to play in different leagues based on their age and skill level, women struggle to finance and find clubs to play in. While...

The Vietnamese community is the third largest ethnic minority group here in Czechia, but how much do Czechs and other foreigners living in the country know about their community and history? Walking through the streets of Prague, you might...

The earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria in the early hours of Monday morning has now claimed over 5000 lives, with the death toll still rising. Although the hopes of finding people alive buried underneath the rubble are decreasing now that...

Director Karel Kachyňa’s Ucho/The Ear is considered one of the greatest Czech films of all time. It centres on a Communist elite couple in the early 1950s who are gripped by panic that – with party purges taking place – the secret police will...

President-elect Petr Pavel made international news this week by phoning the president of Taiwan – and later saying Czechia would no longer act “like an ostrich” toward China. What is behind these moves? And what’s next for relations between...

The series of eight murders committed by Jaroslav and Dana Stodol in 2001 and 2002 are unprecedented in the history of Czech criminology. The case was exceptional not only because of the scale and cruelty of the crimes, but also because of...

While daily commuters in Prague want a comfortable and fast ride to work, veteran tram enthusiasts saviour the feeling of getting on one of the old open, wooden trams for a nostalgic ride through Prague. With that in mind, Prague City Transport...

Thirty years ago, a Czech unit serving in the UNPROFOR mission rescued over fifty French soldiers under siege in what was then still Yugoslavia. It was one of the greatest successes of the newly formed Czech army. The unit was led by Czechia’s...

Czech “Mardi Gras” celebrations have kicked off around the country. The Zubrnice Open-Air Museum in Ústí nad Labem organized the traditional carnival procession of masks in their locality. Source

Shelters and emergency housing facilities across Czechia have started filling up as the freezing weather drives homeless people off the streets. With nighttime lows likely to stay at around minus 12 degrees for the rest of the week, I spoke to...

Agriculture, water and education are three of the main areas where Czechia cooperates with Ethiopia on development. While just under a third of the country’s inhabitants live below the poverty line and more than half are illiterate, the...

The Interior Ministry’s latest report on the manifestations of extremism in Czechia warns of groups of people who have the potential to threaten the democratic foundations of the Czech Republic. According to the report, the potential is already...

Czech Radio is currently gearing up to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of the station’s foundation in May. The public broadcaster, of which Radio Prague International is part, is running several projects and events in connection with the...

The Czech National Bank has issued a 1,000 crown banknote to commemorate the birth of an independent Czech currency after the split of Czechoslovakia. Thousands of people braved the freezing cold, queuing up outside the Prague branch of the...

Large-scale tapestries inspired by the artworks of Josef Čapek and several other Czech painters are currently on display at the Imperial Stables of Prague Castle. The stunning pieces were created by the Moravian Tapestry Manufactory in Valašské...

H.E. Mr. Egemen BAGIS, Ambassador of the Republic of Türkiye published the following statement on the Embassy's Instagram page regarding Türkiye earthquake, worst disaster in 84 years

Born just before 4 a.m., it weighs 135 grams and resembles a living spruce cone. The first pangolin pup that was born not just in the Prague Zoo, but also the first one ever in all of Europe. „We are incredibly happy, but at the same time we do...

Czechs assessed President Miloš Zeman’s ten-year performance in the country’s top post with an average 4 on a five point scale, the equivalent of a “D” in the Western school grading system, according to the results of a survey...

Retired army general Petr Pavel is set to become Czechia’s next president after winning a sweeping victory in the second round of presidential elections. He beat his contestant for the top post, former prime minister Andrej Babiš by the biggest...

The newly-elected Czech president Petr Pavel has promised sweeping changes at Prague Castle. He wants to open up the historic seat of Czech kings to the public and return to the tradition of employing a Prague Castle architect. Asked what he...

Steriani Elavsky is an associate professor at the University of Ostrava who has spent years researching the benefits that physical movement has on our mental and physical wellbeing. Steriani spent 17 years at the University of Illinois and...

The Brno Philharmonic is embarking on a ten-day tour of the United States. The orchestra, which last performed in North America nearly 50 years ago, will play seven concerts at seven different locations. The tour will kick off with a...

A captivating picture of Bezděz castle won the 2023 competition for the most beautiful Czech postcard. The photographer, Ladislav Renner, told Czech Radio how he managed to capture the arresting shot. A stunning medieval Gothic castle snaking...