Posts

Aneta Langerová marks 20 years on Czech...

This week’s Sunday Music show is devoted to pop singer Aneta Langerová, the winner of the first ever Czech Pop Idol contest, who is celebrating 20 years on stage. To mark the occasion, Aneta has released a double album, mapping the two decades...

Prague housing crisis impacting “more people...

A recent study that analyses the housing situation in Prague revealed that the country’s real estate market is the least affordable in Europe. Factors such as privatization and a lack of growth in real wages have put an increasing number of...

“Things really went wild”: The 1969...

Thursday is the 55th anniversary of a famous moment in the country’s modern history. On March 28, 1969 a Czechoslovak ice hockey win over the USSR – less than a year after the Soviet invasion – sparked celebrations that turned into riots in...

EASTER IN THE PRAGUE ZOO

The Easter weekend at the Prague Zoo will offer a treasure hunt, free guided tours of the new Gobi exhibit, and an excursion to the Bird Wetlands, which a few days ago were inhabited by the rarest ducks in the world, the impressive Parana...

Czechoslovakia’s Ford T: celebrating 60...

The new Škoda 1000 MB was unveiled in Mladá Boleslav on March 21, 1964. Designed to be an inexpensive family car, it was Czechoslovakia’s answer to the Ford Model T: the first mass-affordable automobile, making car travel available to more...

“The best experience”: Czechs doing Erasmus...

Over 400,000 Czechs have availed of the opportunity to take part in Erasmus, the EU’s academic exchange programme, since Czechia signed up in the late 1990s. But what specifically do students get out of the experience? I spoke to some former...

Czechs bust Russian network paying off...

The Czech secret service has scored a major success, uncovering a Russian network attempting to influence elections in various European states. The Prague government followed this revelation with sanctions on two individuals, including a pro...

Czechast with Brian Goodman About The...

Brian Goodman is an author and an associate professor at Arizona State University. He has spent the past two decades immersed in a project that bridges American and Czech literary worlds, delving into the shadows of the Cold War. Brian’s...

Chess players in Prague have their own café...

If you’ve spent a day or two in Prague, you’ll know that the city is dotted with cafes, from the small and cozy places offering good coffee and traditional Czech desserts to the luxury cafes in Prague’s historic city center usually frequented...

New exhibition presents fresh perspective on...

An exhibition called New Realisms opened in Prague City Gallery on Wednesday, offering a fresh perspective on visual culture and art in Czechoslovakia between 1918 and 1945. It presents works by well-known artists, such as Otto Guttfreund and...

Amanita Design’s Phonopolis game wins...

The Czech independent studio Amanita Design has won the award for Excellence in Visual Art at the prestigious San Francisco Independent Games Festival for their new game Phonopolis. The hand-crafted adventure, set in a dystopian city made of...

Fears of AI-driven disinformation in...

The rapid growth of generative AI is influencing many areas of life and there is no doubt that it will play a role in campaigning in the European elections. So are Czech parties preparing to harness the potential it affords and will Czech...

Indra Svatek – Behind the Curtain

The photography exhibition “Behind the Curtain” by Jindrich Svatek presents a part of his works created between 1983 and 1991. Capturing the Prague Jewish community, during the totalitarian regime, when all religious communities were under the...

Markéta Pekarová Adamová – Speaker of...

The Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Markéta Pekarová Adamová, took part in the 9th international conference of heads of parliaments of the countries of the Danube Region in Vienna. The main topic of the meeting was regional security.

OPENING OF THE GOBI EXHIBITION AND START OF...

The opening of the new Mongolian Gobi exhibition and the opening of the 93rd main season of the Prague Zoo will be attended by the President of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel, and the Minister of Environment and Tourism of Mongolia, Bat-Erdene...

Prague Easter Markets

Prague Easter Markets are open daily from 16.3.2024 to 7.4.2024, from 10 am till 10 pm. The best known market is at the Old Town Square – Producers, craftsmen, and sellers offer typical Easter goods and gifts at dozens of decorated stands...

“They didn’t get to experience the world”:...

This month a monument was unveiled in Liberec entitled To Children Who Didn’t Get to Know the World. The memorial is specifically to Roma children who were born and died in WWII camps – and follows years of research by historian Ivan Rous and...

Warm spell wakes up winter sleepers

The Brno Zoo organized a spring welcoming event a few days early at the weekend, with a special program that included feeding the animals. In the picture, the zoo’s Kamchatka bear getting his share. Source: ČTK

“Putin not my president”: Russians in Prague...

As the world watched the orchestrated re-election of Vladimir Putin as Russia’s president for the next six years, Russian nationals in Prague gathered on Wenceslas Square in a symbolic show of support for the “Noon against Putin” protests at...

Czech government and opposition clash over...

The ruling coalition has accused opposition leader Andrej Babiš of undermining the government’s support for Ukraine through his “pacifist” language and putting at risk Czechia’s security. At a special session of the lower house on Tuesday the...

30 years of People In Need: a grassroots...

People in Need is one of Czechia’s most well-known NGOs, providing humanitarian relief to crisis-affected regions and implementing long-term development projects and educational and human rights programmes around the world. It has been 30 years...

“Culture defines a nation”: Head of National...

The National Library of the Czech Republic is currently working on getting a project off the ground that will provide mobile units that would be sent to Ukraine to help preserve cultural artefacts endangered by the war. The head of the National...

Czech glassmakers make medals for Ice Hockey...

Organizers of the upcoming 2024 Ice Hockey World Championship have unveiled the gold, silver and bronze medals that will be awarded to the winning teams. The trophies, produced by glassmakers in the north Bohemian town of Nový Bor, are made of...

Hradec Králové: city where history meets...

Hradec Králové, which lies on the confluence of the Labe (Elbe) and Orlice rivers in north-east Bohemia, is one of the oldest and historically most significant Czech cities. For centuries, it was one of the dowry towns of Czech queens. At the...

“Very powerful”: New Havel doc gets special...

Havel Speaking, Can You Hear Me? is the name of a brand new documentary tracing the final years of Václav Havel’s life. The current Czech president and his Slovak counterpart were in the audience for a special screening of the film at Prague...

New game aims to make Kafka’s work more...

This June will mark 100 years since the death of Franz Kafka, the German-speaking Jewish writer who lived in Prague at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. To mark the occasion, Charles Games studio along with Prague’s Goethe Institute...

New CAMP exhibition draws attention to...

A new exhibition titled ‘Planet Prague’ opens on Wednesday at the Centre for Architecture and Metropolitan Planning in Prague. The installation aims to tell the story of the city’s wildlife through an interactive lens, and was put together with...

“International experiences can change your...

Erasmus mobility programs, which offer students the chance to study and live in a new country, have become increasingly popular for both Czechs who want to go abroad, and foreigners who wish to move to Czechia. Last year alone, 31,000 Czechs...

Czechs have been driving on the right for 85...

When they were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and during the First Republic, Czechs were accustomed to driving on the left. That changed with the Nazi occupation in 1939. Driving on the left side of the road used to be the general rule...

MOBI KNOWS THE WORLD

The two-month-old female lowland gorilla Mobi at the Prague Zoo is keenly interested in her surroundings. In recent days, better fixation of the head has contributed to this, so the baby gorilla is already responding to all kinds of stimuli in...

President Petr Pavel received the President...

The President of the Republic Petr Pavel and Eva Pavlova welcomed the President of the Republic of the Philippines Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr. at the Prague Castle. with his wife Louisa Araneta-Marco. After the ceremonial welcome, the...

TV mini-series Volga dominates annual Czech...

Czech Television’s series Volga swept this year’s Czech Lion national film awards at the weekend. The mini-series about a Czechoslovak television chauffer picked up five prizes, including the Best Actor and best Supporting Actor. The Best Film...

Bedřich Smetana and his world-famous opera...

The third part of our video series on Czech Music Greats is devoted to the work of one of the giants of Czech classical music Bedřich Smetana. Bedřich Smetana, whom Czechs like to call ”the father of Czech music”, composed eight operas...

Prague draws red line in growing foreign...

Relations between Czechia and Slovakia, which were part of one country for over seven decades, have consistently been described as “exceptional”. But mounting differences over foreign policy have now led the Czech government to suspend a...

From Hradec Králové to Robots and...

Known for introducing the word ‘robot’ to the world through his literature, Karel Čapek is one of the most famous Czech writers internationally – and one of the most loved at home. The author of ‘War with the Newts’ and ‘R.U.R.’ lived in...

President Clinton revisits Reduta jazz club...

Former US President Bill Clinton is in Prague for a conference commemorating the 25th anniversary of Czechia’s admission to NATO. On Sunday night he visited Prague’s Reduta jazz club, where he celebrated the country’s admission to Western...

Prague to become city of refuge for...

The Czech capital is set to become a so-called city of refuge. The City of Prague has signed a contract with the Norwegian non-profit organisation ICORN, joining a network of more than 80 cities around the world that provide temporary asylum to...

1884: First ever nursery opens in Prague

The very first Prague nursery was established in 1884 by the Czech philanthropist Marie Riegrová-Palacká, daughter of the famous historian František Palacký. A few years earlier, in 1869, she had established the first Czech kindergarten...

Heartcore: award-winning graphic novel...

What creates a romantic attachment? Is it just genetics, do our parents play a part or is it simply a magical uncontrollable process? What if every relationship you get into is an exact copy of the one that just ended? These are just some of...

“Active in foreign policy and clearly pro...

Friday marks Petr Pavel’s first year as president of Czechia. What have been his biggest successes so far? And did he succeed in uniting the divided Czech society? I discussed these questions with political scientist Vlastimil Havlík from...

Expert: NATO membership makes Czechs safer...

Czechia, along with Poland and Hungary, joined NATO exactly 25 years ago, on March 12, 1999. But how has Czech membership of the alliance actually gone over the last quarter century? And how has Russia’s war on Ukraine impacted that membership...

From the scenes to a real adventure: the...

In the last five years, almost half of the tourists in the Czech Republic have visited a place where a movie, fairy tale, or series was filmed. According to a survey by the Czech Tourism Office – CzechTourism, the most frequent destinations...

Prague ranks best European city for...

Despite attempts to redefine the city’s image as a party destination, Prague reigns supreme in a recent UK-based index that measures nightlife across European cities. Taking in factors such as price of accommodation, cost of beer, and the...

First street in Czechia named after Alice...

She was the daughter of the founding father of Czechoslovakia, took on the role of First Lady after her mother died, and headed the Czechoslovak Red Cross for 20 years during the First Republic. And yet, surprisingly, Alice Masaryk has never...

State-owned forest company opens first plant...

The state-owned forest company Lesy ČR, which manages a large share of the country’s forests, is opening the very first plant in Czechia specializing in a wide variety of products made from wild game. Game lovers will be able to start ordering...

Czechast with Dr. Evelyn Funda: Weeds

Dr. Evelyn funda discusses “Weeds: A Farm Daughter’s Lament”, her award winning book, and much more about her family and life of Czech immigrants in the American West. As you may have already found out in the previous episode...

Enlargement “a good investment”, Clinton...

Czechia on Tuesday celebrated 25 years since its accession to NATO, on March 12, 1999. One of the main events on the anniversary was the conference Our Security Cannot Be Taken for Granted with speakers including Bill Clinton, who was US...

From Czechia, to Toronto and Japan, the...

The Brady family, originally from Nové Město na Moravě, has an inspiring story that spans generations and continents. George Brady, immigrated to Toronto, Canada after surviving Auschwitz and fleeing communism. Having promised himself as a...

Thousand-year-old bone skate discovered in...

Archaeologists from the central Moravian city of Přerov have announced a unique discovery. While carrying out excavations in the centre of the town, they came across an ice skate made of animal bone dating back some 1,000 years. Experts from...

Return of the wild horses. To steppes as...

It was constantly below zero in Astana last week. However, it didn’t matter too much because we spent almost all our four-day-long stay there in meetings and negotiations. The return of the wild horses to Kazakhstan will start in less than a...

Roma diva Věra Bílá sang on many world...

At the start of her career, Věra Bílá soared on the wings of her incredible talent. She sold out concert halls all over the world; in France she won the award for Best Album of the Year in the world music category for her debut album Rom-Pop...

H.E Mr. Hideo Suzuki, Outgoing Japanese...

Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský awarded the Medal of Merit for Diplomacy to the outgoing Japanese Ambassador to the Czech Republic, H.E. Mr. Hideo Suzuki, who has been ambassador to the Czech Republic since September 2020 The Medal of Merit for...

Rediscovered Dragon and Its Guardians

I met the Zoos Victoria Director Dr Jenny Gray after almost two years. In the administration building of Melbourne Zoo we talked about what had happened during that time. “And most importantly, after ten years of fruitless searching we found...

EIGHT PŘEVALSKÉ HORSES WILL FLY TO...

The first transports of Převalský’s horses from Europe to Kazakhstan will take place this June as part of the Return of Wild Horses 2024 project. Two CASA army planes with a total of eight horses on board will take off from the airports...

Invest in Bravery: Ukrainian start-ups to...

Invest in Bravery is a project aimed at helping find investors for tech start-ups in Ukraine. It will be holding events in Prague – including a conference and workshops – on Tuesday and Wednesday and to find out more I spoke to David Nichols...

Students create space app simulating life on...

Ordinary Czechs can now experience the life of astronauts on the ISS space station. Students of the Czech Technical University have developed a virtual reality application, which simulates a space flight, everyday life in orbit, as well as some...

The Imperial Spa built for Emperor Franz...

Before serving as a stylish backdrop to James Bond’s Casino Royale, this famous Czech spa catered to the world’s elite. In the course of the 20th century the Imperial Baths served monarchs, politicians and more recently film stars...

March 2, 1824: Czech music titan Bedřich...

One of the greatest names in the history of Czech music, Má vlast composer, Bedřich Smetana, was born exactly 200 years. Bedřich Smetana (2.3.1824–12.5.1884) is one of the most influential figures in Czech music history, celebrated for his...

Josef Škvorecký’s library to open in his...

The private library of the late Czech writer, translator and publisher Josef Škvorecký will soon open to the public in his home town of Náchod in north Bohemia. The town hall acquired the library and other items from Škvorecký’s family in...

Open day at Prague Castle

On Sunday, March 10, 2024, the Prague Castle grounds will host an Open Day. Visitors can tour the representative spaces, which are normally inaccessible to the public, for free. They can also look into the Cathedral of St. Vitus, Wenceslas and...

Equal opportunities for women in politics

The Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Markéta Pekarová Adamová, took part in the summit of chairpersons of parliaments in Paris. Among the main topics discussed were equal opportunities for women in politics and the current issue of violence...

“A logical change”: 2024 One World to also...

The 26th edition of the One World festival of human rights films gets underway in Prague in just under a fortnight’s time. For the first time the showcase is also including fiction films this year – but what has not changed is the breadth of...

National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library...

The National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library in Cedar Rapids, Iowa is the foremost institution of its kind in the United States – and this year is marking the anniversary of its founding in 1974. How is the museum and library celebrating 50...

Brno scientists grow ‘mini brains’ to study...

Scientists from Brno’s Masaryk University have grown hundreds of ‘mini brains’ the size of apple seeds using stem cells from Alzheimer’s patients. The idea is to study the causes and development of Alzheimer’s right from the moment the brain...

Macron discusses new ways to help Ukraine on...

France’s president Emmanuel Macron recently refused to rule out the deployment of Western troops to Ukraine and that position appeared to find support from his Czech counterpart in Prague on Tuesday. Petr Pavel said combat troops could not be...

“Czech Dylan” Karel Kryl died 30...

Karel Kryl, sometimes referred to as ‘the Czech Bob Dylan’ because of his complex and poetic lyrics on political themes, died 30 years ago today, a month shy of his 50th birthday. Kryl was one of the best-known Czech folk musicians of the...

Forgotten sculpture designed by Jan Kaplický...

A forgotten sculpture by the visionary Czech-born architect Jan Kaplický was recently discovered in a factory in Italy. The giant stainless steel water drop, designed 20 years ago for the Triennale di Milano, will go on display in Prague later...

Explore the Hradec Králové Region from above!

Join us on a trip to the Hradec Králové Region – an area of mountains and skiers. Czechia’s highest mountain, Sněžka (1603 m), is located here. Our drone video will show you the diverse geography of the region, from the Giant...

HOLIDAY WORLD & REGION WORLD will...

The International Tourism and Regional Tourism Fair will occur from March 15 to 17 at the PVA EXPO PRAGUE exhibition center in Letňany. This year’s edition will offer a wide portfolio of domestic and foreign exhibitors, new and popular...

European Commission promises to act on Czech...

The European Commission has responded positively to Czechia’s call for the abolition of the fee that Germany charges for the transit of natural gas through its territory. Following Thursday’s meeting of energy ministers in Brussels the...

President Petr Pavel held talks with...

The President of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel, welcomed the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, at Prague Castle. The meeting followed the successful official visit of President Petr Pavel to France in December last year. On 5.3.2024...

Equal Pay Day falls on March 6 this year

On average, women work more than two months longer to reach the same pay as men This year, Equal Pay Day falls on March 6, 2024. It is a symbolic day that draws attention to the fact that, on average, women work 65 days more to reach the same...

Czechast: My Ántonia and Czechs in Nebraska

Willa Cather’s novel My Ántonia is an American classic. Even though it is about Czech immigrants to Nebraska, it is virtually unknown in Czechia. It is a pity. In this episode of Czechast, we delve into a unique intersection of Czech...

Where to for classical music? The right...

Classical music is one of the priority topics of the Czech Tourism Office – CzechTourism within the framework of cultural tourism, also in connection with the Year of Czech Music. This year’s edition, with the magic four at the end, will...

What’s behind the sudden rise of whooping...

Whooping cough has seen a dramatic increase this year in Czechia – at the last count there have been 1,666 confirmed cases since the start of the year, more than in the last four years combined. Over the last two decades, the only year that saw...

Carp Day in Jihlava

Carp and seven groschen. That was the reward given to the brave defenders of Jihlava who managed to repel a night attack on the royal town in 1402. The town annually commemorates their heroic deed with a festival aptly named Carp Day. Source:...

Project to revive abandoned WWII bunkers

Czech architect Juraj Lasovský has come up with a unique project reviving old military bunkers built in Czechoslovakia before the Second World War. His aim is to turn the concrete structures into liveable spaces that can be used for various...

Japanese Emperor’s 64th birthday

On the occasion of the Japanese Emperor’s 64th birthday and ending the term of the Ambassador of Japan to the Czech Republic H.E. Mr. Hideo Suzuki and Mrs. Suzuki held a reception at the Marriot Hotel Prague. In front of the Speaker of the...

Kosovo National day

On the occasion of the independence day of the Republic of Kosovo, H.E. Mrs. Albesjana Iberhysaj Kapitaj – Ambassador of the Republic of Kosovo host a reception at Kaiserstejnsky palac. In front of many Ambassadors, government officials...

February 25 marks 55 years since self...

On February 25,1969, Jan Zajíc, an 18-year-old student from Šumperk set himself on fire to protest against growing public apathy to the Soviet led-invasion in 1968. Zajíc set himself on fire in a passage off Wenceslas Square on February 25th...

Mykola and Mariia: Young Ukrainians in...

Czechia took in roughly half a million Ukrainians following Russia’s full-scale invasion of their country two years ago. Many of these refugees have been young people, and to find out something about this generation’s lives here – and their...

Czech composer, pianist and organist Jan...

Czech composer, pianist and organist Jan Václav Hugo Voříšek was a contemporary of Beethoven and a good friend of Franz Schubert. His most famous work, the Symphony in D major, combines his natural inclination to romanticism with a surprising...

“Big, big differences” among V4 leaders...

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala is set to host his counterparts Slovakia, Poland and Hungary in Prague on Tuesday. The meeting of the Visegrad Four leaders comes against a backdrop of calls to cancel the summit after Slovakia’s Robert Fico made...

The heads of parliaments of the V4 countries...

The presidents of the parliaments of the countries of the Visegrad Group met in Prague’s Liechtenstein Palace. The parliamentary summit of the V4 and Ukraine was opened by the President of the Senate, Miloš Vystrčil, with the Speaker of...

Czechs mark second anniversary of Russia’s...

Czechs are marking two years since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine with commemorative events, marches, rallies and fundraisers taking place all around the country on Saturday. In Prague, thousands of people gathered on Old...

New production brings communist-era...

Two comedies written by dissident playwright Pavel Kohout in the 1970s with the intention of being performed in private in peoples’ homes are being revived by the MANA theatre in Prague’s Vršovice district – but not on a regular theatre...

National Theatre gala concert and special...

Saturday, March 2 marks 200 years since the birth of Bedřich Smetana, one of the most internationally renowned and nationally celebrated Czech composers. Czech Radio is dedicating a weekend of programming to the anniversary, a number of events...

Czechia wins broad support for shells-for...

The Paris summit on Ukraine appears to have kicked into action a Czech plan to purchase badly needed ammunition for Ukraine outside of the EU. After struggling to secure international funding for the project, Prime Minister Petr Fiala announced...

Czech start-up testing the waters with their...

Czech company, Bene Meat Technologies, is preparing to put cultivated minced beef on the Czech pet food market within the next two years, pending EU approval. But is this country of meat-lovers ready to buy food grown in a petri dish? If saving...