AuthorMartin Hladík

Photo: Tomáš Černý, Czech Radio

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-1989 and lied about his past in Senate hearings.

The country’s communist past throws a long shadow and less than 48 hours before Fremr’s planned appointment, new information emerged suggesting that that in the years 1983 to 1985 Fremr had tried over 140 emigres, handing out verdicts in communist-rigged trials that stripped some of them of property and resulted in their families being persecuted by the secret police. Senator Hilšer told Czech Radio the Senate would never have approved his nomination in light of this information.

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Author: Daniela Lazarová

We had an interview with Robert Fremr in one of our past issues. You can read it here.

Photo: Czech Foreign Ministry

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 representative at the consultations was Deputy Foreign Minister Jan Marian and I spoke to him following his return to Prague.

What was the message that you brought from Czechia to the meeting in Jeddah?

“First our support to Ukraine in general – this is what we’ve been doing since the second Russian aggression started – and full support for the 10-point peace plan of President Zelensky.

“And also we offered concrete areas of interest where Czechia could help in implementing the plan, such as nuclear safety and security, and the international tribunal or mechanisms for prosecuting Russian war crimes.”

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Author: Ian Willoughby

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 with young children.

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Authors: Barbora Navrátilová, Amelia Mola-Schmidt

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 is essential not only because it was associated with several difficulties, but also because it is the first pangolin pup bred in Europe. At the same time, it is necessary to highlight that these scaled mammals, living in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia are highly threatened by illegal hunting and trade. After all, the attention given to Šiška in the world of zoos only highlights the importance of her breeding.

And if I mentioned recording in bold, I should mention the context, within which Šiska will be listed. Therefore, I tried to put together a list of the ten biggest breeding achievements of Prague Zoo since its foundation until today. It was not an easy task, because in such a list, breeding, scientific, conservation and marketing aspects must necessarily mix. Nonetheless, here is the result: 1933 – Przewalski’s horse – the first foal in Prague Zoo

1937 – Andean condor – the second breeding in the world (the first published one)

1942 – polar bear – Sněhulka – hand rearing, unique in the world (in 1947 then Polárka – the first parent rearing in Czechoslovakia)

1972 – cheetah – one of the first breedings in Europe

1989 – aardvark – the first breeding in Czechoslovakia, third breeding in Europe

1998 – northern caiman lizard – the first world breeding

2004 – western lowland gorilla – Moja – the first breeding in Czech Republic

2012 – rufous-cheeked laughingthrush – the first breeding in world zoological gardens

2012 – Brahmini river turtle – the first world breeding connected with discovery of the manner of reproduction

2023 – Chinese pangolin – Šiška – the first breeding of pangolin in Europe

And what’s next? Which important breedings we would wish in future? I would like to bet on giant salamanders. Or shoebills. However, historical achievements can’t be planned.

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. The 12 day competition brings student athletes from all over the world together to compete in a number of sports and athletic categories.

On Sunday night Czechia took the gold medal home in men’s basketball. The squad defeated Brazil in a nail biting 69-67 win.

Top scorer Jan Zidek hit a game high record scoring 24 points and snatching 9 rebounds for Czechia, and Martin Svoboda followed with another nine points to seal the gold medal for the team.

It is the first medal in more than 35 years for Czech basketball.

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Author: Amelia Mola-Schmidt

Photo: Ian Willoughby, Radio Prague International

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 organised by a climate crisis activist group called Poslední Generace, or Last Generation. I spoke to one of its leading members, Arne Springorum, who is from Germany but has been living in Czechia for three decades.

Many people are concerned about the environment but few go into that field full-time. What was your motivation?

“It’s a step-by-step process, isn’t it [laughs]? I didn’t go into the situation I am in now from one day to the other. I’ve known about the climate crisis since the early ‘90s and had my head in the sand, like everyone else.

“Then when Extinction Rebellion was founded in the UK and I saw the pictures of ordinary citizens getting arrested I realised I am one of them – so I stepped up.”

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Author: Ian Willoughby

The foal, which Prime Minister Petr Fiala baptized together with the director of the Prague Zoo, Miroslav Bobek, is the first young Převalský horse, which was born in the paddock built by the Prague Zoo at Dívče Hrady in Radlice. Photo by Petr Hamerník, Prague Zoo

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 of the cub, but above all he patronizes the project of the return of these last wild horses to Kazakhstan, which is organized by the Prague Zoo.

“Rescuing Převalský’s horse has a huge tradition in the Czech Republic thanks to the Prague Zoo, which has always played a big role in it. I was personally present in Astana when Director Bobek signed the memorandum of cooperation between the Prague Zoo and the Kazakh Ministry of Ecology regarding the fact that we would participate in the spread of the Przewalski’s horse in the Central Asian region, specifically in Kazakhstan. Now I am happy that I can christen the first foal born at Dívče hrad, because in the future it is Barunka who will quite possibly head to the land of her ancestors, to the steppes of Kazakhstan,” said the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Petr Fiala, at the christening ceremony.

The name Barunka, which was ceremoniously revealed by Prime Minister Petr Fiala together with Prague Zoo Director Miroslav Bobek and Deputy Mayor Hl. Jana Komrsková, City of Prague for the Environment, did not get the foal by accident. The Prime Minister recalled the symbolism of St. Barbora as the patron saint of children and also referred to Baroness Božena Němcová as a symbol of childhood and joy. Photo by Petr Hamerník, Prague Zoo

According to his words, he chose the name Barunka because it meets the annually changing criterion of the initial letter with which the names of all born foals begin – this year it is the letter “B” – and also because it is a nice Czech name, which has a number of names for the Czechs importance. In that context, the Prime Minister reminded the patron saint of children St. Barbora and the character of Baronka from Babička Božena Němcová, who, according to him, represents joy, childhood and happy adolescence.

On the occasion of the christening, the director of the Prague Zoo, Miroslav Bobek, recalled that the Prague Zoo was and is participating in the reintroduction of Převalský’s horses to Mongolia in a significant way. After all, thanks to this, he is the holder of the highest award of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums WAZA Conservation Award. “After the successful reintroduction to the west of Mongolia, we are preparing to expand our project to the east of the country. But even before that, the return of Převalský’s horses to Kazakhstan will take place. In this context, I would like to thank Prime Minister Fiala, because thanks to his support, it is very likely that we will transport the first ‘rollers’ there already next year,” the director of the Prague Zoo, Miroslav Bobek, outlined the prospects for the future.

People can see the month-old mare Barunka in the vast paddock at Dívče hrady, managed by the Prague Zoo, together with her five-year-old mother Khamiina and five other horses. Photo by Petr Hamerník, Prague Zoo

Meanwhile, a modern paddock and quarters for Převalský’s horses are being built in the Prague Zoo area near the upper station of the cable car. It should be open to the public next year. The exhibition will present them as iconic species of the Prague Zoo and other Mongolian fauna, e.g., manuals and steppe reptile species.

The baby penguin hatched on March 3rd and has shown a tremendous amount of tenacity. Thanks to the tireless care of the breeders, he survived being kicked out of the nest and today he already weighs over four kilograms. Photo by Tereza Šolcová, Prague Zoo

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 breeders and today visitors to the Prague Zoo can observe it in the Penguin Pavilion exhibit.

“He’s a huge fighter, a prodigy. He spent two days in the care of the vet and then we literally weaned him off because he couldn’t go back to his parents. The bond between them was broken,” explains head breeder Jakub Mezei. “We fed him through a tube, then special instant porridge, then artificially digested fish. In less than two months, he finally switched to whole fish, which we feed the adult penguins.”

The parents of the little penguin are the male Dvojtečka and the female Mrs. Dvojtečková. The unique pattern of dots on the abdomen for each individual allows breeders to distinguish individual penguins in a flock of thirty. Photo by Tereza Šolcová, Prague Zoo

However, the breeders’ efforts could not end even with the transition to a regular feeding regime. After a long time in the breeding grounds, the little feathered penguin did not know the other penguins and was even afraid of them. He thought he belonged to the people. The breeders had to let him gradually get used to his fellows, but thanks to patience, they eventually succeeded.

Today, visitors can find the little penguin in the exhibit near the main entrance. It is easy to recognize him in a flock of thirty – although the young has already lost its down feathers, it still does not have the typical black and white coat and is Gray in color. It will fully acquire the form of adults only at the end of next summer. His gender is not yet clear.

“Whether it is a female or a male will only be reliably revealed by blood tests, the results of which we are currently awaiting. The baby does not yet have a definitive name. There are three of us in the team of penguin breeders and we call each of them differently – in the game there is Buřtík, Láska and Štístko. So we are ready for both gender variants and we also have a conciliatory middle gender in reserve,” adds Mezei.

Humboldt penguins live in the southern hemisphere, but their range extends to the equator – unlike other species, they nest in the tropical zone on the coast of South America, where the temperature reaches 30 °C. Therefore, domestic summer temperatures do not cause them the slightest difficulty. Photo by Tereza Šolcová, Prague Zoo

Visitors can get to know the young during the guided feeding of the penguins, which takes place every day in the summer from 11 a.m.

Prague Zoo has been breeding Humboldt penguins since the beginning of the 1960s and is one of their successful European breeders. In order, it is already the 135th cub of this species in the history of the Prague Zoo, but it stands out with its story.

Photo by Tereza Šolcová, Prague Zoo

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 situation, as Jiří Obst, head of its Business Cycle Surveys Unit explained to Radio Prague.

“The greatest increase in confidence about the economy is from consumers. For example, the share of households expecting a worsening of their overall economic situation in the Czech Republic for the next 12 months decreased compared to June. This is positive news.

“The number of households evaluating their current financial situation worsening also decreased over the last 12 months. Similarly to last month, the number of households fearing a worsening of their financial situation in the next 12 months also slightly decreased in July.

“So taken together, these are the positive pieces of information that have primarily caused the growth in confidence in the economy in July.”

See the rest here.

Author: Amelia Mola-Schmidt

Photo: Khalil Baalbaki, Czech Radio

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 St. in central Prague but at the station’s centre in the district of Karlín, from where the Praha and Central Bohemia regional stations are broadcast.

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Author: Klára Stejskalová

Photo: Ondrej Duffek, Archive of David Strauzz

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 the Karlovo náměstí and Můstek metro stations, which promotes street art. I met with David Strauzz in his studio in the Pragovka Art District in Vysočany and started by asking him what brought him to the Czech capital in the first place:

“First of all, this year is the 50th anniversary of my parents’ departure from Czechoslovakia, so it’s a very important year for me in terms of who I am, what I am doing and where I am doing it.

“In 2012 I was living in Boston, where my wife was employed by Harvard University. Two months after we arrived, the marathon bombing took place. So that was our welcome to American culture, which was very not Canadian.

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Author: Ruth Fraňková

Photo: Alžběta Švarcová, Czech Radio

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, Šiklová was a communist-era dissident who pioneered gender studies in this country in the 1990s. I spoke to Lucie Přibyl, librarian at the Center for Gender Studies in Prague – which the academic created – about her legacy.

“She was a sociologist, publicist, writer, and she also dabbled in politics. She was also a dissident, and that was a big part of her legacy.

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Author: Amelia Mola-Schmidt

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 gardens boast beautiful flowers, fruit trees, and stunning views of the city from their many terraces.

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Authors: Amelia Mola-Schmidt, Barbora Navrátilová

Photo: archive of Pop Messe

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 perhaps its strongest lineup to date. I spoke to Pop Messe’s founder Tomáš Kolar.

“It’s an adventurous music festival of popular music – and music that challenges the notion of pop music – kind of situated against an urban dystopian backdrop. That’s the festival in a nutshell.”

This year who are some of the biggest acts people can look forward to?

“The biggest acts are Young Fathers, who’ve just done a really storming show at Glastonbury for a huge massive crowd, and Spiritualized, which is a kind of a space rock band from the UK.

“Ireland are sending over a fantastic band called Gilla Band, formerly known as Girl Band. There’s also Hudson Mohawke from LA, a Scottish producer now living in LA.”

See the rest here.

Author: Ian Willoughby

Photo: Elena Horálková, Radio Prague International

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 rather with its dark history as the headquarters of the Nazi secret police during the Second World War.

The Petschek Palace, known colloquially as “Pečkárna”, has stood near Prague’s main railway station for nearly a century. With its gray, stone-clad facade, the building has an imposing, almost fortress-like look common to many banks built in the early twentieth century.

Yet despite the palace’s grand style, many who pass by it on Political Prisoners’ Street will find the building easy to miss. Somehow, the Petschek Palace does not quite visually stand out among the many historical buildings of Prague’s city centre.

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Author: Vojtěch Pohanka

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 animals in people’s luggage is an almost everyday occurrence during the summer holidays.

Animals or plants on the CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) list are the most frequent import violation at Prague Airport – there were 94 such cases last year. Igor Lenský from the airport customs office spoke to Czech Radio about the phenomenon.

“Some people bring stuff out of sheer ignorance – they just see the thing and like it, so they buy it or take it from somewhere while out on an excursion. Unfortunately, we also encounter cases where people try to import these things for commercial purposes.”

Most often, officials come across pieces of coral reef or protected plants such as orchids. But sometimes a customs officer can find an even bigger surprise during baggage checks. A striking example of this is a suitcase recently confiscated by customs officials that contained 64 snakes, five turtles and four geckos.

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Authors: Anna Fodor, Josefína Folprechtová

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 first historically documented duchess of Bohemia.

For hundreds of years, Prague Castle has housed a collection of rare historical textiles from all over the world. Stored in a special depository, the collection comprises 270 remnants of precious fabrics from the early Middle Ages to the Renaissance. The most diverse ones date to the rule of John of Luxembourg and Charles IV, says archaeologist Milena Bravermanová, one of the authors of a new book based on more than three decades of research on the unique fabrics:

“They are incredibly rare textiles that were made in what were then the centres of the silk industry: China, Central Asia, the Middle East, Sicily, Spain and northern Italy.

“What was really surprising to me is that the collection was at least half Asian in origin, mostly Central Asian, which was a location where the most precious textiles were made.”

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Authors: Ruth Fraňková, Martin Srb

Photo: Petra Šnokhausová, The Museum of South Bohemia in České Budějovice

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 start of a “cleaner” era. The monarch began to raise awareness about hygiene and issued a health code, which established bodies to supervise hygiene in various health facilities in order to combat the emergence and spread of epidemics.

The set of rules described included, for instance, compulsory training for midwives. It also encouraged honest behaviour and forbade drinking wine and other alcoholic beverages. Even though the prescribed regulations were not implemented everywhere, they marked a significant advancement in the health sector.

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Photo: Dana Cabanová, Jewish Museum Prague

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 relatives. Unlike her famous contemporary Franz Kafka, Kauders remained completely forgotten for nearly 80 years. I discussed the discovery with the museum’s chief curator Michaela Sidenberg:

“We knew for a number of years about Gertrude Kauders from various lists of artist associations and exhibitions. Nevertheless, we did not know about her artworks because simply there were no artworks by Gertrude Kauders in any public collection.

“Only later we discovered the reason why it was so, and that was in 2018, when some of her paintings were discovered by the workers, who worked on the demolition of a house at Prague’s Zbraslav. That house once belonged to one of Gertrude’s friends who saved her works during the war.

“Gertrude actually transferred all her studio before she embarked on her last journey to the ghetto of Theresienstadt and from there immediately to the extermination camp of Majdanek. So this is where it had been hidden for all these years.”

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Author: Ruth Fraňková

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 citizens in sweltering heat, resulting in increased mortality and heat-related health issues.

If there’s one thing that has characterized the past few weeks here in Czechia, it’s the heat. In fact, temperatures of over 38 degrees Celsius have been experienced so far this summer. But this country is not alone in these scorching temperatures, as heat waves have been taking place on three different continents: Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Professor Jan Frouz of the Environment Center at Charles University, says this extreme heat is caused by jet stream patterns that have led to the El Nino, a climate pattern we are currently experiencing this year.

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Author: Amelia Mola-Schmidt

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 belonging and community for individuals seeking to explore their talents, engage in projects, and integrate into Czech society.

Back in 2009, right after moving to Prague from Russia, Ekaterina Kokkalou started volunteering for different education-related organizations. Within a year, she joined the NGO sector in the city, and it wasn’t long before she decided to start a grassroots organization herself. By 2013, Youth Included had become a reality, Ekaterina explains:

“It’s quite unique because it’s managed by foreigners and for foreigners. And the reason was that in Czech NGOs, there is one very interesting specificity, that it’s always just in Czech, so that was the reason behind our organization. We wanted to have the possibility to open this world of NGOs to locals who don’t speak Czech. First Youth Included’s official language was English, and from 2018-2019 Russian also became an official language. This was also a big deal now because of the influx of refugees.”

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Author: Marina Vidal Rico

Photo: Kristýna Maková, Radio Prague International

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 since 1987. The team, and hundreds of fans, are now in Norway in the town of Bodø, located just north of the Arctic Circle, to take on the local team.

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Authors: Anna Fodor, Adam Weidenthaler

Aerial view of the base in the Valley of Monasteries, with the South Monastery Creek in the background. Photo by Miroslav Bobek

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 Monasteries, after half a year. Upon our arrival, we found two yurts and a container serving as a warehouse and kitchen already standing on a hill above the confluence of the Hook River and the Southern Monastery Creek, with the necessary sanitary facilities located nearby. Finally, something tangible! Thanks to Ganbaatar, who has worked for us since last year, the base for the future reintroduction of Przewalski’s horses has begun to emerge in the Valley of Monasteries!

One of the remarkable July flowers of the steppe: dwarf daylily (Hemerocallis minor). Photo by Miroslav Bobek

One of the remarkable July flowers of the steppe: dwarf daylily (Hemerocallis minor). Photo by Miroslav Bobek

Despite the advanced summer the steppe around the base was still full of flowers: yellow poppies, daylilies or cinquefoils, orange globeflowers, purple irises, or discretely whitish cudweeds. In this steppe we gradually started selecting the most suitable localities for the building of the reintroduction station and particularly for two pairs of enclosures, in both cases one large, with an area of 30 to 40 hectares, and the other smaller, about three hectares. Such a task may seem trivial in an endless landscape, but appearances are deceiving. Each enclosure should adjoin the water but must not include too large of an area of wetlands. There should be no steep slopes inside, but preferably no absolute plain either; the horses need small hills, where they can cool in the summer, and shallow depressions to hide in the winter. All enclosures need to be easy to inspect and maintain. And so on, and so on… We alternated in walking through the landscape and coming back to the yurt to the picture of the landscape, which we composed from dozens of shots taken by drone. Lukáš Divoký and David Broda located more and more points in the terrain and inside they plotted them into the picture, where they also projected ever more shapes and locations of enclosures, and I am afraid that sometimes they were losing a hope that we would be able to place everything above the confluence of the river and the creek. But in the end, we solved this puzzle!

The electricity for the base in the Valley of Monasteries is provided by solar panels. Also, the Internet works here. Photo by Miroslav Bobek

Other Czech and Mongolian colleagues were simultaneously engaged in research works. To be honest, I will probably never forget the joy with which professor Battur brought me a test tube with collected ticks. The purpose of the research is not only to have the Valley of Monasteries perfectly mapped and to be as well prepared as possible for the reintroduction of Przewalski’s horses, but also to be able to assess the changes which their return will bring to the landscape step by step. But this is still the music of a rather distant future. Before that, there is a lot of construction work to be done, which will be quite a hard nut to crack in this deserted and hardly accessible landscape, over a thousand kilometres from Ulaanbaatar.

Miroslav Bobek

Photo: ČTK/AP/Uncredited

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 1960s director Karel Zeman. But how does Gosling know the Czech filmmaker?

Among the promotional materials for the massive hit movie Barbie is a behind-the-scenes clip about the techniques used to make it.

In the short film director Greta Gerwig says she wanted the movie to look like a diorama at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

And Hollywood star Ryan Gosling – who is winning plaudits for his depiction of Barbie’s beau Ken – makes a comparison that has delighted many Czech fans.

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Author: Ian Willoughby

A foster pair of Cuban flamingos takes exemplary care of a young pink flamingo – both parents take turns caring for it. Photo by Petr Hamerník, Prague Zoo

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 egg was taken from the original parents to make sure it hatches. This is a common practice, as the clutch could be endangered by bickering adults or now also in high temperatures or, on the contrary, torrential storms,” bird curator Antonín Vaidl explains the decision. “After the chick hatched two weeks ago, we placed it under a more reliable pair, but it may be interesting that it is a different species of flamingos – Cuban flamingos. They are certified and, moreover, they went through an incubation period, so they immediately took on the replacement cub,” he adds.

You can find the popular flamingos in the Prague Zoo in two places in three species. In the Water Worlds and Monkey Islands exhibit, Cuban and Chilean flamingos inhabit the exhibit next to chabrak tapirs, pink flamingos can be seen on the opposite side of the exhibit unit near silver gibbons.

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 peacocks who breed in the garden every year.

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Authors: Amelia Mola-Schmidt, Barbora Navrátilová

Photo: Alberto Pezzali, ČTK/AP

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 England Club.

Markéta Vondroušová, who is 24, caused one of the biggest sensations at Wimbledon in years by lifting the women’s singles title on Saturday.

She was the first unseeded player to lift the title in the modern era. What’s more she had been dropped by her sponsor earlier in the year, had missed half of last season after wrist surgery – and felt she had zero chance on grass.

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Author: Ian Willoughby

Photo: Summer Festivities of Early Music

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 about the opening concert by Germany’s Ensemble Polyharmonique:

“The ensemble Polyharmonic with its artistic director Alexander Schneider will perform in Prague for the very first time. They will appear in a vocal ensemble consisting of six members accompanied by basso continuo. Our opening concert is devoted to the muse Polyhymnia, because she is the muse of hymn singing and choral lyrics.

“The other muse of the evening will be Italian music, which inspired very strongly the musical culture of the 17th century in the west of Europe. So it means that this vocal instrumental program shows direct confrontation of Italian models with their echoes in Protestant Germany.”

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Photo: Steven B Studios

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.

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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 to Czechia and interviews with influential figures and foreign reporters.

After Tel-Aviv and Bratislava, a travelling exhibition of Czech Centres entitled 100 Years of Czech Radio will be officially launched in New York this coming Monday. Organised in collaboration with Czech Radio, the exhibition will offer a glimpse into the past and present of the Czech public broadcaster.

Miroslav Konvalina is the head of Czech Center New York:

“For us in New York, it’s a very special event because radio has always been one of the most trusted sources of information, both in the United States and in Czechia, and played an important role in entertaining, informing and serving the audience.

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Author: Ruth Fraňková

Photo by Tomáš Fongus

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 second day of his visit to South Bohemia, the president and his wife Eva visited Černá in Pošumaví, where the mayors of the Lipno region discussed, among other things, the effects of tourism in the Lipno area. They also visited Český Krumlov Castle and the Passion Theater in Hořice in Šumava.

Photo by Tomáš Fongus

“During the negotiations, we alluded to the need to decentralize state power to those places where people know best what problems they have and also know their solutions. The state administration template rarely works for the specific problems of regions such as Lipno,” said President Pavel at the final briefing in Dolní Vltavica.

Photo: Juan Pablo Bertazza, Radio Prague International

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 experiences in the Czech capital.

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Author: Marina Vidal Rico

Photo: Katarína Brezovská, Radio Prague International

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 keeping with the tradition of the city’s older urban palaces, Myslbek is not just a shopping mall, as it incorporates art into its design and also serves as an exhibition space.

Located about halfway between Wenceslas Square and Náměstí republiky, the Myslbek Palace has only stood in the centre of Prague for some 26 years. It is thus a relatively new addition compared to the iconic palaces nearby, such as the Crown or Lucerna. Built in 1997, the Myslbek Palace was one of the first large modern shopping malls that cropped up in the centre of Prague following the Velvet Revolution. With its 17,000 square metres and six above-ground floors, Myslbek is now one of the unmissable landmarks of Na Příkopě street, the city’s main shopping boulevard. Interestingly, the building stands on the historical boundary that divides the Old Town from the New Town.

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Authors: Vojtěch Pohanka, Klára Stejskalová

Photo: Czech Radio

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 passed away in 2019, using artificial intelligence. I spoke to Czech Radio’s creative producer Lukáš Sapík to find out more about the project, and started by asking: why an AI-generated voice?

See the rest here.

Author: Anna Fodor

Photo: Ethan Sheiner

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 sparked in Prague and elsewhere, are a central theme of Freedom to Win, a gripping, freshly published book by Ethan Scheiner, professor of political science at the University of California, Davis. I spoke to the author on the eve of its release.

What was the initial spark for the book?

“I have a long history of working on things other than Czechoslovakia and Cold War politics [laughs]; in my earlier life I was a scholar working on Japanese politics and elections around the world.

“I had always been a big sports fan and for some reason I thought I could translate that into a class on politics and sports. But then when I sat down to teach the class, in 2016, I suddenly realised, Oh my gosh, I don’t really know what I’m going to be doing here [laughs].

“As I got a few weeks into the class I got really stressed out trying to figure out content: What am I going to teach my students?

See the rest here.

Author: Ian Willoughby

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 Statistics Department.

“The numbers of foreigners are growing gradually, and it’s because they are filling in the gaps in the labor market. We have a very low unemployment rate and growing wages, quicker than the western part of the EU. It looks somehow like a brain drain from Eastern Europe.”

Is it a specific kind of labor that foreigners are doing or is it a variety of work?

“There are two extremes. Blue collar workers which are in factories predominantly that have the same wages as Czechs. The second extreme is foreign managers and professionals, they earn higher salaries than Czech nationals, sometimes twice as high. It looks like a brain drain because it’s the ICT sector and high value added sector, and they are part of shortening the gap between Eastern and Western Europe.”

See the rest here.

Author: Amelia Mola-Schmidt

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 Czechs. But how are travel trends changing in Czechia, and where are Czechs vacationing today? I spoke to Jan Papez, CEO of Marco Polo travel agency in Prague to find out.

“I’m the spokesman and Vice-President of the Association of Travel Agencies and Tour Operators in the Czech Republic. I’ve been in the business since 1991, when I established Marco Polo, and before I was a theatre director, which is a completely different position, but tourism is also a little bit like theatre.”

I’m curious since you started in 1991 – how has travel changed? I know under the regime Croatia became a very popular destination, how did that come to be?

“Croatia was only one destination that was open for Czech inhabitants during the communist period. You needed special permission, but if you got it, you could go to Croatia. We weren’t ready to go to other Western countries at that time, so there are a lot of traditions for Czechs to go to Croatia for beach holidays.

See the rest here.

Author: Amelia Mola-Schmidt

Photo: Colours of Ostrava

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 expect in this year’s edition.

See the rest here.

Author: Amelia Mola-Schmidt

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.

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Author: Daniela Lazarová

Photo: La Paisanita

When one door closes, another opens. At least, that seems to be the case in Prague 6’s Dejvice district. Just as one establishment in the neighbourhood closed down – the legendary A Maze in Tchaiovna, a quirky meeting point that fused British pub food and beer with the concept of the traditional Bohemian-style teahouse – another opened practically right next-door: the second branch of La Paisanita, an Argentinian empanada eatery with a majority meatless menu.

Previously, La Paisanita could only be found in one fairly well-hidden location – the basement of the Prague 3 town hall – and you had to be in the know to find it as there was no sign for the bistro outside the premises. Although this added a certain eccentric charm to the place, Diego, one half of the husband-wife duo behind the eatery, says that they are happy to now be in a more visible location.

See the rest here.

Author: Anna Fodor

Photo: Jakab

The Letov Š-328, Czechoslovakia’s most common single-engine bomber and observation plane in the interwar period, made its first flight 90 years ago, on July 19, 1933.

The Š in the name Š-328 was the initial of the plane’s designer, a man named Šmolík. It had orginally been designed for the Finnish Air Force but in the end was assigned to the Czechoslovak Army instead.

The Letov Š-328 was technically unsophisticated, with military experts saying the Czechoslovak Air Force wouldn’t stand a chance in a fight with Hitler’s Germany.

Indeed in the following years the conceptually outdated biplane became easy prey for enemy fighters and anti-aircraft ground fire.

However, ground staff and pilots praised the Š.328. It was reliable and met expectations of pilots not only in service at main bases, but also during training at airfields. The structure of the wing and fuselage frame was impervious to the weather, in particular rain.

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On Saturday, July 22, visitors to the Prague Zoo will be treated to a ceremonial opening of the aviary at the Sečuán pavilion. The newly built exposition will allow the rare birds of the Himalayan foothills to inhabit outdoor spaces as well. The event will start at 11 a.m., and together with the director of the Prague Zoo, Miroslav Bobek, and the curator of birds, Antonín Vaidl, the deputy mayor, Mr. City of Prague for the environment Jana Komrsková and the popular Kladno band Zrní.

Program of the ceremonial opening of the Szechuán Aviary

• 11.00 Wushu Centrum performance – demonstration of Chinese martial dances
• 11.10 Opening speech by the director of the Prague Zoo, Miroslav Bobek
• 11:15 Greetings from the Deputy Mayor m. Prague Jana Komrsková
• 11.20am Interview with bird curator Antonín Vaidl
• 11.25 Interview with the band Zrní
• 11:30 a.m. Tea ceremony led by a tea master from Orijin Tea
• 11:35 Tea toast and ribbon cutting at the aviary

Special guided feedings will take place throughout the weekend, as well as standard guided feedings and meetings. Photo by Oliver Le Que, Prague Zoo

Insect poke bowl, crickets on garlic, or locusts in banana batter – you can come and taste all this weekend at the Prague Zoo. The popular insect festival will offer non-traditional gastronomic experiences, special commented feeding of insectivorous animals, or encounters with mantises and cockroaches.

This Saturday and Sunday, visitors can try various insect specialties and learn more about the benefits of insect cuisine. In addition to insect tastings, the Prague Zoo has also prepared another program for the Weekend of Insectivores:

• On the terrace of the Education Center, visitors can see examples of different types of invertebrates and learn about insects as an alternative source of food. At the same time, they will be able to taste dishes from the insect menu.

The popular insect festival will offer non-traditional gastronomic experiences and introduce visitors to the benefits of insect cuisine. Photo by Oliver Le Que, Prague Zoo

• In the Dja Reserve, there will be an information and game station with a demonstration of weevil larvae. Visitors will also learn about the Roaming Bus project, which the Prague Zoo has been running in Cameroon, Africa, for more than 10 years. At the same time, it will be possible to buy ready-made insect food on site.

• In the Gočárovy domy gallery, visitors can see up close the representatives of the insect kingdom, which can be suitable pets for people with allergies, for example – scarecrows, mantises or even grasshoppers.

Insect menu:

1. Insect poke bowl (vegetable salad with mealybug and Brazilian wormwood)
2. Pomennik flour on vegetables
3. Oriental-style dark chocolate
4. Crickets on garlic
5. Locusts in banana batter
6. Mealworms with fruit au gratin
Special commented feeding
• 10.15 feeding of talapoins Reserve Dja
• 10.30 a.m. feeding the rakes, African House
• 10.45 feeding meerkats African House
• 11.00 feeding of reptiles in the desert exhibits Pavilion of beasts and reptiles
• 11.30 feeding cubs of Cuban iguanas Pavilion of beasts and reptiles
• 13.00 feeding of Sichuan insectivorous birds
• 14.00 feeding of African eared dogs up close
• 14.45 feeding of rock ibis Ibis
• 3.30 p.m. feeding pods in the Indonesian jungle
* standard commented feedings and meetings also take place at the same time

Photo by Oliver Le Que, Prague Zoo

Visitors will see insects not only on a plate. They will be able to see up close the representatives of the insect kingdom, which can be suitable pets for allergy sufferers, for example. Photo by Oliver Le Que, Prague Zoo

Photo: Vít Šimánek, ČTK

One of the topics on the table during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Prague last week was the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine, in which hundreds of Czech companies are eager to partake. Tomáš Kopečny, the government’s envoy for the reconstruction of Ukraine, is due to travel to Kyiv this week, together with 30 Czech business leaders to ascertain the possibilities.

While Czechia is still heavily involved in providing military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, talks are underway to lay the foundations for long-term cooperation that will continue when the war ends and help Czech companies to establish themselves on the Ukrainian market.

During President Zelensky’s visit to Prague last week the two sides signed a memorandum on cooperation between the Czech and Ukrainian ministries of defense; a document that will help to develop closer cooperation in the repair and maintenance of weapons, their development and modernization.

See the rest here.

Authors: Daniela Lazarová, Věra Štechrová

The Czech government recently approved the country’s first new National Security Strategy since 2015. Unsurprising, the plan of action is influenced by Russia’s war on Ukraine. But how? And what else is different? I spoke to Petr Tůma, visiting professor at the Atlantic Council in Washington and author of a new article on the subject on the organisation’s website.

“It is meant to a starting point and binding guidance for further conceptual work on security for the public sector, from ministries to municipalities.

“The second purpose is to become a stratcom [strategic communication] tool, to communicate major security-related messages to the population, because security is not only about relevant government bodies, but about the population, about civilians.

“And it is meant to be a stratcom tool not only vis-à-vis the Czech population, but also towards Czech allies and adversaries.”

See the rest here.

Author: Ian Willoughby

Photo: Lucie Suchánková Hochmanová, Czech Radio

A Czech-based, Russian-owned company is under investigation on suspicion of violating EU sanctions by exporting heavy machinery to Russia, news outlet Deník N reported on Thursday. The case is being described as potentially the country’s biggest sanctions breach since Russia invaded Ukraine.

“The sanctions are working. We see that production in many industrial areas in Russia is falling and it is impacting the war effort significantly.”

That was the message from Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský when he spoke to Radio Prague International in January.

Since then the European Union has introduced yet more sanctions, with the latest package last month the 11th to date.

Now, however, the news outlet Deník N reports that a Czech-registered company named Kovosvit MAS is suspected of having exported heavy machinery to Russia – via Turkey – in breach of EU sanctions.

See the rest here.

Author: Ian Willoughby

Photo by Zuzana Bonisch

He announced that the Czech Republic will join in further supporting Ukraine

Today, President Petr Pavel participated in the second day of the NATO summit in Vilnius. In addition to the heads of state and government meeting and the first ever meeting of the NATO Council – Ukraine, he had two bilateral meetings on the agenda, namely with the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Norway and the Prime Minister of Japan.

After the summit, President Pavel announced that the Czech Republic would join the G7 declaration on support for Ukraine and also that it would contribute an adequate amount to the Comprehensive Aid Package for Ukraine. “A number of countries, including the Czech Republic, have already confirmed that they will contribute to the aid package. We will also join the new proposal of the G7 group, which the Czech government has already discussed today and is ready to adequately participate in it,” said President Pavel.

Photo by Zuzana Bonisch

The President further evaluated the overall results of the NATO negotiations. “This summit showed that the Alliance is better the more pressure it is under. And he also confirmed that NATO is doing the exact opposite of what President Putin expected from it. The Allies agreed on all major points, from strengthening the defenses of the eastern flank to increasing spending to cover effective defense. At the same time, it was possible to assure Ukraine that it will not be left alone in the fight for its freedom and that other states will help it, and that very significantly. If Putin expected that the Alliance would wear out over time and its support for Ukraine would begin to wane, then this calculation did not work out. President Zelensky dares to come to the unequivocal conclusion that Ukraine’s future is in NATO. I am satisfied with the results of the summit because it fulfilled expectations and showed that when a decision is needed, the Alliance reacts quickly and efficiently.”

Photo: Klára Stejskalová, Radio Prague International

The constructivist Svět Palace was for many decades the focal point of community life in Prague’s Libeň neighbourhood. Known as Libeň’s answer to the Lucerna Palace, Svět appeared in several works by the famous author Bohumil Hrabal, who was a frequent visitor himself. Listed as a cultural monument, the palace has unfortunately met a sad fate in recent years, having fallen into disrepair under a severely neglectful owner.

The Svět Palace stands on the edge of a leafy square not far down the road from the Palmovka metro station, in an area that is off the beaten path of most mainstream Prague tourist tours. Although it is difficult to tell from looking at it nowadays, the now shabby palace was once by far the most important building around.

It was designed and constructed in the early 1930s by architect František Havlena, who was hired for the project by the Svět family, a clan of local landowners with deep roots in Libeň. Specifically, the palace was the brainchild of Ladislav Svět, who received the plot of land on which the building was later built as a wedding gift. Originally, a simple farmhouse had stood there.

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Authors: Vojtěch Pohanka, Klára Stejskalová

The eyes of the world are on Vilnius where NATO is debating Ukraine’s increasingly pressing demands to be allowed to come under NATO’s protective umbrella and new defense plans for the alliance. Czechia has made it clear that it supports membership for Ukraine when the war ends and has pledged to continue providing military and humanitarian aid.

The leaders of NATO’s 31 member states have congregated in Vilnius for what looks set to be one of the most difficult summits in the alliance’s history – responding to the new security challenges stemming from the war in Ukraine and that country’s appeal to be allowed to join the alliance as soon as possible.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who toured a string of European countries to drum up support for his demands ahead of the summit, wants a clear invitation in Vilnius for his country to join the alliance once the war is over and security guarantees until that time.

See the rest here.

Author: Daniela Lazarová

The internationally renowned Czech-born writer Milan Kundera has died at the age of 94. He was the best-known contemporary Czech novelist in the world, authoring books such as The Unbearable Lightness of Being, which became famous the world over through translations and an English-language film adaptation.

Kundera was the author of many internationally acclaimed books, such as The Joke, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, and The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, the first two of which were made into films. Tomáš Kubíček, head of the Moravian Library in Brno which houses Kundera’s library and archive, talks about what made his writing special.

“Kundera was able to write novels which include not only narrative elements, but also elements of the essay. And that is his distinctive stamp, Kundera’s unique writing style, thanks to which reading his work becomes an adventure of getting to know, rather than knowing. It is a process. His novels stimulate thought.”

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Author: Anna Fodor

Photo: Markéta Kachlíková, Radio Prague International

The 57th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival comes to a close on Saturday night with the traditional glitzy awards ceremony. But what have been the best films in the main Crystal Globe competition? And what has been the overall standard of the festival this year? I spoke to iRozhlas.cz film journalist Kristina Roháčková.

We’ve already seen all the 11 films in the main competition. What for you have been some of the most impressive?

“I have to mention Blaga’s Lessons, a Bulgarian movie about a 70-year-old former teacher. She is the victim of a telephone scam and that leads her into this downward spiral of crime of her own. It’s a really impressive social drama. It’s quite stark – and it really stands on the main actress’s back and shoulders.”

There are two Czech films in the main competition: We Were Never Modern and A Sensitive Person. What was your take on those?

“A Sensitive Person is, I think, the one that’s going to distress the audience the most. It’s going to split the reception, because either you find a way of sort of connecting with the story of this really chaotic road movie – about a father connecting with his two young sons – or maybe you plain old hate it all through, and it’s quite a long film. I don’t think it’s going to be a cinema hit, so the festival is going to be the peak for it, I think.

“And We Will Never Be Modern – the English title says it all, I must say. It’s a thriller with a detective storyline and it’s about a woman of science, a rational person I would say, and a country [1930s Czechoslovakia] that’s supposed to be leaning forward when in essence the thinking is backwards.”

See the rest here.

Author: Ian Willoughby

Photo: Film Servis Festival Karlovy Vary

The big winner at this year’s Karlovy Vary film festival, which culminated on Saturday night, was Blaga’s Lessons, with the Bulgarian film taking the Best Film and Best Actress prizes. Meanwhile, star Robin Wright brought Hollywood glamour to the closing ceremony.

The 57th edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival reached a climax on Saturday evening, with the traditional glitzy gala closing.

The Grand Prix in the main Crystal Globe competition went to Blaga’s Lessons, a Bulgarian film about a widow who loses her savings to conmen, in a life-changing moment.

See the rest here.

Author: Ian Willoughby

Photo: Ondřej Tomšů, Radio Prague International

50 years ago, the Ještěd Tower, a television transmitter also housing a hotel and restaurant on top of Mount Ještěd near the North Bohemian town of Liberec, opened to the public for the first time.

Architect Karel Hubáček and structural engineer Zdeněk Patrman received the prestigious Perret Prize of the International Union of Architects in 1969 for their work on the Ještěd Tower.

In addition to the external appearance of the transmitter, experts have also praised the original interior by architect Otakar Binar. In the year 2000, the hyperboloid structure was voted the most important 20th-century building in the country in a poll by Czech architectural experts.

Some time ago, the hotel underwent an expensive renovation, and a number of interior elements that had been destroyed or disappeared over the years were replaced. In 1998, Ještěd became a National Technical Monument and in 2005, a National Cultural Monument.

Source.

Photo: Moravské zemské muzeum Brno

The great Czech composer Leoš Janáček was a regular visitor of the Moravian spa town of Luhačovice, and composed a number of his works there. However, only one of his musical compositions is actually set in Luhačovice – the opera Osud (Destiny or Fate).

The Janáček and Luhačovice Festival, one of the most prestigious music events in the Czech Republic, has been organized every year since 1992 to honour the world-famous Czech composer Leoš Janáček and will be taking place for the 30th time this year from 11 to 16 July.

The Moravian spa town of Luhačovice is closely associated with Leoš Janáček, who went there every year from 1903 until his death in 1928.

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Holy Mass for Olga Havelová

On the anniversary of Olga Havel’s 90th birthday, on July 11, a Holy Mass open to the public was held in the Týn Church on Old Town Square in Prague. Msgr. Václav Malý, a member of the board of directors of the foundation, a dissident and a personal friend of Václav and Olga Havel, celebrated the Holy Mass not only for Mrs. Olga, but also for other important women in the foundation who have left us in recent years. They are the former director and later chairman of the board of directors of the foundation MUDr. Milena Černá, long-time chairman of the supervisory board of the JUDr. Magdalena Pištorová and dissident and honorary member of the foundation’s board Dana Němcová. The singer and composer Aneta Langerová and the Maranatha Gosepl Choir sang a musical tribute to all the deceased personalities, who sang the Song for Olga accompanied by the organist Jakub Zitek. Liturgical texts were read by the chairman of the board of directors of the foundation Vojtěch Sedláček and its member Anna Šabatová.

Olga Havelová’s legacy

Olga Havlová renewed the tradition of charitable activities of the first ladies of Czech presidents, interrupted by the totalitarian regime. Mrs. Olga did not aspire to become the first lady, but despite this, she entered this role with complete naturalness and filled it with meaningful content. It can be said that she became the first ombudsman for people with any kind of disadvantage. She founded the Goodwill Committee, one of the first non-profit organizations in post-revolutionary Czechoslovakia, spoke openly about the injustices caused by the totalitarian regime, and strove for social change.

Mrs. Olga was courageous, truthful, matter-of-fact, and internally very strong. She helped unobtrusively and led her co-workers to do the same. She was very active in the foundation – she did not wait for someone to approach her, she herself looked for a way to help people who were unjustly marginalized. She visited institutions, homes for the elderly, or children’s homes and also addressed donors or organized collections. She inspired many people not only in our country but also abroad and sparked a huge wave of solidarity. Mrs. Olga has always remained herself, even in the completely new role of First Lady. Through her actions, she proved that even one person who firmly believes in what they are doing and is authentic can be the initiator of a huge change.

Olga Havel’s Trees- a project of the Committee of Good Will – Olga Havlová Foundation

For more than 30 years, the Good Will Committee has been following in the footsteps of Olga Havel and at the same time reminding the public of her legacy. This year we are celebrating the 90th anniversary of the birth of Olga Havel, and a large number of our supporters participated in the preparation of the commemorative year. We decided to follow up on the activities that took place five years ago for Mrs. Olga’s 85th birthday – we planted 85 Olga Havel trees throughout the Czech Republic, and this year we would like to increase their number to 90 by planting five more trees. even the new ones, we meet with representatives of municipalities and citizens throughout the year, and together with local choirs we sing the Song for Olga, composed by Aneta Langerová in honor of Olga Havelová. This gives rise to countless beautiful variations of this song, sung by children, seniors, or professional or amateur artists.

Charity spot not only on Czech TV

To our great joy, director Martin Dušek, who in 2018 was the co-author of a charity spot about Olga Havlova with drawings by Kateřina Kynclová, joined the preparations for the year’s events. His main accent back then was Olga Havel’s unforgettable hair. Now the director has decided to use the motif of a tree in the spot. On the spot, he collaborated with the painter Adéla Maria Jirků and also with the animator Martin Máj. When compiling the story of Olga Havel, the authors based their work on the beautiful compositions of Olga’s photographs taken by Bohdan Holomíček and Ondřej Němec. The charity spot was shown for the first time in May on Czech TV and was subsequently shown in cinemas.

Benefit concert

The highlight of this year’s celebrations was a benefit concert at the Czech National Bank, which we organized together with the association SILÓ HLASU. It is more than symbolic that the president of the association Dita Horochovská, last year’s winner of the Olga Havlova Prize, took part in the preparations for the concert. At the concert, the live premiere of the Song for Olga, composed and sung by Aneta Langerová accompanied by the Maranatha Gospel Choir, was performed. Václav Hudeček and the Barocco semper giovane orchestra performed the composition Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi, between individual movements Alfred Strejček recited sonnets that were probably written by Vivaldi himself for this piece and which were only recently discovered at the castle in Zámrsko. Ondřej Vetchý read excerpts from Olga’s Letters at the ceremony. The evening was accompanied by Tereza Kostková.

A gift for Olga

Olga Havlová always tried to help people who were sick, abandoned, living in degrading conditions. On the occasion of her missed 90th birthday, we organized a fundraiser, thanks to which we want to collect a symbolic 900,000 crowns to help disadvantaged people. Successfully reaching the target amount and then distributing it among those in need would be the best birthday present for Olga. More about the collection https://olgahavlova.cz/

Main partners of the commemorative year: Czech Television, Czech Radio, ČSOB Private Banking, Czech National Bank. Partners: Agentura ProVás, s.r.o., Foundation Slunce všem, COPY GENERAL s.r.o.

photos from Holy mass event, taken by Jiří Stokláska.

Did you know there’s a hidden garden right in the centre of Prague? The Franciscan gardens are located in between Wenceslas and Jungmann square, providing a tranquil oasis for visitors in the bustling city centre.

Authors: Barbora Navrátilová, Amelia Mola-Schmidt

Photo: Vít Šimánek, ČTK

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Prague on Thursday for talks aimed at drumming up support for his country’s fast track admission to NATO ahead of next week’s summit in Vilnius. He received assurances from the president and prime minister that Czechia would remain a staunch ally.

President Zelensky arrived on a Czech government plane, escorted by two Air Force jets and was whisked to Prague Castle, amid what has been described as the biggest security operation in years.

Following a brief ceremony on Prague Castle’s main courtyard the Ukrainian leader headed for a 90-minute-long private meeting with the Czech president to ascertain the measure of Czech support his country could expect at the upcoming NATO summit. He was not disappointed.

Speaking at a press briefing following the talks, President Pavel said it was not just in Czechia’s best interest, but its moral duty to support Ukraine in its quest for something that Czechia itself had striven for not so long ago – the right to freedom and to choose where it belonged.

“We need to say loud and clear that it is in the interest of the Czech Republic that Ulkraine should be invited to start accession talks with NATO as soon as this war is over. It is in the interest of our own security, regional stability but also economic prosperity. History has taught us that strength lies in unity, and in supporting countries that engage in cooperation rather than confrontation. We likewise back Ukraine’s ambition to join the EU and hope to see accession talks launched before the end of the year. Ukraine needs to hear that Europe is ready to embrace it in the years to come.”

The Czech president said Ukraine could count on continued Czech support both on a political, military and humanitarian level. He underlined the significance of the upcoming NATO summit in Vilnius not just for Ukraine, but for the whole of Europe.

See the rest here.

Author: Daniela Lazarová

Photo: Czech Radio

Andriy Yermak, known as Volodymyr Zelensky’s right-hand man, is the Ukrainian’s president’s chief of staff and liaison officer on key issues. He negotiates with the Russians on prisoners of war or with the Americans on key arms supplies. Andriy Yermak recently accompanied President Zelensky to Prague and on that occasion, he gave an interview to Czech Radio’s Josef Pazderka.

Mr. Yermak, it’s a great pleasure to speak to you here in Prague. President Zelensky always says that he leaves Ukraine only in case of an emergency, in case of delivering a very urgent message. So what’s the message that he is bringing to the Czech Republic?

“Of course the circumstances in my country are very tragic at the moment, but for us it was very important to come to the Czech Republic, because it is one of the biggest supporters of Ukraine.

See the rest here.

Authors: Josef Pazderka, Ruth Fraňková

Photo: Post Bellum

Some 374 Czechs and 26 Poles were murdered by Nazi soldiers in the village of Český Malín in the Volhynia region of western Ukraine on 13 July, 1943. The reason for the massacre still remains unclear to this day.

Even now as the Russian invasion rages on, Ukraine still has an ethnic Czech-speaking minority, the majority of whom settled in Volhynia, a region of western Ukraine, in the second half of the 19th century. These Volhynian Czechs, as they are known, left Austria-Hungary for the Russian Empire starting in the late 1860s, escaping oppression at home in search of prosperity in Russia. They were welcomed by Tsar Alexander II, who needed skilled agricultural workers to farm and resettle the large amount of unused land in what is now Western Ukraine that had been taken from Polish aristocrats who rebelled against him in the 1863 January Uprising.

The Volhynian Czechs founded prosperous villages and communities with schools, churches, and libraries, some of which were set up near existing Ukrainian villages. Local Czech names for the villages were formed by taking the name of the original Ukrainian village and adding the word “Český” in front of it, as was the case with Český Malín.

See the rest here.

Authors: Anna Fodor, Klára Stejskalová

Photo: Karel Bucháček

Karel Bucháček was a keen amateur photographer who captured everyday life in Prague in the final decades of communism, as well as the dramatic events of the 1968 invasion. A new book called Stifled City aims to bring fresh attention to this unknown photographer, who never had a chance to present his work.

Images of Prague’s run-down streets and football matches at the city’s stadiums alongside shots of the Russian tanks in front of the Czech Radio building during the 1968 Soviet-led invasion or communist era May Day parades at Letná. These and dozens of other black and white photographs are part of a newly published book entitled Přidušené město or Stifled City, which pays tribute to the largely unknown amateur photographer Karel Bucháček. Art historian Tomáš Pospěch is the book’s editor:

“Karel Bucháček worked most of his life at the Academy of Sciences’ mathematical institute and his relatives describe him as a big introvert who never married and lived mainly for work.

See the rest here.

Author: Ruth Fraňková

The female short-tailed nuthatch born in the Prague Zoo is the first cub of this unique scaly mammal in the world in Europe. Photo by Petr Hamerník, Prague Zoo

The five-month-old cub of Chinese Pangolin (Manis pentadactyla) – female Šiška – is increasingly active, has almost switched to “solid” food, and weighs close to 1,600 grams. The Prague Zoo thus came close to historic success.

Nutmegs are found in eight species in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Photo by Petr Hamerník, Prague Zoo

“We are not able to say to what extent Šiška is still dependent on mother’s milk, however, she consumes increasingly large doses of special porridge made from drone larvae, which her parents also feed on,” explains Prague Zoo director Miroslav Bobek. “Theoretically, we could declare her to have been successfully bred – and as the first nutcracker cub in Europe – but we’d rather wait a few more weeks.”

Prague Zoo is one of two European zoos where you can see short-tailed nutcrackers. Photo by Petr Hamerník, Prague Zoo

Pangolins are the only mammals covered with scales. They occur in eight species in sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia. As a result of hunting and illegal trade, they are currently endangered, and the Prague Zoo is also involved in their protection.

Prague 30 June 2023:

The Office of the Commissioner General and the House of Lobkowicz hosted a meeting of EXPO 2025 partners and supporters on Monday, June 26, 2023. Despite the steamy weather, two hundred guests arrived, including the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jan Lipavský, and the Japanese Ambassador to the Czech Republic, H.E Mr. Hideo Suzuki. During the event, Commissioner General Ondřej Soška unveiled a miniature model of the Czech pavilion, informed about the state of preparations for Czech participation in the EXPO world exhibition and signed eight memoranda on cooperation with key institutions from the media sphere, state and private sphere.

“The Japanese have started construction work on the exhibition grounds on Yumeshima Island and are continuing relatively progressively. We as the Czech Republic have started the process to obtain a building permit for the national pavilion at EXPO 2025 in Osaka, Japan. As the second country after Switzerland out of a total of 153 confirmed participating countries,” said General Commissioner Ondřej Soška , who returned from Japan last week, at a meeting of partners and supporters of EXPO 2025 in the Lobkowicz Palace . During his trip, he met, among others, Minister for EXPO 2025 Naoki Okada and Osaka Mayor Hideyuki Yokoyama , who both praised the design of the Czech pavilion by Apropos Architects, Tereza Šváchová and Nikoleta Slováková.

“Thanks to the great position of the plot and the distinctive design of the Czech national pavilion, we believe that the Czech national pavilion will be among the most distinctive and most visited pavilions of the entire Expo in Osaka and will represent our country brilliantly in the great international competition. Our pavilion was appreciated not only by the expert jury of the architectural competition and the circle of people who move around the preparations but also by the general public and renowned experts,” said Minister of Foreign Affairs Jan Lipavský, adding that he is looking forward to the exhibition in Osaka starting in 656 days and visitors they will be able to view the pavilion.

memoranda of cooperation with the House of Lobkowicz, Czech Radio, Czech Television, state agencies CzechInvest, CzechTrade and CzechTourism , the Union of Industry and Transport and the startup platform Startup Disrupt before the event and during the meeting in the Lobkowicz Palace .

The memorandum with the House of Lobkowicz is dedicated to the intention to present the museum and creative center being created in the birthplace of Antonín Dvořák during the EXPO 2025 world exhibition in Osaka, Japan and during the preparations for the Czech participation in the country. The memoranda with Czech Television and Czech Radio are the basis for further media cooperation during the preparations for the Czech participation and for the duration of the world exhibition EXPO 2025 in Osaka.

The Office of the Commissioner General plans to cooperate with the CzechTrade agency to support Czech exporters who would like to expand to Japan or expand their business activities in the Asia-Pacific region. The World Exhibition could also help attract new foreign investments to the Czech Republic , or expand existing ones. According to CzechInvest CEO Petr Oček, the EXPO is a huge opportunity. This also applies to attracting potential Japanese tourists, which CzechTourism would like to bring not only to Prague, but also to the regions. The Czech Republic wants to present important Czech companies, local exporters, startups, innovations and technologies at the world exhibition, therefore the Union of Industry and Transport, as the largest employer’s union representing a decisive part of Czech industry and transport, and the startup platform Startup Disrupt will help ensure a decent presentation .

About the Czech pavilion at EXPO 2025

The architectural design competition was announced on December 12, 2022, as a transparent and anonymous one-phase competition for the design of the national pavilion. This happened after more than twenty years, the last such open competition for the design of the national pavilion was last announced in the Czech Republic before EXPO 2000, which was held in Hannover, Germany. The deadline for submitting proposals was March 1, 2023. Until the jury’s evaluation, which took place on 6-7 March 2023, all 38 submitted projects that met the contracting authority’s parameters were included. The winner was the glass spiral by Apropos Architects, in particular four architects took part in it in addition to other creatives: Tereza Šváchová, Nikoleta Slováková, Michal Gabaš and Tomáš Beránek.

About Czech participation in EXPO 2025

The Czech Republic will participate as an independent state in the world exhibition EXPO for the sixth time. Ondřej Soška, who last spring won the selection procedure of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with his concept and theme “Talent and creativity for life”, will hold the position of general commissioner from September 2022. The Czech Republic should be presented in Osaka not only with what the Japanese know very well and admire for a long time, for example Czech glass and classical music, but especially with Czech innovations, nanotechnologies, promising startups and regional talent. The budget for the Czech participation in EXPO 2025 is estimated at approximately 500 million crowns, with the government of the Czech Republic having approved a budget of 290.2 million crowns for the period 2023 to 2026. Additional financial coverage will come from the sources of private companies, organizations and institutions, namely in the planned range of 170-220 million crowns.

Credit : Jan Herch, Kancelář generálního komisaře, Česká centra.

On Tuesday 4 July 2023, a historic religious meeting took place at the office premises of Humanitas Afrika in Prague.

In an extraordinary move, which could be described as the first of its kind in the Czech Republic, Kofi Nkrumah head of Humanitas Afrika brought together a Christian Pastor and a Muslim Imam to have a cordial and fruitful conversation aimed at both religious sides working in collaboration to enhance peace, harmony and good relations in the Czech Republic.

Pastor Yomi Akinyemi a native of Nigeria is the founder of the Mountain of Fire and Miracle of Ministries z.s church in the Czech Republic. He is also the founder of the NGO Global Care Foundation. Imam Kashif Janjua was born in Germany to parents originally from Pakistan and is the Chairman of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Society in the Czech Republic.

Representing their respective missions Pastor Akinyemi and Imam Janjua have pledged to work together in the Czech Republic in the best interest of humanity. Humanitas Afrika is of course pleased at the positive outcome of the meeting which which clearly validates the effort and interest of the organization to bring peoples and cultures together.

Žďár nad Sázavou in the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic recently had the unusual honour of becoming the site of a 20-metre-tall cardboard structure inspired by the works of Czech architect of Italian descent Jan Blažej Santini, whose unique style combining the Baroque with the Gothic can be seen in churches and chateaus around the country. Santini is the architect behind the World Heritage Site of the Pilgrimage Church of Saint John of Nepomuk in Žďár nad Sázavou.

The special cardboard structure was the work of French architect Olivier Grossetête, who builds towers, bridges and temples from cardboard all over the world according to his own original designs – but this was the first time such a project has been seen in Czechia. The French architect came at the invitation of Žďár castle, and enlisted the help of 400 volunteers to help with the construction, which involved 1,650 pieces of cardboard and 30 km of tape.

See the rest here.

Author: Anna Fodor

Prague is home to many beautiful gardens, but the Vrtba, located in Prague’s Mala Strana neighbourhood, is one of the most striking. Featuring a bird aviary, colourful flowers, and terraces that overlook the historic old town, it’s surely a garden you won’t want to miss.

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Author: Amelia Mola-Schmidt

Photo: Miloš Turek, Radio Prague International

The Basilica of St. Procopius and the Jewish Quarter in Třebíč attract thousands of visitors every year to the picturesque town located at the foothills of the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands. Other than Jerusalem, Třebíč’s Jewish landmarks are the only ones that have been independently included on the UNESCO protection list.

The complex of the Jewish Quarter, the Jewish cemetery and the Basilica of St. Procopius in Třebíč is not only a unique architectural and urban monument, but also a rare example of the close coexistence of Christian and Jewish cultures, lasting from the Middle Ages until the 20th century.

See the rest here.

Photo: Archive of Barbora Tellinger

Barbora Tellinger is a Czech-born jazz singer, composer and music teacher who spent most of her life in South Africa, only returning to her native Czechia shortly before the covid pandemic broke out. After a successful career in the South African jazz scene, she now works with her husband, Grammy-nominated pianist John Fresk, performing under the name Tellinger and Fresk.

Born in Karlovy Vary, Barbora left the former Czechoslovakia with her parents at the age of five. I recently interviewed her after attending an intimate jazz concert which she hosted in her Prague apartment, and started right at the beginning – by asking her what prompted her parents to move halfway across the world to a country, climate and environment as different from communist Czechoslovakia as you could possibly get.

See the rest here.

Author: Anna Fodor

Photo: Eva Kézrová, Czech Radio

One of the most valuable medieval monuments at Prague Castle, the glass mosaic of the Last Judgement at Saint Vitus Cathedral, is undergoing a close inspection. Two decades ago, the 650-year-old glass mosaic of the Last Judgement was completely renovated, but some of the glass pieces have now started showing signs of corrosion.

The monumental mosaic of The Last Judgement, located on the south façade of St. Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle, was completed in 1371 at the request of King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV.

The triptych is made of approximately one million glass pieces in over thirty shades of coloured glass. Its central panel depicts Christ surrounded by angels with six saints kneeling below, while the two side panels are images of heaven and hell.

See the rest here.

Authors: Ruth Fraňková, Eva Kézrová

Marine biologist Petra Nevečeřalová, who hails from the north-Bohemian town of Ústí nad Labem, has been obsessed with whales since early childhood. Today, she is part of an international team of scientists who study evolutionary genetics of the Southern Right Whale and spends a significant part of her time off the South African coast. When I caught up with her in Prague to discuss her work, I started by asking her what sparked her interest in the giant ocean mammals:

“I have no idea, honestly. I think I was born with that. One of the first memories I have is when I was a little girl and my mom bought me a blanket with a picture of a colourful seal playing with a ball. And I was always wandering: what kind of an animal is that?

“And then later in my life, my mom would buy me books about animals, because I loved animals. And one of the books was about marine mammals and there were seals on one page. I was really excited to see the seals, but then on the next page, there were dolphins, and on the next one, there were whales.

“So I quickly lost interest in seals and I fell in love with whales and dolphins. And then later, when I started to go to school, I always took notes from these books into a little notepad and I would carry that notepad everywhere, learning about whales and dolphins. So it was just in me.”

Read the rest here.

Author: Ruth Fraňková

Photo: Film Servis Festival Karlovy Vary

The 57th edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival kicked off in great style at the weekend. The major Hollywood stars Russell Crowe and Ewan McGregor both received awards – and wowed the crowds – at the start of the region’s biggest cinema event.

There was huge excitement as Russell Crowe arrived at the red carpet at the start of the 57th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival on Friday night.

The multiple Oscar-winning star received the Crystal Globe for outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema at the festival’s glitzy opening ceremony.

After picking up the prize he also played a free concert for thousands of fans in front of main venue Hotel Thermal.

But earlier in the evening Russell Crowe told the event’s KVIFF.TV that playing the show had in fact been his principal motivation for coming to West Bohemia.

“I was ignorant to this whole thing until just a little while ago, maybe eight, nine months ago, when people started bringing this up. And I’m just amazed by this place. It’s so beautiful and the level of organisation of the festival is, quite frankly, better than any other festival I’ve ever been to. So I’m a little bit surprised that I haven’t been here before and I haven’t heard about it. I’m looking forward to getting the award, that’s going to be nice. But I’m really looking forward to rocking this town.”

Russell Crowe’s concert with band Indoor Garden Party was very well received.

See the rest here.

Author: Ian Willoughby

Photo: Film Servis Festival Karlovy Vary

The Karlovy Vary film festival is currently in full swing in the West Bohemian spa town. As every year, the region’s biggest cinema event offers extremely broad fare, from main competition films to fascinating documentaries – and all sorts of titles in between.

We Were Never Modern by Matěj Chlupáček has been one of the most anticipated films at this year’s Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

The main Crystal Globe competition picture is set in a Baťa style industry town in Slovakia – and also features a very modern theme, as the director explained to the festival’s KVIFF.TV.

“The whole idea for the film came from screenwriter Miro Šifra, who found a book on forensic medicine by a professor Hájek from the ‘30s, where a full 100 pages were devoted to hermaphroditism – or intersex as we call it today. We were really intrigued by the fact that today’s big taboo topic was, at that time, written about so extensively. It was then partly forgotten. From the ‘40s until the 21st century, we pretended these things don’t exist, and we are only discovering them now.”

See the rest here.

Author: Ian Willoughby

July 6th is a public holiday in the Czech Republic marking the 608th anniversary of the burning at stake of reformer priest Jan Hus. Masses are celebrated around the country, among others in Jan Hus’ birthplace Husinec and at Bethlehem chapel in Prague, where the reformer priest preached.

The events linked to the anniversary include theatre performances, debates, music concerts and film screenings dedicated to Jan Hus.

In search of Jan Hus

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Author: Daniela Lazarová

Photo: Klára Stejskalová, Radio Prague International

Built at the end of the 1930s, the Skleněný palác or Glass Palace is a late functionalist-style apartment building constructed for Prague’s middle class. With its groundbreaking design and plush amenities, the palace was extraordinary not just for Prague but also for the whole of Europe.

The Glass Palace or “Skleňák”, as it is colloquially known in Czech, has stood on Náměstí svobody in Prague’s Bubeneč district for more than 85 years. With its off-white tiled exterior, the building can be easy to overlook. Nonetheless, it is a cultural monument, designed by architect Richard Podzemný. Architecture historian Miroslav Pavel points out the unique aspects of the Glass Palace.

“For me personally, the Glass Palace stands out because it does not really fit in with its surroundings. The plan for the whole area around Dejvické náměstí was created in 1926, and it was based on a style that reflected the nationally conscious mood of the time, that is the neoclassical national style. However, the “Skleňák” already belongs to the later Czech functionalism, which was one of a kind. Podzemný gave us a type of architecture that perfectly matched the five points of architecture developed by Le Corbusier. The Glass Palace stands on the corner and opens out to the surroundings. It communicates with the big square next to it and naturally stands out.”

See the rest here.

Authors: Vojtěch Pohanka, Klára Stejskalová

Making friends in a foreign city can take time. Kevin Loo collects anecdotes from foreigners and Czechs to find out what it’s like to find genuine friendship during life abroad.

Making real, genuine friendships is challenging enough in ordinary circumstances. Without the anchoring of childhood, school or family circles, those who move to another country have to venture even further from their comfort zones to find friends. This makes the process as challenging as it is rewarding (when it works out). I collected stories from my social circles, locals and foreigners alike, to uncover the highs and lows of making friends during life abroad.

For many, the first port of call these days is through online platforms. Social media algorithms are more powerful than ever, making the search for people with similar interests as easy as a tap of your phone screen. It may be as simple as finding someone who matches your aesthetic, or someone who goes to the same concerts as you. A like-minded community is never far in today’s perpetually online world.

Of course, this will never match the reality of physical presence, which is why digital friendship is often a gateway to organising a meet-up over coffee or beer, or coordinating which secret techno pop-up event to go to on the weekend.

See the rest here.

Author: Kevin Loo

The General Commissioner of Czech participation Ondřej Soška visited on 10-19 June 2023 Japan on a business trip. Together with entrepreneurs, representatives of universities, and the Union of Industry and Transport, he became part of the delegation of the Deputy Prime Minister for Digitization and Minister for Regional Development Ivan Bartoš (Pirates).

On Tuesday, June 13, 2023, Soška together with Minister Bartoš visited Japanese Minister for EXPO 2025 Naoki Okada. Together they discussed the upcoming EXPO world exhibition, the state of preparations for the Czech participation, or the revitalization of the regions. Minister Okada praised the winning design of the Czech pavilion by Apropos Architects in the shape of a glass spiral. At the same time, Commissioner Soška presented Minister Okada with a rare gift, a baseball jersey with the distinctive number 2025 (the year of the EXPO exhibition) signed by Czech baseball players in Okada’s name.

The Commissioner General met with the mayor of Osaka, Hideyuki Yokoyama on Wednesday, June 14, 2023, and together they discussed the state of preparations for the Czech participation and the pavilion itself. The signed jersey of the Czech baseball players pleased the mayor who is a big baseball fan himself.

Baseball is very popular in Japan, and in March of this year at the World Baseball Classic, which was held in Japan, the Czech national team won considerable support and recognition from the home fans for their great performance against strong competition. The Czech baseball players don’t make a living from this sport, but unlike other professional athletes, they devote themselves to it in their free time. The Czech baseball players played Group B in Tokyo, where they defeated China and played solid matches against the Japanese champions, Korea and Australia. The World Baseball Classic is one of the two most important international baseball tournaments..

Photo: Amelia Mola-Schmidt, Radio Prague International

Lucia Legáthová is an economic diplomacy specialist for the City of Prague and also runs the Prague Expat Centre, located in the heart of downtown. I recently sat down with Legáthová to talk about what the Centre does to help newcomers, and the allure of Prague as a city to foreigners.

“The centre was established in 2020 right before Covid hit us, so it was difficult to get ahead and get started. But we’re still here after three years and we’re quite happy about that. The basis of our work is that we are the official information service for the City of Prague. We want to help expats who come to Prague with orientation in the city.

“We know it can be quite difficult when you come to a new city and especially when you don’t speak the language – understanding the bureaucracy is difficult even for Czech people, it must be crazy for people who speak English or another language. And that’s why we came to be – we just want to make expats lives easier and help with whatever we can help with.”

See the rest here.

Author: Amelia Mola-Schmidt

Photo: SNDK

This year marks 90 years since the publishing of Karel Čapek’s children’s book Dashenka, which chronicles the life of a fox terrier puppy growing up in the famous writer’s household. To mark the anniversary, the Karel Čapek Memorial at Strž near Dobříš has prepared a special summer programme dedicated to the legendary dog.

Dashenka, the Wire Fox Terrier puppy, is perhaps the best known dog in Czech literature. It was born to Karel Čapek’s dog Iris and grew under the watchful eye of the famous writer, who recorded its life through a series of texts, photographs and whimsical illustrations.

Dashenka or the Life of a Puppy was first published in 1933 and has since become a children’s classic, says Zdeněk Vacek, director of the Karel Čapek’s memorial at Strž near Dobříš:

“Dashenka has definitely brought a smile to many generations of Czechs. The famous book by Karel Čapek was published for the first time ninety years ago and it was a funny story about his little dog, a fox terrier that grew up in his household.

“The book is not intended only for children. Even adults will be charmed by the lovely style and also by Karel Čapek’s illustrations and photographs of Dashenka.”

See the rest here.

Author: Ruth Fraňková

Photo: Valtameri / GNU FL

July 5th is a public holiday in the Czech Republic honouring the legacy of Saints Cyril and Methodius who came to Great Moravia in 863 to spread the Christian faith and lay the foundations of literacy with the Glagolitic alphabet.

Thousands of people are expected to attend celebrations at the Velehrad pilgrimage site, which traditionally include an open air mass, exhibitions, lectures and public debates and a charity concert within the Days of People of Goodwill.

See the rest here.

Author: Daniela Lazarová

Photo: Michaela Danelová, Czech Radio

Prague is home to beautiful cycle paths in quieter areas of the city, but when it comes to hopping on two wheels in the heart of the city centre, it can be a safety gamble with aggressive drivers behind the wheel of cars, coupled with narrow historical streets.

According to Time Out, a publisher of tourist guides, Prague is home to the second-best public transport system in the world. But when it comes to other forms of transportation, in particular, cycling, the city is certainly not boasting about its conditions for those getting around on two wheels.

According to the Global Bicycle Cities Index 2022, Prague ranked 73 out of 90 countries for its cycling conditions, accumulating only 25.87 points out of 100. The countries with the best cycling conditions had scores that were closer to the 100 point mark.

Cities were judged based on 16 criteria, including the number of cycling accidents each year, cycling infrastructure quality, and road safety. Trailing Prague in poorer cycling conditions were cities like Istanbul and Cairo, and Utrecht in the Netherlands claimed the top spot for the best biking conditions.

See the rest here.

Author: Amelia Mola-Schmidt

Photo: APF Czech Radio

July 3 marks 50 years since the death of the phenomenal Czech conductor Karel Ančerl. Ančerl was a Holocaust survivor, artistic director of the Czech Philharmonic for 18 years, and later a 1968 emigré to Canada.

Karel Ančerl’s career was developing promisingly even before the Second World War, when he became the conductor at the popular Prague Osvobozené Theatre.

But the occupation of Czechoslovakia by Hitler’s Germany, as for most people of Jewish origin, brought great hardship to Ančerl. Being dismissed from his post and having his family property confiscated was just the beginning.

He and his family were sent to the Jewish ghetto in Terezín, and then deported to Auschwitz in October 1944. Ančerl survived, but tragically his wife and young son did not.

See the rest here.

Since the fall of communism, Prague has seen a massive increase in foreigners, and part of this group of expats are Canadians – a close knit community here in Prague who meet a few times a year to share some memories and laughs, and celebrate their culture.

Czechs and Canadians – two countries that share a mutual love for hockey and a good cold beer. But how do Canadians living in Czechia see their culture, and why did they make the move to Prague in the first place?

This past weekend, I caught up with a group of Canadians who were celebrating Canada Day at Letna park to find out why. One of the group’s main organisers, Leah Takata, a photographer here in Prague explains more.

See the rest here.

Author: Amelia Mola-Schmidt

Photo: Jan Kaliba, Czech Radio

Whether you are a shoe junkie or a history buff, this is a place that will stop you in your tracks. The Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto is the largest museum in the world entirely dedicated to the culture, traditions and styles of footwear.

Created in 1995 by the family of the Czech-born shoe mogul Thomas Bata, the museum exhibits every kind of shoe made by man in different parts of the world over the centuries – from Egyptian footwear dating back 4,500 years to huge size 56 basketball shoes from giant Shaquille O’Neal.

Most of the exhibits come from the private collection of Sonja Bata, President of the Bata Shoe Museum Foundation and wife of Thomas J. Bata, President of the Bata company and son of the founder Thomas Bata.

The museum, designed by architect Raymond Moriyama, is located in the heart of the Canadian metropolis and is visited annually by over 100,000 visitors from all over the world.

In addition to a permanent exhibition, it offers three temporary exhibitions which are dedicated to showcasing different themes.

See the rest here.

Author: Jan Kaliba

I have collected some photos of butterflies during my walks around the zoo. When I looked at them yesterday, I realized that it is a decent collection and includes some very rare species. Even the experts, who determined the relevant species, refer to a few shots from Sklenářka in their reports.

This small inventory of butterfly photos led me to an intention to document the butterflies in the zoo in more systematic way, which would be beautiful; however, I already know that it will probably fail due to lack of time. But there is one species, which I definitely want to take a photo of, and I will find time for that. It will be the eastern baton blue, called in the jargon “vicrama” (based on its scientific name Pseudophilotes vicrama). This tiny blue butterfly is super rare in our country; it became extinct in Moravia in 2005, and in Bohemia it occurs “in a few small populations in a vicinity of Prague, in Bohemian Karst, in the Central Bohemian Uplands, the surroundings of Most and in the Žatec region.” It regularly appeared at the premises of Prague Zoo, specifically at the aforementioned Sklenářka, until 1994.

To be honest, I already have taken a photo of “vicrama” in the zoo premises, and I attach the photo here. However, it is its miniature caterpillar, not an adult. And most importantly: it comes from breeding in human care. However, I am getting a little ahead of my story.

The eastern baton blue disappeared from the slopes near Sklenářka because the local forest-steppe was overgrown with weeds and tall grass. Thus, the areas covered with sparse vegetation and pillows of thyme (particularly Eurasian thyme, Thymus pannonicus), which are the nutrient plants of the eastern baton blue, dissapeared. Therefore, the first step to revitalize the original environment became sheep grazing. The sheep were placed near Sklenářka mainly to maintain low growth of grass, which was the initial prerequisite for the return of European ground squirrels to this location (that this return was successful, you can see today in the giraffe enclosure, where the ground squirrels are very numerous). In the recent years, the trees and bushes above Sklenářka were cut down; these works, as well as the works on reintroduction of eastern baton blue, have been realized by the conservation association Třesina.

The first attempt to reintroduce the eastern baton blue to Sklenářka happened in 2021. Members of the association raised caterpillars from the eggs of the females captured in the Central Bohemian Uplands; they protected them from natural enemies, parasites, and diseases, therefore incomparably more of them survived to the pupation stage than would have been the case in nature. Some of them have been returned to the original locality, and 59 pupae we together with ing Pavel Skala placed on the slope above Sklenářka. However, success did not come – no eastern baton blue had been recorded there during the following year. The possible explanation is that the pupating caterpillars would choose different places for hibernation than we did.

Another attempt is taking place this year. On Tuesday, we placed first 23 caterpillars of eastern baton blue on the thyme growths, and more will follow. The batch from Wednesday is for sure already pupated at this moment. The first adults of eastern baton blue might fly near Sklenářka already this year, but especially during next spring. We will see.

I personally hope that sometime in May 2024 I will add a photo of “vicrama” sitting on a blossoming thyme, hopefully with Sklenářka in background, to my butterfly photo collection.

Photo: Roman Vondrouš, ČTK

Czech singer songwriter Marek Ztracený is currently at the height of his career. Earlier this month, he sold out Prague’s Eden stadium three times in a row, attracting a domestic record of 100,000 spectators.

Ztracený was born in a small village in the Šumava mountains as Mirek Slodičák. His stage name Ztracený, which translates as “lost”, was also the title of a song on his debut album in 2008 which made him an instant celebrity.

See the rest here.

Author: Ruth Fraňková

Established in 1945 by members of the Czech and Slovak community, the Masaryk Memorial Institute, a non-profit organization based in Toronto, Canada, provides a space for young and old to celebrate their Czech and Slovak heritage.

Czech and Slovak culture is thriving far from Central Europe. Across the pond in Toronto, Canada, Masaryktown is a plot of land dedicated to preserving and celebrating Czech and Slovak culture. Herb Dubsky, Co-President of the Masaryk Memorial Institute, explains its history.

“This property, known as Masaryktown, was purchased by the Czech and Slovak community in 1948. On that property we have a Prague restaurant, with traditional Czech and Eastern European food. There’s a chapel on the property where there’s an occasional Sunday service. We have a library with about 10,000 books, and there is a monument to the victims of communism.

See the rest here.

Author: Amelia Mola-Schmidt

Photo: Archive of VOID collective

In your standard guidebook it may be referred to as the “city of a hundred spires”. Its municipal administration is certainly interested in making Prague a destination for high culture and congress events. But, if you know the right people and the right places, you will discover that the Czech capital is also a budding techno hotspot.

To find out more about this raw side of Prague I caught up with two members of the local up-and-coming VOID collective, Greg and Thibault. They are set to hold an event at one of the capital’s most popular techno venues – Altenburg 1964 – this Saturday, July 1.

Greg is an IT specialist during the day and a techno DJ when the sun goes down. He says he first got into the music genre around eight years ago. Back when he was still living in his native Poland.

Thibault, meanwhile, is from Reims in France and acts as the collective’s chief event organizer. He ran a club in his hometown before eventually moving to Prague.

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Author: Thomas McEnchroe

Taste of Prague is an Instagram page, food tour business, and now a bistro run by husband and wife duo Jan Valenta and Zuzana Valenta Daňková. I spoke with Jan to talk about how the business has grown over the years, and how Prague’s food scene has developed and grown since they got started.

If you’re an avid food lover in Prague, chances are your Instagram algorithm has showed you content from the account Taste of Prague, run by husband and wife duo Jan Valenta and Zuzana Valenta Daňková.

But the pair do more than social media – they also run a food tour business here in Prague, guiding visitors through their favourite spots in the city. Jan explains:

“We’ve been running food tours in Prague for 12 years now, and it’s very simple; we take people to places in Prague they might not have visited, we order food they might not have ordered, and we tell them things that they wouldn’t google.

“It’s a lot of history, and my personal history.

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Author: Amelia Mola-Schmidt

Photo: Bořivoj Hájek, Czech Television

At 111 metres, Brno’s AZ Tower remains Czechia’s highest building a decade after it officially opened in June 2013.

The idea of outdoing the hitherto tallest building in the country, the City Tower in Prague, came from Brno’s leaders; the AZ Tower was originally planned for eight metres shorter, before the mayor suggested a slight upward extension.

The skyscraper cost CZK 800 million to build. It has 30 above-ground and two underground floors and 17,000 square metres of floor space.

The three-storey base houses shops and other commercial spaces. The tower then houses offices and seventeen apartments on the upper floors.

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Photo: Jaroslav Mach, Radio Prague International

Pornography, sex shops and prostitution were all taboo in communist Czechoslovakia. And there was no sex education of any kind, neither in schools nor in teen magazines. So how did Czechs live without all that?

With no official sources, young people looked for what they could find about sex in world literature. In the 1980s Czech comedy Jen si tak trochu písknout (Just Whistle a Little), we find a dialogue between two young men referring to “a perfect rape scene” on page 242 of Alberto Moravia’s La Ciociara.

Lots of Czechs over the age of 50 can still recall the novel from which they gained information about sex in their youth. In a small survey for this program, a variety of titles came up, including Lady Chatterley’s Lover, The Life of Klim Samgin by Maxim Gorky and novels by the Japanese writer Kenzaburo Oe.

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Author: Libor Kukal

Photo: Michal Krumphanzl, ČTK

As the turbulent events of the past weekend unfolded in Russia, world leaders braced for potential civil war that could turn the tide of history within the space of hours. The Czech foreign ministry warned Czech nationals against travelling to the country, but said its diplomatic representation would remain in place for the time being.

Representatives of the interior, defense and foreign ministries attended a meeting of the Crisis Staff on Sunday evening, to discuss the situation in Russia and map out possible action to protect Czechs in the country. Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský said the situation was explosive and the security environment could deteriorate at any moment.

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Author: Daniela Lazarová

photo: Zuzana Bönisch

The presidential couple started the first day with a visit to Cimburkova elementary school:

They proceeded to a memorial service to honor the memory of the victims of communism:

Full speech can be found here ( in Czech ).

After the lunch of the presidential couple with Mayor Bohuslav Svoboda and his wife, a meeting on the issue of education took place at the municipality, as well as a debate with the leadership of Prague and individual city districts.

Transcript of President Pavel’s first day summary ( in Czech ) can be found here.

photo: Zuzana Bönisch

The President ended the first day of his visit to Prague by visiting the Masaryk Institute and cutting the ribbon on the occasion of the ceremonial opening of the T. G. Masaryk Presidential Library.

photo: Tomáš Fongus

On the second day of the visit, President Pavel started at the Center for Architecture and Urban Planning (CAMP) with a discussion on the topic “Affordability of housing” at the Institute of Planning and Development of the Capital City of Prague. He also visited the construction site of metro D and the non-profit organization Jahoda in Černý Most, including the low-threshold center Džagoda.

photo: Tomáš Fongus

Transcript of President Pavel second day summary ( in Czceh ) can be found here.

Photos from the visit : 1st day Zuzana Bönisch, 2nd day Tomáš Fongus

Photo: Zuzana Jarolímková, Czech Radio

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Czechia has deployed a mobile ICU bus to be used across Ukraine to provide medical aid to those in need. I spoke to Petr Gandalovič, Director of the Department of Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid, about the purpose the bus will serve, and its symbolism for Czechia’s ongoing support of Ukraine.

“The bus is a mobile ICU unit, and we can imagine it as a moving hospital.

“It will be used in different places in the Zhytomyr region in Ukraine, and it will be used wherever it will be needed in that region.

“I don’t know exactly where it will be stationed, I believe that it won’t be stationed in one place, it will definitely move to places where it’s necessary.”

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Author: Amelia Mola-Schmidt

Photo: Martin Vaniš, Radio Prague International

Czechs are marking 73 years since the death of Milada Horáková, a democratic opposition leader who was sentenced and executed in a communist show trial on June 27, 1950. A host of events is taking place around the country in honour of the brave politician and champion of women’s rights.

Milada Horáková, a democratic politician in Masaryk’s First Republic and a resistance figure during the Second World War, was sentenced to death by a communist jury on June 8, 1950.

She was hanged at dawn on June 27 at Prague’s Pankrác Prison, despite protests from many prominent figures in the West, including Albert Einstein and Winston Churchill.

Milada Horáková was born in Prague on December 25, 1901. She studied law at Charles University and in 1926, three years after graduating, she joined the Democratic Socialist party.

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Author: Ruth Fraňková

Photo: National Film Archive

Lucerna Cinema, built in 1909 by the grandfather of the late Czech president Václav Havel, is one of the oldest cinemas in Europe. While they screen both Czech and international films, their monthly series Made in Czechoslovakia spotlights a classic movie with English subtitles, making it friendly to expats and tourists alike.

On Monday Lucerna Cinema or Kino Lucerna in downtown Prague will be screening the 1963 film IKARIE XB 1 1963, directed by Jindřich Polák.

The showing is part of their Made in Czechoslovakia film series, where a classic Czechoslovak movie is shown with English subtitles.

IKARIE XB 1 is a sci-fi film that predates major films of the genre like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Star Trek.

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Author: Amelia Mola-Schmidt

Photo: Claudio Gärtner, ČTK

Czech tennis star Petra Kvitová will be bringing home yet another trophy after Sunday’s German Open final in Berlin. The current top-ranked Czech tennis player in the world cemented her position by beating the Croatian Donna Vekic without losing a single set.

Despite a tiring Saturday that saw Kvitová play the quarter-final and semi-final of the German Open in one day due to bad weather on Friday, the 33-year-old still managed to triumph over Croatia’s Donna Vekic, seven years her younger, in Sunday’s final, beating her 6:2, 7:6.

The match lasted one hour and 43 minutes and Kvitová managed to bag the title, her 31st on the WTA circuit, without losing a single set. She is only the second player aged over 30 ever to win the tournament.

Following her victory, Kvitová thanked her coaches, fans and family for their support.

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Author: Anna Fodor

Photo: Ian Willoughby, Radio Prague International

It is well-known that jeans – a symbol of the West – were a highly sought-after commodity in the final decades of communism in Czechoslovakia. How did people manage to obtain them? And what imported brands were even available? I visited a new exhibition in Prague dedicated to all things denim, pre-1989.

On the top floor of the mid-1970s Kotva Department Store in Prague is where you will find the Retro Museum, which operators say has drawn over 50,000 visitors since opening just over a year ago.

Recently it acquired a new attraction in the form of an exhibition dedicated to jeans, a hard to get but greatly desired commodity in late communist Czechoslovakia.

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Author: Ian Willoughby

Czechia has slipped down the World Economic Forum’s rankings for gender equality. The country is currently ranked 101st out of 146 countries, 25 places lower than it was last year. I discussed the situation with Johana Jonáková, head of Gender Studies organization promoting equal opportunities for men and women, and asked her about the main reasons behind Czechia’s poor performance:

“I would say the biggest inequalities between women and men in Czechia are in the area of power and women’s access to decision-making positions, in other words, in the proportion of women in managerial positions and on executive boards.

“This is where Czechia scored the lowest in the global gender equality index. I think it doesn’t necessarily mean that Czechia is doing worse than in the previous years, but that we are not improving, while other states have improved since last year.”

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Author: Ruth Fraňková

Photo: Amelia Mola-Schmidt, Radio Prague International

Homelessness is a significant problem for both men and women in Prague, but women have specific issues and vulnerabilities they face on the streets. Olga Pek, an employee of the NGO Jako Doma, is working to raise awareness around these issues and advocate for these women.

Olga Pek works for Jako Doma, a not for profit that helps women experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity in Prague. Jako Doma was founded over a decade ago, and their community centre located in Prague 8 has become a safe haven for many women in the city, as Pek explains.

“At the reception desk, women can talk to one of our social workers and request a private session where they can talk about what we can do to help their situation.

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Author: Amelia Mola-Schmidt

Photo: Hanna McKay, ČTK/AP

Over 150 Czech economic diplomats based the world over met in Prague this week for consultations on how to further the country’s economic interests. Addressing the gathering, Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský stressed the need to transform the Czech economy from assembly to design, seek new markets outside the EU and build a solid Czech brand.

With its export-driven economy, competitiveness and export opportunities are key to Czechia’s future prosperity making economic diplomacy an important part of the foreign ministry’s agenda. Regular consultations take place at Czernín palace to further the country’s economic interests in a fast changing world. Addressing the gathering on Monday, Foreign Minister Jan Lipavskýy said it was essential for Czechia to respond to the changes taking place –be it the impact of the Green Deal on Czechia’s car industry or the need to cut the country’s dependence on Russian energy.

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Author: Daniela Lazarová

Photo: Czech Television

Czech electronic music artist dné released his debut LP several years ago, picking up multiple domestic awards and millions of streaming plays. Now dné, known to his friends as Ondřej Holý, is back with a long-awaited follow-up, Basic Living.

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Author: Ian Willoughby