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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

The main part of the KoresponDance festival will visit Žďár nad Sázavou in just a few days. Most of this year's performances will take place at the local castle, Dolní hřbitov and Zelená hora between July 13 and 16. The introductory part in...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

The Ukrainian president came to Prague primarily to appreciate the efforts of the Czechs in the support they have provided to his country since the beginning of Russian aggression.

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

The message of the letters written by former Czech president, Václav Havel, to his South African Republic counterpart, Nelson Mandela