Posts

Healthy ecosystems provide food and food security, clean water, carbon sinks, and protection against natural disasters caused by climate change. They are essential for our long-term survival, wellbeing, prosperity, and security, as they are the...

A new book written by Miroslav Bobek (Prague Zoo Manager), which was recommended by word-renowned primatologist and conservationist Jane Goodall is now in available English.

Speech by H.E. Mr. Egemen Bağış, Ambassador of the Republic of Türkiye to Prague Today on this cold winter day, most of us came here with our comfortable cars in our warm and cozy clothing. And we will stay here for less than an hour. However...

The best place to live in Czechia is the Central Bohemian town of Říčany, followed by Prague according to this year’s Quality of Life Index put together by the Obce v Datech project. The annual list is created by using big data analysis to...

An international team of scientists working to save the northern white rhino from extinction has announced a major breakthrough. They have succeeded in cultivating primordial germ cells, the precursors of rhino eggs and sperm, from stem cells...

The Ambassador of Pakistan H.H Mr. Muhammad Khalid Jamali host at his resident a reception for the participants and organizers of 7th interfaith conference jointly being organized by Czech ministry of Foreign affairs, IIR, Anna lindh foundation...

A new street dedicated to the late Czech president, dissident and playwright Václav Havel was unveiled in Luxembourg on Tuesday. The ceremony, marking a symbolic end to the Czech presidency of the EU Council, was attended by Czech Prime...

Architect Jan Kaplický earned an international reputation for futuristic projects that often resemble something out of a sci-fi movie. Now one of his earliest realised projects, a London apartment designed in the 1980s, has been brought back to...

Celebrated Argentine tenor, composer and conductor José Cura has a long-standing relationship with Czechia: in addition to recording an album of love songs by Dvořák in 2003, he was also a resident artist for three years with the Prague...

Václav Havel is coming to Czech schools. Well, not exactly, but an AI version of him is to be introduced into the civic education curriculum of several Czech secondary schools from January of next year with the aim of educating children about...

Czechs are not very mobile or quick to act. At least that is the generally accepted truth. But are Czechs as a nation really lacking in enterprising spirit, curiosity, and mobility? There is a well-known Czech fairy tale character called...

A new project on the Google Arts & Culture platform is a real treasure trove, bringing together over 3,000 Czech art works from some of the country’s top institutions. Entitled The HeART of Czechia, it was launched within the Czech EU...

With Christmas just around the corner, there’s no better time than now to stop by one of Prague’s many Christmas markets. Czechs may be buying less this year but they are enjoying the good cheer. It’s the most festive time of the year and...

Czech scout troops have collected the Light of Bethlehem, a modern symbol of the Christmas season, from their colleagues at the Austrian border this past weekend. They will now distribute it across the country, placing it in churches and...

Josef Čapek was a Czech painter, writer, photographer, graphic designer and book illustrator. He is the elder brother of the writer Karel Čapek, with whom he worked closely, and contrary to popular belief it was Josef who coined the word...

“Digital nomad” is a phrase that many of us have been hearing increasingly frequently in recent years. In 2021, Merriam-Webster even added the term to their dictionary. And Czechs are no exception to this trend – more and more of them are...

In this episode we have four stories set in the Czech or Moravian countryside, tales of ordinary people living through times that were anything but ordinary. Three of them take us back to the Stalinist years of the early 1950s in...

The acclaimed Czech artists Květa and Jitka Válová, who were twins, were born 100 years ago, on December 13, 1922. The sisters shared a date of birth, a lifelong home in the formerly industrial town of Kladno, near Prague, and great artistic...

Along with Bedřich Smetana, Antonín Dvořák is perhaps the best known Czech composer. Contemporary accounts from the time of his life show that it was not just Dvořák’s music that made an impression on people, but his character as well.

Preview the content page of the new issue which is coming soon.

Ukrainian soldiers have begun training here in Czechia, days after the country’s legislators approved such a move. Meanwhile, the country’s commitment to helping the country is reflected in a report that one Czech factory is producing a tank...

Unique photographs from the WWII Terezín ghetto are set to be shown at the European Parliament in Brussels as the six-month Czech presidency of the EU comes to a close. The photos had been lost for decades and only recently came to light...

A road in the fields between Tišnov and Jamný in the Brno region is newly decorated with an altar to St. Barbara created by amateur blacksmith Radim Tichý. The roadside altar stands on a stone pedestal, cut and shaped from a rock by Tichý. The...

The EU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA), whose headquarters are located in Prague, is set to open up to visitors from the public this Friday and Saturday for the first time since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. The rapidly...

At least two-fifths of Czechs believe that victims of rape are partly responsible for the crime, for example because of the way they dress or behave, suggests a new survey commissioned by human rights watchdog Amnesty International. The good...

The centuries-old Czech tradition of timber rafting has been newly added to UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage list. The nomination, submitted together with rafts men’s associations in Germany, Austria, Poland, Latvia and Spain, was approved...

One of Czechia’s most famous and respected architects, Josef Pleskot, was born on December 3, 1952, in the South Bohemian town of Písek. He was selected as the most influential person on the Czech architecture scene between the years 1990-2009...

Czech piano manufacturer PETROF is unquestionably one of Czechia’s best known brands. The company, based in the town of Hradec Králové, produced its first piano already in 1864. Today PETROF is the largest manufacturer of acoustic pianos in...

There is a saying: “Every Czech a musician”. But is there any truth in it? One can hardly doubt, that this country has a very long and rich musical tradition. But are Czechs really more musical than other nations? Vít Pohanka set out to find...

Fumio Obata is a British-based Japanese comic artist who specializes in ‘comic reportage’. This summer, he spent a three-week residency programme in Prague, organised by the Czech Literary Centre in cooperation with the international Lakes...

Tunnel Vision by Lazer Viking is sure to feature in many Czech LPs of the Year lists. On this latest record the artist, AKA Jakub Kaifosz, has abandoned the guitars of previous releases for a pure ‘80s, super catchy synth pop sound. What hasn’t...

If you wander into any Czech chapel or church during the festive season you are likely to see elaborate nativity scenes on display. These ‘betlémy’, as they are known in Czech, have a long and interesting history – and a large private...

The recent case of Twitter shows us that we should work to create alternative futures for the Internet because we need it to be resilient, trustworthy and sustainable. These alternative futures have one thing in common: they are based on...

We bring three very different tales of heroism during the 1930s and 1940s. The first is a classic story of wartime courage and adventure, as seventeen-year-old Rade Meech-Tatić recounts a dramatic episode in the life of his grandfather as a...

The Automatic Mills in Pardubice, one of the most famous buildings by the pioneering Czech architect and designer Josef Gočár, is currently undergoing a major transformation into a new multi-functional public space. The monumental structure...

Their paintings adorn the foyer of the National Theatre, the Municipal House and the Astronomical Clock. This Radio Prague International series presents artists who have achieved success on a global scale. They include the founder of Czech...

Prague Castle has announced that Bohemia’s crown jewels and the skull of Saint Wenceslas will be displayed to the public in January next year, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Czech Republic. Next year’s exhibition will be all the...

Single-use plastic packaging contributes to landfill waste and microplastics in the oceans and drinking water. Small Czech firm Myco’s mycelium-based packaging material offers a completely biodegradable alternative – and received...

Czechs living outside their home country have until this coming Sunday, December 4, to register to vote in January’s presidential elections. Meanwhile the current government’s pledge to introduce postal voting has not become reality. Direct...

Musician, composer and multi-instrumentalist Jiří Stivín turned 80 this week. As every year, he will celebrate with a concert in tribute to St. Cecilia, the patron of musicians. Jiří Stivín was born 23 November 1942 in Prague. He graduated from...

Prague is currently hosting the fifth edition of the annual Czech Space Week festival, which features a wide range of events for experts in the field, as well as for related businesses and the wider public. The launch of the festival was...

Not even boundless loyalty to the Soviet Union could save Rudolf Slánský, a general secretary of the Communist Party, from the death penalty in a trial that culminated on 27 November 1952. Show trials of the so-called class enemy was a practice...

Young director Šimon Holý this week sees his film And Then There Was Love enter Czech cinemas. It is the second feature film by Holý, who in addition composes music for films and until recently was also a presenter on alternative station Radio...

For two weeks this month, the nationwide ‘Den poezie’ or Poetry Day festival took place in roughly 50 towns and cities throughout the Czech Republic. The festival, now in its 24th year, takes place annually around the birthday of the great...

Nine people are in the running to succeed Miloš Zeman as Czech president in elections in January, after fulfilling the necessary criteria. Two, Petr Pavel and Danuše Nerudová, collected 50,000 signatures, while the remainder secured the backing...

Alfons Maria Mucha is still remembered today for his Art Nouveau paintings and graphics, such as his iconic theatrical poster of French stage actress Sarah Bernhardt. His art adorns walls, ceilings and windows in grand buildings in the Czech...

Traditional marketing usually fails to move Generation Z’s members and it can be difficult to capture their attention. Businesses that can be considered the ones to attract the Gen Z audience — we can define them as those born between the...

One sign that Advent is upon us in Prague is the reappearance of the man who lights gas lamps at some of the city’s most romantic locations. The uniformed figure has just appeared on Charles Bridge for the first time this season. Around 4 pm on...

Coca-Cola is one of the world’s most recognised brands, but if you are someone who’s spent any length of time in the Czech Republic you will likely have noticed that the Czechs have their own alternative – the similarly-named and similar...

The Prague food scene is becoming increasingly diverse, with more room for cuisines outside of traditional Czech food. While Japanese, Vietnamese, and Indian places continue to pop up, restaurants serving Carribean food, and specifically...

A WORLD OF COLORS CELEBRATION Get 2023 off to a smashing start. Reserve at Hilton Prague now! Kick off 2023 in impressive style! Hilton Prague’s annual New Year’s Eve party is going to become your favorite memory. Three delightful choices of...

What is the European Union and the wider Western world doing to tackle financial crime? And can financial tools be used to curb hostile regimes such as the one in Russia? These are some of the questions that are being explored by the Centre for...

In the third episode of our series looking at the recent past through the eyes of the youngest generation, we hear a story of exile and return. Fourteen-year-old Eva Nováková chose the format of a short radio play to draw us into the world of...

Two years ago, a small Czech studio called Play By Ear released an interactive audio game, in which players navigate their way through a mysterious detective story using their smartphones. Now they have put out an English version, called...

Many of Prague’s trams and busses, including the historic Ringhoffer and Irisbus Citelis 12 M are decked out for Christmas adding to the festive mood in the Czech capital. Passengers will be able to enjoy the sight until January 6, 2023.

On Monday night, members of the Chinese community in Prague gathered in Prague’s Národní trída, in a show of solidarity with the anti-government protests that have broken out across China. Many donned facemasks to protect themselves and feared...

The railway bridge connecting Prague’s Výtoň and Smíchov districts is due to get a new look – and not everyone is happy about it. The Vyšehrad Railway Bridge, built at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, has been in need of...

Carp has been the traditional Christmas dish for centuries. But it is only now that scientists have discovered its other possible uses – in smoothing out wrinkles and making jelly bears. Carp is the most common fish breed in Czechia and over...

Three baby turtles of a rare species known as the enigmatic leaf turtle have hatched in Prague Zoo, the Czech News Agency reported on Wednesday. This species of turtle is little studied in the wild and is classified as a Near Threatened species...

The former home of the legendary Czech traveller Miroslav Zikmund in the Moravian town of Zlín opened to the public this month. The iconic functionalist villa, built in the 1930s by the Baťa Company, has been turned into a museum dedicated to...

GZ Media, based at Loděnice near Prague, produces vinyl records around the clock in order to meet huge demand. In fact the company, which also has three plants in North America, is the world’s biggest producer of a music medium that many...

For several decades now, one of the most popular books among Czech readers has been The Egg and I by American writer Betty MacDonald. The 1945 memoir about life on a chicken farm in the Northwest has been largely forgotten in the United States...

On November 21, 1962, the Tatra T3 tram was put into regular service in Prague. It was a very modern tram for its time and would become a successful export product. Today, T3’s can still be seen transporting people in country’s such as Ukraine...

Tereza Stehlíková is a film and visual artist engaged in cross-disciplinary research at the intersection of art, philosophy, and science. As well as an interest in landscape and place, Stehlíková has devoted much of her career to exploring how...

Archivists at Czech Radio have discovered 1,300 discs of recordings from the 1946 trial with Karl Hermann Frank, who was in charge of the Nazi security forces during the wartime occupation of Bohemia and Moravia. The discs are currently in the...

A papier-mâché effigy of the Russian and Belarusian leaders Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko, made famous at anti-Russian demonstrations in Prague over the past year and a half, has now been put to auction. Bidding starts at 10,000 euros...

Scientists at Mendel University in Brno are exploring the possibility of using cyanobacteria to clean up plastic waste in the oceans. After special treatment, the photosynthetic microscopic organisms could break down micro-particles of plastic...

Don Hall grew up in the Deep South of the United States, in a poor, conservative, religious family. He became a successful evangelical Christian minister and was preaching to crowds of people all over the southeastern United States. But he was...

The grand Pařížská street has just ranked 17th in the latest analysis of the world’s most expensive streets, overtaking its old rival Na Příkopě. The wide tree-lined boulevard nestled between Prague’s Old Town Square, Jewish Quarter and...

The National Gallery in Prague has acquired a particularly valuable item – a wood carving of Mary sitting on a heavenly throne with baby Jesus resting on her lap and surrounded by three angels. The object is being called the Madonna from Havraň...

This year will see real wage decline in Czechia reach 8.3 percent, the largest such drop within the Visegrad Group (Czechia, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia), according to an analysis conducted by investment firm Cyrrus. Meanwhile, for next year the...

The European Space Agency announced its new team of astronauts at the Grand Palais Éphémère in Paris on Wednesday – and among them is Czech fighter pilot Aleš Svoboda. Svoboda is part of the reserve pool, but if he gets to go into space, he...

In this episode we continue our journey into the recent past through the eyes of the youngest generation, starting with a classic tale of European emigration in search of the American dream. It is followed the moving story of a Czech family...

Václav Brožík is arguably the most famous Czech painter of the late 19th century and the best-known representative of the style of Czech historicism. His artworks, often addressing important moments of Czech history, grace some of the most...

The Old Town Bridge Tower, a gateway to Charles Bridge, which dates back to the 14th century, is to undergo extensive renovation. The tower is steeped in history, having witnessed the coronation procession of Czech kings on their way to Prague...

A picture can paint a thousand words. This is certainly the case with the photograph of a pregnant woman being carried out on a stretcher by five paramedics from a Mariupol hospital, where a Russian bomb had just landed on March 9th 2022. This...

Josef Mánes left a rich legacy to the Czech Republic - but also fell afoul of a mysterious curse.

An exhibition presenting the life’s work of the twin sisters Jitka and Květa Válová got underway in Gallery of the Central Bohemian Region in Kutná Hora earlier this month. Entitled A Path Destined by Faith, it presents numerous works on loan...

November 11 is St. Martin’s Day, and in Czechia that often means eating roast goose paired with St. Martin’s wine. But what is special about this wine, and how do you know you’re getting the real thing? St. Martin’s Day...

We recently invited children and teenagers from across the Czech Republic to write a story about a member of their own family who had become an influence or inspiration to them. Many of the stories were beautifully and sensitively written...

Hand-made Bohemia crystal-glass and glass jewelry have a centuries old tradition that is taken to new heights by cutting-edge technology. Stunning crystal glass lighting installations, art works and glasses grace palaces, luxury hotels, public...

‘Miya’ is an aeroplane with a difference – designed to carry up to four passengers, she can fly without a pilot. She is also intended primarily for getting around in cities – and can do so almost completely silently. How do you like to travel...

Every big chapter in your life comes with its own challenges, and choosing a college program is no different. Some might find this process easy, considering they’ve only ever had one passion in their life, while others could struggle with...

The newly-restored greenhouse in the garden of the Augustinian abbey in Brno where the father of modern genetics, Gregor Johann Mendel, cross-bred pea plants and thereby discovered the laws of heredity, opened to the public for the first time...

The division of Czechoslovakia into two separate states was a peaceful process without a single shot being fired. However, arguments over the division of assets that belonged to the former state dragged on for 7 years. The process began exactly...

Proponents of “Czechia” got a boost this month, when Olympic officials in Prague asked the International Olympic Committee to register it in its database of country names. But will the short name ever replace the official “the Czech Republic”...

University students across Czechia are taking part in protests against climate change, calling on the government to take immediate action to address global warming, soaring energy prices and growing social inequalities. The series of events...

Andrea Vytlačilová is only 26 years old – but has the extremely impressive CV you’d expect of a person with many more years of life behind them. Already with work experience under her belt from fashion houses such as Marc Jacobs in New York...

This Thursday saw the 33rd anniversary of the onset of the Velvet Revolution. Commemorative events as well as demonstrations were held across the country. Czechs marked the 33rd anniversary of the beginning of the Velvet Revolution as well as...

Clay Sculptures: Terracotas by 15th⁠–⁠19th Century Italian Masters in the Collection of the National Gallery Prague organised by the National Gallery Prague in collaboration with the University of Chemistry and Technology Prague and...

On the backdrop of the ongoing Czech EU presidency, a special exhibition titled: “Design and transformation. Stories of Czech design 1990-2020” is currently on display at the Design Museum Brussels. The exhibition serves not just as an...

The case of a man who was allowed to work with children after twice raping a minor has led the authorities to consider blacklisting offenders of child sex crimes. The rape of a child by a perpetrator who had committed the same crime previously...

The final resting place of the Rožmberk clan, one of the richest and mightiest noble families in the land, was veiled in mystery for over 400 years. When researchers lowered a probe into the Rožmberk crypt in the Cistercian Monastery in Vyšší...

1,044 MW plant will be situated in western Romania and will be capable of providing clean power to more than 370,000 households Company keen to develop similar projects in the Czech Republic Rezolv developing a Centre of Excellence for...

It may be a little known fact, but Czechia houses a company that was once the main producer of photographic materials for the Eastern Bloc. The foundations of Foma Bohemia’s success were set up during the First Czechoslovak Republic. Today, the...

The Oriental Institute (OI) of the Czech Academy of Sciences is celebrating 100 years of existence this year. One of the oldest institutions dedicated to the study of Oriental cultures in Central and Eastern Europe, the OI has played its part...

Seven miniature versions of Prague’s Communist-era brutalist buildings have been installed in a park outside the Malostranská Metro Station. The site-specific project, featuring seven illuminated sculptures cast from concrete, was created by...

Dumplings, poppy-seed cakes and Czech traditions help keep the memory of the “old country” alive in the community of second and third generation Canadian Czechs in Saskatchewan province, Canada. A group of local enthusiasts are now also working...

Fyield, a group of musicians from Czechia and Iceland, have just released the LP Future Landscapes. The unusual project, based on field recordings made in a variety of locations in both states, is aimed at boosting awareness of climate change...

A film festival highlighting brave acts of resistance to the Nazi and Communist regimes and the people behind them is currently underway in Prague. Organized by the Museum of 20th Century Memory the festival offers screenings, lectures and...