Billed as “the world’s largest professional Romani festival”, Khamoro, meaning ‘sunshine’ in Romani, has been taking place in Prague since 1999. But as Izabela Chalupníková from the festival’s production team told me, it’s not your typical Romani festival. While most Romani festivals focus on music, Khamoro, in addition to concerts, presents a diverse programme of exhibitions, children’s activities, oral history, film screenings, dance performances, workshops, conferences and more.
“Our main goal is to show how colourful Roma culture is – it’s not all about music, we also have a lot of artists who are painters, dancers, writers, or work in movie production, for example. We want to show this and that’s why we not only have a musical programme during the festival, but also an accompanying programme of movie screenings, activities for children, Roma writers, and so on.
Two Czech titles, Tiny Lights and Our Lovely Pig Slaughter, will be in the main competition at the 58th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, organisers revealed on Tuesday. Meanwhile Hollywood star Geoffrey Rush will be part of the jury deciding who takes home the Crystal Globe. I spoke to artistic director Karel Och at the unveiling of this year’s official selection.
You have 15 films by debuting filmmakers in the official selection this year. Why so many, and what does it mean to you to have so many young directors?
“I guess that’s our sensitivity for up-and-coming filmmakers. We have been championing them for many years and I’m happy to say that there are so many.
Photo: Hans H. Pinn, 1916-1978 photographer, Portrait Max Brod, [1964], סימול ARC. 4* 2000 08 076, Max Brod Archive/The National Library of Israel
Max Brod, an important representative of Prague Jewish German literature, was born 140 years ago, on May 27, 1884. He is best known as the saviour of Franz Kafka’s work.
Max Brod was born into the family of a German-speaking clerk. After graduating from law school he worked as a postal, financial and court clerk. From 1929 to 1939 he was theatre and music critic for the newspaper Prager Tagblatt. He was also vice-president of the Jewish National Council in Czechoslovakia.
Brod was a good friend of future literary giant Franz Kafka and is known as the man who saved the writer’s work for the world. He did not burn Kafka‘s short stories and novels, despite his express wishes, but instead sorted and published them. He also wrote several studies on Kafka and edited his works.
Jazz Dock, one of Prague’s most popular jazz clubs thanks to its cool location in a modern glass building that appears to be floating on the river Vltava, plays host to a wide variety of jazz, funk, Latin and soul bands. But it also has its own house band, the Jazz Dock Orchestra, which recently released its first album.
The regional centers for Housing Investment Support, which was established in April by the State Investment Support Fund (SFPI), are already fully providing services to municipalities. They register dozens of requests for consultations of various types from mayors.
Ivan Bartoš, Deputy Prime Minister for Digitization and Minister for Regional Development, got acquainted with the activities of one of these eight new expert advisory centers during his trip to the Pilsen region.
“Regional investment support centers are an important part of the mosaic that is our Housing for Life reform. I am excited about the interest that municipalities have already shown in their services. I believe that the centers will be a great support for cities and municipalities, and not only during the launch of our Affordable Housing program in September,” said Deputy Prime Minister for Digitization and Minister for Regional Development Ivan Bartoš on the occasion of a visit to the Pilsen Regional Center for Housing Investment Support.
“Regional centers deal with questions from various areas. I am pleased that after such a short period of its operation it has become a partner of our mayors. Our experts answer questions about project management, implementation and strategic planning of investments, they also help with financial modeling and project financing, as well as with technological designs and building solutions to make them efficient and sustainable,” explains SFPI director Daniel Ryšávka.
Minister Ivan Bartoš also visited the town of Přeštice, which is located twenty kilometers south of Pilsen. A project to complete the area for senior housing and modern facilities for field care services is being prepared on site. There will also be 14 new apartments for the elderly. The SFPI Regional Center for Housing Investment Support is helping with project preparation. “We are glad that the state, through SFPI consultancy, also provides expert support for specific projects, such as the project for our seniors in Máchova street. Municipalities can thus speed up and make capital construction more efficient,” says Tomáš Chmelík, mayor of Přeštice. The municipality plans to use the SFPI Affordable housing program for this rental housing project, which will be launched in September.
Czechia won the Ice Hockey World Championship with a 2:0 defeat of Switzerland in the final on Sunday night. The Czechs, led by star David Pastrňák, secured the title for the first time in over a decade and a half in front of an ecstatic home crowd in Prague.
Czechia secured gold at the Ice Hockey World Championship when David Kämpf found the net for 2:0 with only seconds remaining on the clock, sparking euphoria on the Czech bench and in the stands at the sold-out O2 Arena in Prague.
Sunday night’s final against Switzerland had been a tense, goalless affair until the 51st minute, when the hosts’ biggest star, David Pastrňák, broke the deadlock with a commanding strike.
Lucia Moholy was a Prague-born photographer who documented, often uncredited, the interwar Bauhaus movement in Germany. She has largely been overlooked as an artist – something a major new retrospective at the gallery Kunsthalle Praha aims to redress. I asked curator Jordan Troeller what role Moholy played in the Bauhaus.
“The role that she played is better stated negatively [laughs]. She was neither an enrolled student nor paid staff there; nor did she have another staff, teaching position.
“She was, as she put it, one of the Bauhaus wives [she was married to László Moholy-Nagy, a painter, photographer and Bauhaus professor]. There was a big group of women who were considered the Bauhaus wives – wives of teachers there.
Czechast invites Daniel Hrbek, the director and manager of Švanda Theater in Prague, to discuss the enduring appeal of live theater, even in our digital age.
Despite the rise of streaming services, Prague’s theaters are thriving, with shows often sold out months in advance. People are clearly yearning for the unique experience of live performances. Here’s what Daniel had to say about this trend:
“Our performances are sold out. I cen see that people want to be positive, want to meet and be with other people, want to share their artistic experience.”
But that’s not all we talked about. Daniel also shares some exciting news about an upcoming collaboration between Švanda Theater and the Shakespeare Center in Los Angeles. They are teaming up to bring a modern adaptation of Czech playwright Karel Čapek’s groundbreaking science fiction play, R.U.R., to the stage:
“Our theater produced and performed a play based on a script developed by artificial intelligence. It is called ‘AI: When a Robot Writes a Play. We had an international opening night broadcast live on YouTube, so people could watch the show live all over the world and we had good reviews in The Guardian and some other media.”
Photo repro: Ondráš Přibyla, ‘Atlas of Climate Change’/Lipka
Facts on Climate Change, a Czech team of independent analysts and experts, is committed to making the public debate on climate change factual, constructive and based on scientifically verified data. They recently published an English version of their Atlas of Climate Change, which was previously only available in Czech, to provide teachers, students, journalists, influencers, and political and business decision makers across the world with easy-to-use maps, explainers and infographics that summarise key facts about one of the greatest challenges facing our civilisation today.
Ondráš Přibyla has a technical background in a field laughably opaque to most of us – theoretical physics – that led him to learn about the physics of climate change. But, unlike your stereotypical theoretical physicist, he is also interested in communication, mediation, and how to resolve conflicts.
“Stay where you are. Don’t move,” German primatologist Daniela Hedwig was whispering into a loud gorilla shouting. “It is OK, just don’t move,” she repeated, and I wondered if I should pick up my camera and try to take the photo of my life. I had already tried to imagine this situation before and I had always ended up running away in a panic – which would have been the worst thing I could do. A few seconds ago, a silverback male of lowland gorilla stopped in a threatening posture only five metres in front of me. Makumba.
Of course, it was a misunderstanding. We accidentally got in between Makumba and two of his females. It was probably Bombe, who started the fuss. What else could Makumba do than to show off properly…?
Many years have passed since my meeting with Makumba that took place in Dzana Sangha in the south-west of Central African Republic. But I was still following Makumba and his family from a distance. But exactly one week ago, unfortunately the worst news came: Makumba died.
Soon I learned that he lost his life at night from 14 to 15th May as a result of a fight with a lonely male. Similar skirmishes between the aging Makumba and younger males who sought his leadership had occurred before, but the news of his death was still shocking.
Makumba was more than 45 years old and during his time he fathered at least eighteen young, which he had with six females. Makumba’s and his family’s habituation – i.e. getting them used to the presence of people – started in 2000, when he was twenty. Later he became the true icon and symbol of conservation of both Dzanga Sangha as well as of lowland gorillas. He was the hero of many documentaries, his photos have travelled around the world many times, a number of scientific papers were created thanks to him (including also papers of the Czech team led by Klára Petrželková from the Academy of Science), and last but not least about ten thousands tourists, who brought considerable financial resources, have visited him.
Makumba was the first gorilla male, whom I have seen in the wild. And although our first meeting was somewhat strained, during following meetings I learned that he was the peaceful leading male of the gorilla family. I will never forget his massiveness and elegance. He fulfilled my big dream. And his photos, which I once took in Dzanga Sangha, will help us in Prague Zoo, just as they have done until now, to inform about the gorilla life in Central Africa and win over the public for their conservation.
Allianz Insurance has joined 9,616 companies worldwide that have declared their commitment to gender equality and women’s empowerment within the UN Sustainable Development Goals and ESG agenda. It did so by signing up to the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) initiative. This was jointly announced by representatives of Allianz Insurance Company and Business & Professional Women CR, which is the ambassador of the initiative in the Czech Republic, at a ceremonial meeting of WEPs signatories and supporters.
„We are very proud to be signatories to the principles that promote equality. At the same time, I must say that for Allianz, equality is a principle that we consider to be perfectly natural. The fact that we do not just talk about equality, but actually live it, is demonstrated by the fact that we have been awarded, and at the end of last year defended again, the Edge Assess equal opportunities certificate. An equal approach enables us to support and develop talented people. This benefits us as a company, our clients, and our employees. It’s a win-win solution for everyone. I firmly believe that our daughters will see the Gender Pay Gap in the Czech Republic reduced from its current nearly 18% – preferably to zero,“ says Petr Hrbáček, Member of the Board of Directors of Allianz insurance company, which now boasts that it has managed to reduce the gender pay gap to 0.6%. He also called on other companies in the country to join the initiative and together create a community to support each other and promote good practice in the field of equal opportunities.
Business & Professional Women CR (BPWCR) has been campaigning for 15 years to close the gender pay gap and contribute to women’s education and empowerment. It is thus a natural link to those who are building an inclusive and equal corporate culture and are leaders in this regard.
„As part of our work, we try not only to attract new signatories but also to share examples of good practice from companies working on equal opportunities issues. Their activities are inspiring and encourage other companies to take an active role in creating working conditions for women so that they can develop their talents to the fullest. Allianz is taking this step to show its commitment to equal opportunities and we are extremely pleased they become part of this important initiative. I am confident that working with Allianz and the other signatories will lead to positive changes in the corporate environment and will promote modern working conditions for all,“ says Lenka Šťastná, president of BPWCR.
sincere greetings to you all wherever you are right now from Humanitas Afrika we wish you only good health, happiness, and prosperity. We have the pleasure always to update and inform you and where possible to invite you to some of our noble initiatives and activities in the Czech Republic.
in 2002, Humanitas Afrika inspired, revived, reintroduced, and led in one full week of different activities the official celebration of Afrika Day in the Czech Republic in collaboration with then 9 Afrikan Ambassadors and Embassies in Prague. Since then our organization in a small or big way has tried to sustain the celebration of Afrika Day and other Afrikan activities in the Czech Republic with passion, commitment, and creativity.
This year 2024, is no exception. Among the 3 humble events we planned to celebrate Afrika Day in the Czech Republic is our newest initiative called SPEAKER MAKE A VIDEO CLIP CONFERENCE. We kindly asked 9 noble personalities of Afrikan, Czech, and German origins to make conference-style presentations in the comfort of their homes and record purposely in honoring Afrika Day this year. The 9 Sisters and Brothers were given the liberty to speak about the topic brought up by Humanitas Afrika or from their perspectives and experiences about Afrika.
We are pleased therefore to present you with the outcome of the fruitful collaboration between Humanitas Afrika and 9 Sisters and Brothers who accepted our request and took part in the first-ever SPEAKER MAKE A VIDEO CONFERENCE in celebration of Afrika Day. Please see the link to the video on our YouTube channel Ubuntu Is Parada. Kindly do not forget to like our videos and subscribe to our channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQV4am-T-CM&t=187s.
As an addendum in testimony to the creativity of Humanitas Afrika and how we have inspired, led, and sustained the celebration of Afrika Day and other Afrikan socio-cultural activities in the Czech Republic since the year 2000 when our organization was founded by some Afrikans and Czechs in Prague, here is a specific example. In 2021, when the whole world was locked down because of the global coronavirus pandemic and all social and human activities came to an abrupt halt, and a standstill Humanitas Afrika found a way still to honor the celebration of Afrika Day. So it was that on 29 May 2021, Humanitas Afrika had its first-ever online collaboration with the famed Ghana Dance Ensemble to celebrate Afrika Day that year. At the request of and support from Humanitas Afrika the Ghana Dance Ensemble performed live at the campus of Ghana’s prestigious university in Accra- Legon which was live-streamed across the globe via Facebook. In case you missed that historic event in celebration of Afrika Day in 2021, then here is the recorded version of the Ghana Dance Ensemble performance on that occasion. Please see the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8Fh1h1QSWA
We would like to thank our Brother Blakk Rasta – a radio journalist and popular reggae artist in Ghana for permitting us to use his song for the Afrika Day – video conference 2024 – Czech Republic. See the link to the video of the song we used: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07scHB_xcUo
We also thank all our Families and Friends for your support and good wishes in different ways to our great and continued effort for Afrika and Czech-Afrika relations in the Czech Republic and beyond. Together we will make the world a better place for all humanity – it said that Little Drops of Water Make a Mighty Ocean
Happy Afrika Day 2024 – UBUNTU
On behalf of the wonderful family/team at Humanitas Afrika and the Beautiful Young and Dynamic Czech and Slovak ladies behind the production of our great videos
I remain your Simple and Humble brother Afrikatu Kofi
To mark the 7th World Bee Day 2024, the Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia in Prague, together with the Prague 6 and in cooperation with the United Nations Information Centre in Prague, opened an outdoor exhibition “Saving the Future: the World of Pollinators” in Ladronka Park, Prague 6. The exhibition, prepared by the Embassy and the Apiculture Museum Radovljica, Slovenia, highlights the crucial role of bees and other pollinators, shares interesting facts about beekeeping in Slovenia and promotes Slovenian bee diplomacy activities.
The opening was attended by Deputy-Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic Mr. Eduard Hulicius, Ambassador of Slovenia H.E Mrs. Tanja Strniša, Mayor of Prague 6 Mr. Jakub Stárek, and Head of the UN Information Centre Prague Mr. Michal Broža, diplomats and other important guests and partners. (Please see quotes from the opening speeches below and the video).
By installing beehives in Ladronka Park, the Prague 6 Municipality contributed significantly to this year’s celebration, thus fostering greater collaboration between governments, local communities and individuals in the efforts to protect pollinators.
The exhibition will be on display until 10 June 2024.
Bees are under threat. Present species extinction rates are 100 to 1,000 times higher than normal due to human impacts. Close to 35 percent of invertebrate pollinators, particularly bees and butterflies, and about 17 percent of vertebrate pollinators, such as bats, face extinction globally. If this trend continues, nutritious crops, such as fruits, nuts and many vegetable crops will be substituted increasingly by staple crops like rice, corn and potatoes, eventually resulting in an imbalanced diet, the United Nations warns.
Since 2017 when the United Nations declared 20 May World Bee Day, Slovenia has continued its efforts to raise awareness of the importance of bees and other pollinators and to promote international cooperation to help protecting them. Raising awareness of the importance of the pollinators helps protecting them and makes an important contribution to solving issues of global food supply. According to FAO, 71% of the most important crops grown for human consumption require pollination.
Bee Engaged with Youth
The 2024 World Bee Day focuses on the theme “Bee Engaged with Youth”. It aims to raise awareness among young people about the crucial role of bees and other pollinators in agriculture, ecological balance and biodiversity conservation. By involving young people in beekeeping activities, educational initiatives and advocacy efforts, we can inspire a new generation of environmental leaders and empower them to make a positive impact on the world.
Bees are under Threat
Bees are facing higher than normal rates of extinction due to human impacts, climate change and biodiversity degradation. Promoting more diverse farming systems and reducing dependence on toxic chemicals can help increase pollination.
Furthermore, Slovenia firmly believes in the unique potential of beekeeping to address social and environmental vulnerability. For example, beekeeping has become an increasingly popular way of adapting to climate change in water-scarce regions where people are losing their main source of livelihood and have to turn to other activities.
As a special addition to this year’s World Bee Day celebrations, Slovenia will co-host with the FAO the International Forum for Action on Sustainable Beekeeping and Pollination, “Bees for People, Planet and Peace”, which will take place in Ljubljana on 22 and 23 May.
What Can Individuals Do to Save the Bees?
By taking these simple actions, everyone can help to protect and enhance bees and other pollinators in our ecosystem:
– Plant bee-friendly flowers
– Establish bee houses for solitary bees
– Opt for organic, sustainable food choices
– Buy honey and bee products locally
– Avoid harmful chemicals and pesticides
– Leave nesting sites for ground-nesting bees
– Plant hedgerows
– Sowing meadows with more flowers
World Bee Day is an opportunity for all of us to promote actions that will protect and enhance pollinators and their habitats, improve diversity, and support the sustainable development of beekeeping.
Through the exhibition in Ladronka Park, the organizers hope to inspire new individuals to become beekeepers or take other actions. As long as there are beekeepers and bee guardians, the bees will be protected!
Quotes from the speakers at the World Bee Day event in Ladronka Park:
Mr. Eduard Hulicius, Deputy-Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic: “I would like to express my deepest thanks to the Slovenian Embassy and United Nations Information Centre Prague for hosting this important event and for their continued efforts to raise awareness of the importance of bees.Bees are tough and hardworking beings, always working hard for their future. Their dedication and teamwork are amazing. We should learn from them and use their example to improve our own cooperation in building prosperous future.”
Ambassador of the Republic of Slovenia H.E Mrs. Tanja Strniša: “Pollinators are key to global ecosystem health and food security, but they are currently under threat due to human impacts, climate change, and biodiversity degradation. Therefore, Slovenia has strategically engaged its diplomatic network to co-create over 300 pollinator projects in collaboration with partners around the world. Slovenia’s flagship program titled “Bees for Peace” promotes peace through cooperative bee-related activities. We strongly believe in beekeeping’s unique potential to address social and environmental vulnerability. For example, Slovenia promotes beekeeping as a means of empowering war-affected people with disabilities in Bosnia and Herzegovina or in Ukraine. Worth mentioning is also a project focused on climate adaptation through beekeeping to build resilience to climate change in Kenya’s drylands, which Slovenia initiated in collaboration with the World Food Programme.”
Mr. Jakub Stárek, Mayor of Prague 6: “We have decided to join the celebrations of World Bee Day initiated by the Embassy of Slovenia not only symbolically, but with concrete actions. We will continue to look for suitable locations for placing more beehives aside from those that have already been installed in our district.”
Mr. Michal Broža, Head of the UN Information Centre Prague: “The UN Office in Czechia is very pleased to have been able to work with Slovenia and Czechia again this year to promote the importance of bees and other pollinators. We need to tell people, especially young people, what everyone can do to protect these beautiful and important creatures and support those who care for them. I am quite sure that we will find many enthusiastic (not only young) allies in Czechia.”
From Monday 27th May – Friday 1st June audiences can enjoy over 140 performances of 36 productions from 15 different countries around the world! The traditional (and not so traditional) theatres and performance spaces of Prague’s Malá Strana district will once again be filled with international, award-winning, ground-breaking theatre, comedy, children’s shows, story-telling, and more.
The festival team has curated an incredibly diverse range of options for audiences to enjoy – from The Untold Fable of Fritz and King John for family fun, too late night stand-up with Bombay Comedy!
Returning favourites such as the award-winning Pip Utton, Henry Naylor and Emily Carding are back, as well as brand new work from fresh, young performers and producers and shows from Japan, Taiwan, Finland, Australia, and even Ukraine.
Prague Fringe Founder and Director Steve Gove says “It’s going to be a belter!” “We’ve curated our most international Fringe in years, packed full of incredible quality productions from around the world, brand-new works and Czech premieres, and two whole venues dedicated to comedy!
The festival is back in its favourite Malá Strana venues including Divadlo Inspirace, A Studio Rubín, Museum of Alchemists, and Café Club Míšeňská.
Plus this year sees two venues dedicated to comedy – the return of last year’s successful Charles Bridge Comedy Club and a brand new venue in the basement of OG Glenn’s Bar which is hosting a full programme of stand-up and comedy shows. Fan favorite Malostranská beseda is back for the larger-scale productions including the talented young actors from the Australian Shakespeare Company, the 5* musical Happily Ever Poofter, Youtube hit sensation UnErase Poetry – Stories from India from Mumbai, a sexy scientific exploration of the Chemistry Of Love by Dr. Michael Londesborough, MBE, and an exclusive Fringe-version of the Czech legendary (fictional) playwright Jára Cimrman’s the Stand-In performed by the Cimrman English Theatre.
On Thursday 30th May there are international performances taking place with 2 shows performed in the original Italian (Alice No, and Be My Guest), and UnErase Poetry – Stories from India performed in Hindi.
Tickets are on sale now for the Czech Republic’s very own slice of Edinburgh on the Vltava
To keep things as affordable as possible, the popular Prague Fringe Pass is available again for 1100Kč which saves the user 20 Kč on each ticket (as well as only paying a single ticket booking fee for the transaction).
Advance tickets are 250Kč (or 220Kč for students/seniors) and tickets purchased at the venue (selected venues only) are 300Kč – subject to availability. The Fringe is a cash-free Festival. All major credit cards are accepted.
Polar bears Aleut (front) and Gregor (back) getting to know their new home. In the Warsaw Zoo, they can now start the necessary reconstruction of the exposition there. Photo by Petr Hamerník, Prague Zoo
Two polar bears from the Warsaw Zoo arrived at the Prague Zoo yesterday evening. Thirteen-year-old twins Gregor and Aleut came to Prague based on the recommendation of the European breeding coordinator of this species. Her decision follows the March departure of the Prague male Tom to Almaty, Kazakhstan, to find a potential mate. It was in his former exposition that the newly arrived brothers moved in. On Wednesday, May 22 at 11:30 a.m., the Prague Zoo will officially welcome them.
“The arrival of Gregor and Aleut is directly related to the fact that a new modern exhibit for polar bears will be created at the Prague Zoo, in other words, that we are prospective breeders of these animals,” said the director of the Prague Zoo, Miroslav Bobek. “Both bears are now getting to know their new environment. Visitors will be able to watch them from Monday.”
Aleut (left) and Gregor (right) were born on December 2nd at the Nuremberg Zoo to male Felix and female Vera and have lived in Warsaw Zoo in Poland since 2013. Although they are now adults, they are still very playful and have a close relationship as twins. Photo by Petr Hamerník, Prague Zoo
The twins Gregor and Aleut were born on December 2, 2010 in the Nuremberg Zoo, but since April 18, 2013 they lived in the Warsaw Zoo. While Gregor is more powerful and the Polish breeders nicknamed him Grzes, his brother Aleut or Ali can be recognized by his taller stature and overall slimmer appearance.
“Thanks to the newly arrived bear brothers, the people of Prague and other visitors to our zoo have the opportunity to observe polar bears even while we are preparing the construction of the Arctic exhibit. It is here that these animals, iconic for the Prague Zoo and also very endangered, will find a new home. The Arctic, the construction of which should begin this year, will provide polar bears with first-class conditions for raising their cubs and will attract visitors from all over the world,” said the deputy mayor, Mr. City of Prague for the environment Jana Komrsková.
Gregor takes a bath in his new exhibit at the Prague Zoo and washes off the greenish stains he got during yesterday’s transport by rubbing against the Polish transport crate. Photo by Petr Hamerník, Prague Zoo
The welcome of the two bear brothers, combined with a photo opportunity for the media, will take place on Wednesday, May 22, from 11:30 a.m. Journalists can be accredited by email at masek@zoopraha.cz. Visitors can look forward to a thematic gaming station.
Temporary barriers have been installed around the exhibition glasses since today, thanks to which the bears will get better used to the presence of dogs in the area – they are not used to them from the Polish metropolis. This temporary measure will not reduce visitor comfort in any way.
On Saturday, May 25, the Prague Zoo will open a new exhibit for hairy porcupines.
An aviary of East Asian birds was created last year at the place of their previous enclosure near the Sichuan pavilion, and so the group of these prickly rodents was moved to the hinterland.
Now the visitors’ favorite animals are returning in a new form. The modern exhibition will provide them with a structured outdoor and indoor space and visitors the opportunity to watch the porcupines at eye level.
The festive event will begin at 11 a.m. on the road between the Pavilion of Large Turtles and the Big Tortoise in the lower part of the zoo grounds.
Middle East Members Prioritize Innovation and Investments as UN Tourism Regional Commission Meets for 50th Time
UN Tourism’s Member States in the Middle East have looked to the future, coming together to focus on boosting investments into the sector and growing new products to build resilience and expand inclusivity.
International tourism reached 97% of pre-pandemic levels in the first quarter of 2024
International tourist arrivals reached 97% of pre-pandemic levels in the first quarter of 2024. According to UN Tourism, more than 285 million tourists traveled internationally in January-March, about 20% more than the first quarter of 2023, underscoring the sector’s near-complete recovery from the impacts of the pandemic.
UN Tourism Launches the Tourism Investment Guidelines for Jordan
UN Tourism has presented a new volume of its “Tourism Doing Business: Investment Guidelines”, this time with a focus on the investment potential of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
As Russia steps up its offensive in Ukraine, the country’s leadership is stressing the urgent need for more weapons and soldiers to hold the front. In an exclusive interview for Czech Radio, Ukraine’s Defence Minister Rustem Umerov spoke about the military’s most urgent needs, the call to action for Ukrainian citizens abroad and the need to boost Ukraine’s own weapons‘ production capacity with foreign investment.
News from the frontline is not good. Russian forces have been making further gains in several places across the 1,200 km frontline and have intensified air strikes against both cities and critical infrastructure, making some pundits question whether Ukraine can still win this war. Defence Minister Rustem Umerov said his country is determined to win, but stressed the need for timely assistance from its allies.
Photo: CES on-line/Centrální evidence sbírek muzejní povahy
Fantastic Scherzo by the great Czech composer Josef Suk premiered at Prague’s Rudolfinum in 1905.
Josef Suk, who was born in 1874, was one of Antonín Dvořák’s favourite students and indeed married Dvořák’s daughter, Otilie Suková.
The composer and violinist was initially strongly influenced by Dvořák before finding his own voice. His teacher had died by the time Suk’s Fantastic Scherzo was premiered in 1905 by the Prague Conservatory.
Though Suk is known for intimate, expressive piano cycles, the Scherzo fantastique saw the Czech bring the concert hall genre, associated with names like Mendelssohn and Berlioz, into the 20th century.
A new exhibition opens on Wednesday evening at the Czech Center New York presenting Czech female opera singers whose careers brought them onto the stage of one of the world’s most prestigious opera houses – the Metropolitan Opera in New York. From opera great Emmy Destinn right up until contemporary star Magdalena Kožená, these Czech prima donnas performed under the batons of world-famous conductors and alongside other renowned singers, sometimes starring in the Met’s first productions of major Czech operas. I spoke to the exhibition’s curator, the head of the Antonín Dvořák Museum in Prague Dr. Veronika Vejvodová, in advance of the exhibition opening.
What’s the concept behind the exhibition – why female opera singers and why now?
“The exhibition aims to present Czech prima donnas who had the opportunity to perform in one of the most prestigious opera houses in the world – the New York Metropolitan Opera. The exhibition is actually a continuation of our collaboration between the National Museum and the Czech Centre New York. In particular the music exhibitions that the Czech National Museum prepared in the past few years for the Czech Centre were a big success in New York. We started with Dvořák because I work at the Dvořák museum, and the first exhibition was in 2014 with The New World Symphony. We brought the original manuscript from our collections to the Czech Centre New York for one week – it was something really special.
The town of Opava has a unique octagonal chapel, called the Swedish Chapel, which boasts a rare find. Its walls are covered with fragments of 15th century frescoes depicting the Apocalypse.
The octagonal Chapel of the Holy Cross –commonly known as the Swedish Chapel -was built between 1390 and 1394 by Přemek I, Duke of Opava and is now one of the last remnants of Silesian Brick Gothic architecture in the area. The art-historical value of the chapel increased with the discovery of a cycle of 15 wall paintings depicting the Apocalypse. They are embellished with ornaments and have German captions. Art historian Eva Malousková points out some of the images.
Conservationists are attempting to save a large-scale mosaic created by the famous twin sisters Jitka and Květa Válová in the late 1970s. The artwork, believed to have been lost, was discovered some time ago in a building, which is slated for demolition.
The identical twins Jitka and Květa Válová are widely considered one of the most distinctive Czech artists of the post-war generation. The sisters spent their whole life together, living and working in the industrial town of Kladno.
They mainly produced paintings and drawings, but they also created a couple of 3D objects, including a mosaic made of thousands of glass pieces.
Photo: Martina Kutková, Radio Prague International
The last years of Kafka’s life were associated with severe illness and numerous stays in sanatoriums. On this account, Kafka has often been described as sickly. However, as long as his health allowed, he exercised regularly, washed with cold water and generally tried to keep fit. In 1922, two years before his death, tuberculosis forced him to resign from the Workmen’s Accident Insurance Company. Following his doctor’s advice, he went to the mountains to get some fresh air, says David Stecher, director of the Prague Literary House:
“There was a big flu pandemic back then, and many people succumbed to the disease. Not everybody knows that Kafka also had the flu, but overcame it. However, he subsequently got infected with tuberculosis. He stayed in the Tatra Mountains for seven months, undergoing treatment. From there he went to Špindlerův Mlýn, where he stayed at the Krone Hotel, now the Savoy. That’s where he really started writing The Castle. Afterwards, he also stayed in a sanatorium near Vienna.”
The great Czech architect Eva Jiřičná has been living in the UK for many decades. But the biggest project in the 85-year-old’s career, a 1,000-apartment development, is set to go up in Prague. I spoke to Jiřičná on Monday at a presentation of Centrum Nového Žižkova, New Žižkov Centre, on which she collaborated with the UK’s Arup Group. Plans for the complex were first revealed five years ago, but they have been forced to change considerably since then.
Your original winning design had three towers. The resulting design now has one tower, which is a bit shorter.
Photo: Albert Meyer, Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Czechs contributed to the foundation of the International Olympic Committee and to the creation of Olympism as we know it today. One of the co-authors of the Olympic Charter was Czech Jiří Stanislav Guth-Jarkovský.
The origins of Olympism in the Czech lands date back to the last years of the 19th century. They are mainly associated with the Czech professor Jiří Stanislav Guth-Jarkovský. He was appointed one of the first 12 members of the International Olympic Committee at its Constituent Congress in Paris in June 1894.
Disappointed fans, crying children, angry parents: some of the scenes that could be witnessed at the turnstiles to hockey arenas in Prague and Ostrava when excited ticket holders realised the passes they had bought to the 2024 IIHF World Championship were fakes. The police have so far uncovered hundreds of cases and one person is being prosecuted.
Hockey fan Standa was looking forward to watching Czechia’s first match in the 2024 IIHF World Championship last Friday. He got a ticket for the game as a joint birthday present from his son, wife and daughter in April.
“The tickets were unfortunately sold out everywhere by then, so my son was searching desperately until eventually he found an offer on the internet. The official tickets cost CZK 4600 but he found someone who was selling their ticket for CZK 5000.”
The 2024 Ice Hockey World Championships are well underway in the Czech cities of Prague and Ostrava. The tournament, which brings together teams representing 16 nations, is held annually in alternating host cities. As the group stage of the tournament winds down, excited fans are anticipating who will play who in the quarterfinal matches in what has already been a competitive tournament. Here’s a quick rap up of what’s been going on.
Czechia trails Canada in Group A
Czechia is currently second in the Group A division, with a total of 15 points, trailing behind Canada who has 17. Czechia has only lost one game to the Swiss in overtime, with the game ending in penalty shots. But the Czechs could be carrying powerful new arsenal. Now that the Boston Bruins have been eliminated from the NHL playoffs, right winger David Pastrňák and left winger Pavel Zacha have returned to Prague and will be dressing for the national team. Martin Nečas from the Carolina Hurricanes has also reunited with his national teammates. Together, the three new additions to the Czech squad could prove to be a powerful advantage.
Photo: Klára Stejskalová, Radio Prague International
The making of glass and jewellery by hand, a tradition which has survived for hundreds of years in the Liberec Region, draws thousands of tourists to the area each year. Radio Prague paid a visit to the oldest still-functioning glassworks in Bohemia, the Novosad Glass Factory, nestled in the Giant Mountains in the small town of Harrachov. The nowadays privately-owned Novosad & Son was founded in the 18th century, or possibly even earlier, on the former estate of the aristocratic Harrach family and remains fully functional, with everything preserved almost exactly as it was originally.
The furnaces in Novosad have not stopped roaring in at least 312 years – not even the First or Second World Wars halted production in the factory. The first mention of the glassworks in the historical archives is from 1712, but it is clear from the records that they were founded even earlier.
The factory sprang up on the Jilemnice estate of the aristocratic Harrach family, which operated it until 1943, when they were forced to sell to Nazi Germany. After the communist coup of 1948, the glass manufacturer was nationalised and became one of the manufacturing plants belonging to the company Crystalex, which brought most formerly independent small Czech glassworks under one umbrella organisation.
Translations of short stories by the Prague German-language writer come out this week. Entitled Selected Stories, the collection is the work of Mark Harman, an Irish-born, US-resident academic who has been described as “the finest living Kafka translator” into English. From his home in Pennsylvania, Professor Harman discussed many aspects of the author’s work, including his distinctive style, his sense of humour and where he stands in the literary pantheon.
The novelist John Banville, no less, has called you the greatest living Kafka translator. How did your connection to Kafka begin in the first place?
“I used to hate the question ‘What brought you to Kafka?’ It was a rather defensive response. When people would ask me the exact same question you just asked me I would say, Well, there are scholarly, literary reasons – it’s none of your, beeswax, in a way [laughs].
Final preparations are underway for the 23rd edition of the Prague Fringe, which starts on Monday. Alongside an array of artists from around the globe, this year’s edition will also include a local company performing a play “by” fictional Czech legend Jara Cimrman. Founder Steve Gove discussed that booking – but first told me about a production by Shinehouse Theatre, a company from Taiwan.
“This is really exciting. It’s the first time we’ve had a theatre company coming from Taiwan, and it’s a proper, full-scale production.
“The application came in in August [for the show The Whisper of the Waves] and I thought, Wow, this would be quite the thing.
“So we were in touch right from the beginning and I said, Yes, yes, yes, this has to come. And we’re really, really excited about it.”
Also coming is UnErase Poetry from India, who I see have 1.2 million followers on Instagram alone. Who are UnErase Poetry?
“UnErase Poetry are a poetry collective from Mumbai. They are huge, even by Indian standards. They’ve got several awards from YouTube for their viewership and followers.
Every year, Czechs consume millions of chickens, leaving behind tons of feathers as a by-product. The feathers typically end up in incinerators or on landfills. Czech scientists have now come up with a way of repurposing this by-product – turning it into liquid fertiliser.
It is estimated that the Czech chicken industry generates about 100 million tons of kilogrammes of feathers each year. The waste is either incinerated, creating large amounts of CO2, or end up in landfills, where they take years to decompose.
Photo: Klára Stejskalová, Radio Prague International
A fresh Russian offensive targeted at Kharkiv puts Ukraine’s efforts to defend itself against Putin’s aggression under renewed focus. It may also increase the importance of a Czech initiative to provide large amounts of artillery ammunition to Ukraine, funded by partner states, which is set to begin next month.
Czech President Petr Pavel made world headlines in February when he said at the Munich Security Conference that his country could secure 800,000 artillery shells for Ukraine – if partner states provided the funding.
What became known as the “Czech initiative” earned international plaudits and was celebrated domestically as one of the most successful diplomatic efforts in the state’s modern history.
Though there have been some questions along the way about Prague’s ability to deliver, Czech leaders have repeatedly said June is when deliveries of the artillery procured under the scheme will begin.
H.E. Mr. Mateusz GNIAZDOWSKI the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland hosted a reception for Poland National Day and the anniversary of 90 years of relations between the Poland Republic and the Czech Republic.
The event took place at the beautiful Fürstenberg palace with a great view of Prague Castle.
The president of the Czech Republic Mr. Petr Pavel the first lady Mrs. Eva Pavlova, The Senate president Mr. Miloš Vystrčil, and many other politicians and Ambassadors attend the event.
Polar bears Aleut (front) and Gregor (back) getting to know their new home. In the Warsaw Zoo, they can now start the necessary reconstruction of the exposition there. Photo by Petr Hamerník, Prague Zoo
Two polar bears from the Warsaw Zoo arrived at the Prague Zoo.
Thirteen-year-old twins Gregor and Aleut came to Prague based on the recommendation of the European breeding coordinator of this species. Her decision follows the March departure of the Prague male Tom to Almaty, Kazakhstan, to find a potential mate. It was in his former exposition that the newly arrived brothers moved in. On Wednesday, May 22 at 11:30 a.m., the Prague Zoo will officially welcome them.
“The arrival of Gregor and Aleut is directly related to the fact that a new modern exhibit for polar bears will be created at the Prague Zoo, in other words, we are prospective breeders of these animals,” said the director of the Prague Zoo, Miroslav Bobek. “Both bears are now getting to know their new environment. Visitors will be able to watch them from Monday.”
Aleut (left) and Gregor (right) were born on December 2nd at the Nuremberg Zoo to male Felix and female Vera and have lived in Warsaw Zoo in Poland since 2013. Although they are now adults, they are still very playful and have a close relationship as twins. Photo by Petr Hamerník, Prague Zoo
The twins Gregor and Aleut were born on December 2, 2010 in the Nuremberg Zoo, but since April 18, 2013 they lived in the Warsaw Zoo. While Gregor is more massive and the Polish breeders nicknamed him Grzes, his brother Aleut or Ali can be recognized by his taller stature and overall slimmer appearance.
“Thanks to the newly arrived bear brothers, the people of Prague and other visitors to our zoo have the opportunity to observe polar bears even while we are preparing the construction of the Arctic exhibit. It is here that these animals, iconic for the Prague Zoo and also very endangered, will find a new home. The Arctic, the construction of which should begin this year, will provide polar bears with first-class conditions for raising their cubs and will attract visitors from all over the world,” said the deputy mayor, Mr. City of Prague for the environment Jana Komrsková.
Gregor takes a bath in his new exhibit at the Prague Zoo and washes off the greenish stains he got during yesterday’s transport by rubbing against the Polish transport crate. Photo by Petr Hamerník, Prague Zoo
The welcome of the two bear brothers, combined with a photo opportunity for the media, will take place on Wednesday, May 22, from 11:30 a.m. Journalists can be accredited by email at masek@zoopraha.cz. Visitors can look forward to a thematic gaming station.
Temporary barriers have been installed around the exhibition glasses since today, thanks to which the bears will get better used to the presence of dogs in the area – they are not used to them from the Polish metropolis. This temporary measure will not reduce visitor comfort in any way.
Czech firms have increasingly been looking across the ocean at opportunities to expand to North American markets, specifically in fields such as IT. But what specific skills can Czech born businesses offer these already competitive marketplaces, and why is now a good time for expansion? I put those questions to CEO of COPS Solutions, Ondřej Dvořák.
“COPS is an international IT group, and we are mainly operating around Europe. I would say that on one hand we are an IT service provider to corporations, but we are also acting as a venture studio. We help start-ups upscale, and this coincides well with the plans we have to expand to the US and other markets.”
The third part of our video series on Czech Music Greats is devoted to the Fantastic Scherzo by Art Nouveau composer Josef Suk, pupil and son-in law of Antonín Dvořák, and the country’s only Art Nouveau Composer. The piece received its premiere at Prague’s Rudolfinum in April 1904.
The spa season has officially kicked off around Czecia with traditional ceremonies at the country’s many healing springs. Pictured here are girls in traditional costumes at a healing spring in Luhačovice.
One of the greatest Czech composers, Bedřich Smetana, known as “the father of Czech music,” died on this day, 140 years ago.
Bedřich Smetana (March 2, 1824– May 12, 1884) is one of the most influential figures in Czech music history, celebrated for his patriotic compositions and significant contributions to the development of Czech musical identity.
Born in the East Bohemian town of Litomyšl, Smetana showed a great talent for music from an early age, receiving his first music lessons from his father before later moving to Prague to study.
What really happens to your plastic after you’ve carefully sorted it and put it in your local recycling container (in Czechia, those iconic yellow bins)? According to many recent media reports, rather than being recycled, it likely ends up in landfill, an incinerator, or even worse, in the ocean or dumped in a field, as most of the plastic that people put in recycling containers is unusable using current recycling methods. But a new technology currently being tested in Czechia may provide hope of a solution.
Plastic recycling has been the subject of a lot of controversy in recent years, with information emerging that only 9% of the plastic ever produced has been recycled (MIT Technology Review, Oct 2023). A report by NPR from 2022 titled “Recycling plastic is practically impossible — and the problem is getting worse” sums up many of the headlines surrounding this topic.
Ferdinand Porsche was a Liberec-born genius engineer, who designed the first-ever hybrid car. He also contributed to the development of Volkswagen Beetle, which remained in production for 65 years.
Ferdinand Porsche was born on September 3, 1875 in Vratislavice, which is now a district of Liberec. His father was an enterprising craftsman who was also involved in local government and culture. He wanted Ferdinand to take over the family’s plumbing trade, but when he saw how technically gifted his son was and how ambitious he was, he did not prevent him from pursuing his dreams, says Lukáš Nachtmann, historian and head of the archives at Škoda Auto, which now looks after the Porsche family home.
Perhaps you’ve seen one in the Charles University Faculty of Law building – the old wooden ‘infinity’ elevator known as a paternoster. The vintage ride has become quite a tourist attraction, especially the one at Prague’s City Hall. But the influx in visitors poses disruptions to the work at the Municipal building and damages to the lift itself. From June, Prague City Tourism will be operating the paternoster at Prague City Hall, charging 250 crowns for a spin. Lenka Davidová, spokeswoman for Prague City Tourism told me more about the decision.
Open House Prague, the week-long festival where many buildings throughout the city normally closed to the public open their doors, kicks off this week. Until May 19th, visitors will be able to explore famous sites across the city, and learn more about their history, says spokeswoman Michaela Pánková.
“Open House Prague is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. It’s a community event where many people from buildings, architects, and also people who are interested in Prague and its architecture gather together to celebrate the city. It originally started as a two day event over the weekend, but it’s grown into a whole one week event over the years. There are also many events, tours, and debates that now accompany the event. Until May 19th, more than 100 buildings in Prague are open to the public.”
Visitors will be able to view more than two hundred works, not only graphics, but also drawings, paintings, and artistic crafts. The exhibition “From Michelangelo to Callot. The Graphic Art of Mannerism”, on which the NGP collaborated with the French Louvre Museum, will be open in the Valdštejnská jízdárna from May 17 to August 11, 2024.
It is a unique exhibition project, not only because some of the works have never been publicly exhibited before, but also due to the fact that works from all the major art centers of the time will be on display: Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, the Czech Republic and France. “The Czech audience is quite familiar with the art at the court of Rudolph II, but an exhibition project focused on graphics in such a context has never been held anywhere else in Europe,” says Alena Volrábová, curator of the exhibition and director of the NGP Collection of Graphics and Drawings. A selection of more than two hundred excellent engravings and etchings, drawings, paintings, jewelry and other objects of art and craft are prepared for visitors, which map the transformations of the Mannerist style, its experiments and originality, but also its connection with other types of art. They also speak of his role in the artistic exchange between Italy and other European countries. “At that time, people were most often introduced to the key works of Michelangelo, Raphael, Giulio Romano or the beautiful decoration of the French royal castle in Fontainebleau through graphic sheets,” explains exhibition curator Blanka Kubíková.
Mannerism was born in Italy from the artistic language of the High Renaissance and soon became an international style. It is characterized by a refined elegance, a rich imagination and a fondness for symbols and hidden meanings. Graphics as a modern information medium played an extraordinary role in its rapid expansion.
The open exhibition is the first of two projects focused on the art of graphics in the 16th century, when the artistic style Mannerism gained ground, which the NGP has been preparing in collaboration with the Louvre Museum for several years. “Graphics was a relatively young medium at the time and, together with letterpress, it actually had a role comparable to that of the Internet in the 20th century,” explains Alena Volrábová. “Before, people often had to travel long distances to find art, but then art came to them through graphics. It was in the 16th century that graphics reached technical and artistic perfection and began to expand. We will show top examples from this period at the exhibition,” he adds.
Thanks to close cooperation with the graphic collection of the Louvre Museum, the exhibition enjoys a generous loan from this important institution. Primarily from the rare collection donated to her by the art collector Edmond de Rothschild. Works by Raphael, Jan Brueghel, Hans von Aachen or Bartholomew Spranger and a number of other great artists will be presented. Graphic works by masters of engraving art such as Parmigianino, Schiavone, Cornelis Cort, Hendrick Goltzius, Aegidius Sadeler, Jacques Callot and many others will be exhibited. “I am very pleased that we offer visitors a completely unique opportunity to view a drawing by Michelangelo Buonarroti. None of his works have yet been exhibited in the Czech Republic. And since graphics and drawings are not presented for a long time due to their fragility and sensitivity to light, their presentation to the public is always an exceptional event for us, especially when it comes to the works of such important masters,” says Alicja Knast, general director of NGP, about the exhibition.
The second exhibition within the framework of mutual cooperation will take place in a year, in the spring of 2025 in the Louvre and will focus on art connected with the discovery of nature at the court of Rudolph II.
At the currently opening exhibition in the Valdštejnská jízdárna, exhibits from the Prague National Gallery and the Louvre Museum will be complemented by works on loan from the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Viennese Albertina, the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Pinacoteca Nazionale di Siena, the State Regional Archives in Pilsen – the Klášter workplace , the Museum of Arts and Crafts in Prague, the Moravian Gallery in Brno, the National Library of the Czech Republic, the National Museum, the Prague Castle Collection, the Royal Premonstratensian Canon in Strahov, the Regional Museum in Chrudim, the National Institute of Monuments and other institutions and private collections.
A catalog is published for the exhibition in Czech and later in English. In the premises of the Valdštejnská jízdárna, due to the protection of graphic works, it is necessary to observe reduced lighting.
From Michelangelo to Callot. The Art of Mannerism Graphics
Venue: Valdštejnská jízdárna
Deadline: 17 May – 11 August 2024
National Gallery Prague in cooperation with the Louvre Museum
Chief curators: Xavier Salmon, Musée du Louvre, Alena Volrábová, National Gallery Prague
Professor Josef Michl, a world-renowned Czech chemist, died on Monday at the age of 85. Professor Michl, who excelled both in theoretical and experimental chemistry, led research groups at Prague’s Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry (IOCB) and at the University of Boulder, Colorado.
Professor Josef Michl was born in Prague in March 1939, just days before Nazi Germany established the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. He earned his Master’s degree in chemistry at Charles University and a Ph.D. at the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences.
Photo: Paul-Henri Perrain, Radio Prague International
If you’ve taken the metro to Prague’s Anděl station, you may have noticed a bronze sculpture that reads ‘Moskva-Praha’. Constructed in 1985, it was meant to symbolize friendship between Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union. After the fall of the regime, it remained, stirring debate amongst the public. Recently, Prague City Hall decided to add a plaque explaining the contentious history of the sculpture, instead of tearing it down. To learn more about this, I spoke with Cold War historian Jan Adamec.
“The Anděl metro station was opened in November 1985, originally under the name of ‘Moskva’. The bronze sculpture with the inscription of ‘Moscow-Prague’ in the lobby of the metro station was to commemorate the alleged friendly and warm relations between the two capital cities. The propaganda at the time described it as a symbol of ‘eternal friendship’ between Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union.
In the previous episode of ‘In Kafka’s Footsteps’, we visited the town of Frýdlant, believed to have inspired Kafka’s novel ‘The Castle’. But there is another contender vying for the same accolade: the village of Siřem, a tiny hamlet in northern Bohemia surrounded by hop fields. It was here that Kafka went to stay after being diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1917, in search of peace, fresh air and nature on his sister’s farm.
“We’re standing on the bridge that K. crossed to get to the village, and right there on that hill you can see the granary, which evokes the impression of a castle. The second building on the right used to be a pub belonging to the Dreher Brewery, and on the left we can see a blacksmiths’ shop, where the landlady’s husband from the pub across the street worked. That’s where K. stayed, and it’s also where Franz Kafka stayed when he came to Siřem.”
Photo: Klára Stejskalová, Radio Prague International
The National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is marking the 50th anniversary of its founding this year. Rawdio Prague was at the launch of the official celebrations, which kicked off earlier this month in the Midwest city, known for its large population of Czech and Slovak expats.
Two exhibition openings, an economic summit, a concert of Czech opera singer Ester Pavlů and a gala – all these events were hosted by the National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, earlier this month to mark its 50th anniversary.
Singer and songwriter Petr Hapka, one of the most significant composers of Czech film music scores, would have turned 80 this week. He died at the age of just 70 in 2014, leaving an unforgettable music legacy behind.
The popular Czech composer and singer Petr Hapka is linked to some of the biggest names on the Czech music scene at the turn of the century. Together with lyricist Michal Horáček he produced some of the best pop-songs and chansons to come out of this country –sung by the likes of chanson diva Hana Hegerová, pop idol Karel Gott, Lucie Bilá, Michal Kocáb and Jana Kirschner. Hapka’s own distinctive voice appeared on solo recordings and duets, while he also composed music for a great number of films, TV series and theatre productions.
Jane Goodall, the famous English primatologist and anthropologist who has spent decades studying chimpanzees, is paying a special visit to the Prague Zoo this weekend. Goodall will be naming one of the Zoo’s new baby gorillas, a special event which spokesman for the Prague Zoo Filip Mašek told me more about.
“Jane Goodall is a long-time friend of the Prague Zoo, and she accepted our invitation regarding the two baby gorillas that were born in the zoo this year. We also welcomed a baby orangutan two weeks ago. Within five months, we have welcomed three critically endangered primates to the zoo. This is something that is really extraordinary, and is a really big step in our conservation efforts. This is exactly the work that Jane Goodall has been doing her whole life. She’s accepted our invitation, and she will be ‘baptizing’ the second born gorilla baby that we welcomed a few months ago.”
From Monday 27th May – Friday 1st June audiences can enjoy over 140 performances of 36 productions from 15 different countries around the world! The traditional (and not so traditional) theatres and performance spaces of Prague’s Malá Strana district will once again be filled with international, award-winning, ground-breaking theatre, comedy, children’s shows, story-telling, and more.
The festival team has curated an incredibly diverse range of options for audiences to enjoy – from The Untold Fable of Fritz and King John for family fun, too late night stand-up with Bombay Comedy!
Returning favourites such as the award-winning Pip Utton, Henry Naylor and Emily Carding are back, as well as brand new work from fresh, young performers and producers and shows from Japan, Taiwan, Finland, Australia, and even Ukraine.
Prague Fringe Founder and Director Steve Gove says “It’s going to be a belter!” “We’ve curated our most international Fringe in years, packed full of incredible quality productions from around the world, brand-new works and Czech premieres, and two whole venues dedicated to comedy!
The festival is back in its favourite Malá Strana venues including Divadlo Inspirace, A Studio Rubín, Museum of Alchemists, and Café Club Míšeňská.
Plus this year sees two venues dedicated to comedy – the return of last year’s successful Charles Bridge Comedy Club and a brand new venue in the basement of OG Glenn’s Bar which is hosting a full programme of stand-up and comedy shows. Fan favorite Malostranská beseda is back for the larger-scale productions including the talented young actors from the Australian Shakespeare Company, the 5* musical Happily Ever Poofter, Youtube hit sensation UnErase Poetry – Stories from India from Mumbai, a sexy scientific exploration of the Chemistry Of Love by Dr. Michael Londesborough, MBE, and an exclusive Fringe-version of the Czech legendary (fictional) playwright Jára Cimrman’s the Stand-In performed by the Cimrman English Theatre.
On Thursday 30th May there are international performances taking place with 2 shows performed in the original Italian (Alice No, and Be My Guest), and UnErase Poetry – Stories from India performed in Hindi.
Tickets are on sale now for the Czech Republic’s very own slice of Edinburgh on the Vltava
To keep things as affordable as possible, the popular Prague Fringe Pass is available again for 1100Kč which saves the user 20 Kč on each ticket (as well as only paying a single ticket booking fee for the transaction).
Advance tickets are 250Kč (or 220Kč for students/seniors) and tickets purchased at the venue (selected venues only) are 300Kč – subject to availability. The Fringe is a cash-free Festival. All major credit cards are accepted.
The fountain has been out of service since it was damaged in the fall of 2022 and restoration work began. Visitors to the Royal Gardens of Prague Castle can listen to it again from tomorrow, always from ten in the morning to seven in the evening. Entrance to the gardens is completely free, and security checks were also abolished last year.
“The singing fountain is an extremely valuable Renaissance work. However, since it has been permanently exposed to the weather for centuries, repairs were unavoidable. A more fundamental restoration operation was needed twenty-two years ago, when the lower bowl was leaking. Then, over the years, the nozzle on the bagpiper’s instrument broke off twice. That’s why we started restoration work less than two years ago, and in addition to repairing the nozzles, we also cleaned the fountain of an extremely thick layer of limescale and then preserved its surface,” Petr Chotěbor, head of the Department of Specialized Monument Care, describes the progress of the restoration work.
The singing fountain was designed at the request of Emperor Ferdinand I Habsburg by his court painter Francesco Terziov from Bergamo and cast in bronze by Tomáš Jaroš from Brno. Although it was completed as early as 1568, the water pipes were not laid until six years later. The fountain is divided into two levels by central round bowls placed one above the other, which is supported by a strong pillar, the stem of which is decorated with figures of shepherds supporting the bowls of the Astaro Greek Pan – the protector of the springs. Male and female masks with palmetto leaves alternate in the decorative frieze. The upper tank is decorated with figures, garlands and masks. The fountain is topped by a figure of a piper playing. Water gushes from human and animal heads, falls on bronze bowls and makes a soft ringing sound.
There is no doubt that one of the pivotal moments in Czech history I just mentioned came twenty years ago when this country joined the European Union.
In the last episode, I talked to a businessman with experience from the highest echelons of Czech and European civil service—or bureaucracy, if you prefer this term. Now, I have a special guest whose experiences weave through the complex tapestry of European journalism.
Karel Barták is a veteran journalist who spent 11 very important years as a Czech News Agency correspondent in Brussels from 1995 to 2006. He then gained another completely different experience working for the European Commission for 12 years before retiring and coming back to his home in Czechia.
According to the book of Genesis, Noah’s Ark was 300 feet long and 50 feet wide. Converted to current units, it measured roughly 135 to 22 metres. Squeezing a pair or even seven pairs of all animal species on to it must had been a completely impossible task.
Likewise, it is unthinkable that zoological gardens would become the Noah’s Ark that would bring salvation to all endangered animal species. There are too few of them and they are too small for that. Sure, they have managed to save some species. The shining example may be Przewalski’s horse, which owes its survival to a large extend to our Prague Zoo. But we have to accept that all who are in need can’t be saved by zoos.
However, zoos can also help in another way, by protecting the endangered species directly in the areas of their occurrence, in situ. Compared to “Noah’s Ark” this approach has at least two major advantages. First, it is far better to prevent extinction of a given species than with difficulties return it back to the wild afterwards (which in some cases is not even possible). Secondly, the protection of the environment, which the given species inhabits, goes hand in hand with in situ conservation, and therefore many, many other organisms are also protected.
Our effort in Cameroon may be the example of the second approach. The “flagship species” for us there is western lowland gorilla, however, when we try to reduce poaching and forest destruction, we are also benefiting so many other species that listing them would take a substantial part of the space allotted for this text.
In this sense, the lowland gorillas in our zoo are a certain kind of ambassadors of wild nature. Thanks to their presence we win over the public to the idea of their protection – and thanks to their presence we also manage to raise funds for work in Cameroon. However, we have a number of such ambassadors in the zoo. For example, pangolins.
Of course, we have to create optimal living conditions for these “ambassadors of wild nature”. It is not only about the space or the optimal composition of the food, but also about living in natural social groups, being able to have young and having enough external stimuli. This is done by so-called enrichment, which can take many forms, from hiding treats to complex puzzles.
At the same time, it is extremely important that the presence of these ambassadors is meaningful. They must be visible, we have to talk about them, we have to bring them closer to people. The fact, that they have names and that we can talk about them as about personalities, also helps us achieve this. After all, what kind of ambassador would it be if he remained hidden in anonymity?
Caption:
One of the “ambassadors of wild nature” in Prague Zoo is also the gorilla baby, born less than a month ago. On Saturday, May 11, at 11 am it was baptised by the famous primatologist and conservationist Jane Goodall.
A brown bear weighing as much as 200 kilogrammes has been spotted on the outskirts of the Moravian city of Zlín. The authorities say the animal could be passing through the area but have warned locals to exercise caution.
The brown bear, Europe’s largest predator, was once common in this part of the world. The animal was exterminated from most of the Czech lands during the 17th and 18th centuries before making something of a comeback.
Since the early 1970s there have been occasional bear sightings in the Beskid Mountains in the very east of the country. However, the animal, which never disappeared in the nearby Slovakia, tends to remain in deep forest, well away from human settlements.
The Ambassador of the Argentine Republic H.E Mr. Claudio Javier Rozencwaig in the frame of Iberoamerican Week organized an very interesting exhibition”100 years of diplomatic relations between the Czech Republic and Argentina” in the Cerninsky Palac ( the Foreign Affair ministry )
Watch the speeches of Mr. Jiri Kozak – deputy minister of foreign affairs of the Czech Republic and H.E Mr. Claudio Javier Rozencwaig – The Ambassador of the Argentine Republic
The Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Markéta Pekarová Adamová, started her working trip around the Baltics with a visit to Lithuania. There, she discussed joint security issues with Parliament Speaker Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė and Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis. She also visited a military training area, where Czech troops operate as part of NATO’s eastern wing.
“Our countries share not only deep historical roots but above all common liberal-democratic values, pro-Western orientation, experience with oppression, loss of freedom, and successful efforts to regain it. The most important thing, however, is our common ability and willingness to act actively on the basis of these values and implement them in practice,” said the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Markéta Pekarová Adamová, during the meeting.
The work program also included meetings with the Prime Minister of Lithuania Ingrida Šimonytė and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Gabrielius Landsbergis. “It is our governments that are among those that have been intensively trying for a long time to help the defending Ukraine with weapons, humanitarian aid and persuasion of other partners. I am also grateful that Lithuania supports our initiative to acquire and deliver much-needed ammunition to Ukrainian defenders from third countries,” added Speaker of the House of Representatives Markéta Pekarová Adamová.
The parliamentary delegation, which also includes the chairman of the European Affairs Committee Ondřej Benešík, then continued with a visit to the military training area, where Czech armed forces are currently serving as part of the coordinated activities of the strengthened forward presence of the eastern wing of the North Atlantic Alliance.
“Our military presence in the Baltics plays a key strategic role in deterring Russia’s westward expansion. By working together, we are creating a stronger, more resilient and safer entire Alliance. I am extremely happy that I was able to personally thank our soldiers for their commitment today,” added the chairwoman Markéta Pekarová Adamová in conclusion.
The parliamentary delegation subsequently moved from Lithuania to Riga, where they will meet with leading representatives of the Latvian legislature and government.
The Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, Markéta Pekarová Adamová, continued her journey through the Baltic countries with a visit to Latvia. In the local parliament, she first discussed with its president Daiga Mieriņa.
“Our Latvian allies have currently decided to contribute approximately 248 million crowns to the Czech ammunition initiative for Ukraine. It is also important that Riga has taken over the imaginary organizing baton from Prague and will host the next edition of the Parliamentary Summit of the Crimean Platform this fall,” said the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Markéta Pekarová Adamová, after the meeting.
As part of the work program, the parliamentary delegation led by the Speaker also met with Latvian Prime Minister Evika Siliņa. “Czech-Latvian cooperation is expanding and deepening not only in the field of joint defense and security, but also in the economic sector. This is clearly demonstrated by the volume of mutual trade, which has been growing for a long time thanks to the successful penetration of Czech companies into Latvian markets,” added the Speaker of the Chamber of Commerce, Markéta Pekarová Adamová. Finally, she also visited the Czech soldiers who serve in the multinational NATO battle group at the base in Ādaž, where they specialize in the most modern methods of cyber operations and electronic warfare.
“At all work meetings here, I heard only words of praise and recognition for the work of our soldiers. I was therefore happy to be able to personally thank them for their service and commitment. I also wished them well in what they do for the Alliance. If they do well, all of us will do well as a result,” added chairwoman Markéta Pekarová Adamová.
The delegation then traveled to Tallinn. There, its members will have meetings with leading representatives of the Estonian parliament and a meeting with Prime Minister Kaja Kallas. At the end, the president will speak at the prestigious Lennart Meri International Security Conference.
Another baby! Third time this year I announced a birth of an ape. After two lowland gorillas a Sumatran orangutan baby was born on May 2, after the noon hour! And on top of that, it is a grandchild of the famous and genetically valuable Káma.
We followed the progress of the gravidity of the mother of the baby, the eleven-year-old female Diri, for many months with tension and some uncertainty. Her previous gravidity ended in a miscarriage, and also this one didn’t seem to us to be completely trouble-free. But all turned out well! Even though the baby was born at a very early term – we expected the birth between April 29 and June 16 – my colleagues immediately informed me that the baby was fully developed and tried to drink.
Diri gave birth to her baby in the outdoor enclosure. The first time it was seen on the cameras was a minute before 1 p.m. Shortly after, however, Diri moved with him into indoor spaces and later to the interior exhibit of the Indonesian Jungle House. There, together with Jaroslav Šimek and Oliver Le Que, we were already waiting for her, hoping to get the first shots of the successor of Káma’s dynasty. But we were not lucky. Diri didn’t show us the baby.
I left to work on other things, but after about twenty minutes I got a message that the baby is perfectly visible. Unfortunately, I came back too late, however, Oliver managed to take a shot that we used for the first report on the orangutan baby birth.
For the rest of the afternoon, when I had various meetings, I was getting messages each time when it was possible to see the baby. I hoped that Oliver or Jaroslav would succeed to take its portrait. But when I joined them at half past five, they were a bit sad; they hadn’t succeeded to take any better photo than the Oliver’s first one.
All three of us waited at the exhibit for a while, but Diri with the baby was laying in such a position that not a single hair was visible. After some time, I stayed alone, and I decided to wait another five minutes. Then I extended waiting by another five minutes, and then another five. And finally, I got it! First, I took a photo of Diri’s hand holding the little hand of the baby and after a while also the very first shot of its face. Oliver and Jaroslav did the waiting for these two photos in my behalf.
So now you can take a look of Diri’s baby. It was still all wrinkled, when I photographed it on Thursday evening, but I think it had a lot of cuteness anyway. And it will gradually grow much higher!
On the occasion of the 65th Anniversary of the establishment of Moroccan-Czech Diplomatic Relations, The Ambassador of the Kingdom of Morocco in Prague Kingdom of Morocco H.E. Ms. Hanane SAADI in collaboration with The Music and Dance Faculty of The Academy of Performing Arts in Prague – HAMU – organize a cultural event “Opening Doors to Moroccan/Arabic Music: A Showcase of Moroccan and Arabic Sounds with the Renowned Moroccan Artist Nouamane Lahlou & Orchestra”.
This year, the Prague Zoo will transport Převalsky’s first horses to Kazakhstan as part of the Return of Wild Horses 2024 project.
A total of three stallions and five mares will be flown on June 3 by CASA military aircraft from Prague and Berlin at the same time.
The public now has the opportunity to participate in the reintroduction project and receive a unique postcard directly from Altyn Dala, i.e. from the “Golden Steppe”, where these last wild horses of the world will be released into the wild. All you have to do is donate CZK 500 or more to the collection account We help them survive by May 15, fill out a short questionnaire, and then just wait for a postcard from the Prague Zoo team to appear in your mailbox.
Prague Zoo collection account called “We help them survive”
Account number: 43-6804660247/0100
Variable symbol: 3102019
Note to recipient: Postcard from Kazakhstan
What to do if the postcard does not arrive?
If the postcard does not arrive by August 31, 2024, please let us know by e-mail at ppctnice@zoopraha.cz. After all, it’s a long way from Kazakhstan to Prague, and a whole host of complications can arise. But we can fix it.
Photo: The postcard is decorated with the official visual of this year’s transport by the Czech naturalist and illustrator Jan Dungel. It captures a group of Przewalski’s horses, which is meant to symbolize the project’s target state – a functioning population of Przewalski’s horses in the Altyn Dala area. The background color is based on the colors of the flag of Kazakhstan. Source: Prague Zoo
One of the final two Czechoslovak RAF veterans still alive today celebrated his 100th birthday on Thursday. Jiří Pavel Kafka, also one of the “Winton children”, marked his centenary in the hangar of Prague’s Kbely military airport in the company of family and army representatives.
Jiří Pavel Kafka was born to a Jewish family in Prague on 2 May 1924. At the age of 15, he was one of the 669 “kindertransport” children rescued from occupied Czechoslovakia by Sir Nicholas Winton and others on the eve of World War II and taken to safety in Britain. Like many of them, he joined the military to fight the Nazis during the war once he came of age.
UN Tourism has launched the second edition of its Women in Tech Startup Competition: Middle East. The initiative aims to highlight and support women entrepreneurs who are shaping the future of sustainable tourism and technology across the region.
Applications now Open
The competition targets startups that are led by women and based in the Middle East. Enterprises must be operating within the tourism sector and related industries, and offer sustainable solutions for people, the planet, and prosperity. They must also be an entrepreneurial project at an early stage, idea stage, or Series A stage of their journey. Applications are open for the following three categories:
People and Skills: this category calls for startups with environmental and sustainable approaches in education tech, social connectivity, wellness, or health, with cross-cutting benefits with tourism.
Green Travel Solutions: for startups that use environmentally friendly and sustainable approaches in green tech, green infrastructure, travel and logistics, urban development or rural development, with cross-cutting benefits with tourism.
Market Innovators: for startups working with emergent technologies applied to tourism.
UN Tourism has welcomed key global and regional partners and ecosystem collaborators to support the winning startups. Almosafer, Plug and Play, AIM, The Bench, Impulse4Women and Bilakatu will be providing visibility, personalized mentorship, consultancy and access to potential investment to the best entrepreneurial solutions. This year’s applications will be processed through Plug and Play’s open innovation platform, the largest in the world, and the finalists will also be invited to join the global UN Tourism Innovation Network.
The launch was announced at the AIM Congress, a leading investment platform, in Abu Dhabi, UAE, during a special UN Tourism Investment Forum session on “Investing in Innovation and Enabling Women Entrepreneurs”.
The second edition follows on from the success of the inaugural initiative, with over 140 startups and SMEs applying from 11 countries. The four winners, Fosha (Egypt), Sparkle Haze (UAE), Plastus Biotech (Saudi Arabia), Xenios Academy (UAE) were announced last year during the celebrations for World Tourism Day on 27 September in Riyadh.
UN Tourism and Women Empowerment
UN Tourism is committed to advancing the positive impact of tourism on women’s lives, thereby contributing to achieving the Sustainable Development Goal 5 – Gender Equality. The organization has been actively supporting women entrepreneurs, working to propel the tourism sector forward and to foster inclusivity.
UN Tourism Executive Director Natalia Bayona says: “It is crucial to empower female entrepreneurs in the Middle East with innovative business proposals that have a component of positive social impact and respect for the environment to support the sustainable development of the growing tourism sector in the region.”
UN Tourism and Innovation
Since 2018, UN Tourism has launched more than 25 startup competitions and innovation challenges, covering over 150 countries around the world. With over 20,000 participants and more than 350 top startups mapped with USD 2+ billion in funding, UN Tourism continues its efforts to support digitalization and innovation to advance the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Tourism is a tool for positive transformation and inclusive economic development.
Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Markéta Pekarová Adamová received Speaker of the Slovenian National Assembly Urška Klakočar Zupančič.
The main topic of the joint meeting was the current issue of the expansion of the European Union to include Ukraine, Moldova and the countries of the Western Balkans. Both speakers agreed that the sharing of experience with accession negotiations between existing members of the Union and countries aspiring to membership can also play an important role in the entire process.
“Ukraine, Moldova, or the countries of the Western Balkans are standing at the gates of the European Union today. Its expansion will be mutually beneficial, provided that the aspiring states meet all the necessary conditions. For them, acceptance into the family of EU member states will mean closer political and economic attachment to the West, and for all of us, the strengthening of important allies in the key region. It is therefore our joint geostrategic priority,” said the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Markéta Pekarová Adamová.
Slovenia, like the Czech Republic, joined the European Union on May 1, 2004.
“Mrs. Speaker and I agreed that it is absolutely necessary to support the process of expanding the EU to include additional aspiring members, e.g. through the transfer of experience and knowledge that our own countries gained more than twenty years ago during the final stage of the long accession negotiations,” added the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Markéta Pekarová Adamová of the Chamber of Deputies. At the very end of the joint meeting, she received an invitation from her Slovenian colleague for a reciprocal visit to Ljubljana.
Karel Raab trained as a locksmith in view of taking over the family firm, but his yearning to create art was stronger. He started out by creating small pieces for his garden in his spare time. They soon got noticed and enabled him to turn his hobby into a thriving business.
When his friends were considering what path in life they wanted to follow, Karel Raab had his future pretty much settled. It was clear that he would one day take over the family firm and follow in his father’s footsteps. But his natural inclination soon led him elsewhere.
The 79th edition of the Prague Spring International Music Festival, the largest and oldest classical musical festival in Czechia, gets underway in the Czech capital next Sunday with a performance of Bedřich Smetana’s My Country by the Berliner Philharmoniker, conducted by Kirill Petrenko.
The festival, which will celebrate the Year of Czech Music and the bicentenary of the birth of Bedřich Smetana, will offer dozens of concerts by symphony orchestras and other ensembles including two of Italy’s finest orchestras – the National Academy of Santa Cecilia and La Scala Philharmonic Orchestra of the Milan Opera.
Are you a hockey fan in Ostrava for the World Championship and are wondering what to do in the evening before or after your team’s game? We have some advice for you.
Stodolní Street –a place to party!
A visit to Ostrava’s Stodolní Street is a must, whether you want to celebrate a victory or drown your sorrow after the game! Nowhere else in the country will you come across such a concentration of restaurants, bars and clubs. In its heyday, there were more than 60 nightclubs and bars along this street, and although those times are over, there are still plenty of pubs, bars and clubs here, where the locals and visitors to town regularly come to party!
The Prague metro is celebrating 50 years of service this week with a number of special events for the public. People can visit an exhibition on the history of the metro, ride on the historic first trains that opened the Prague subway or play a geo game that will take them to all the stations around the city.
It is May 9th 1974 and at 9 hours and 19 minutes, Prague’s first metro train carrying the communist top brass and selected journalists undertakes its first journey on line C, going from Kačerov to Florenc. The event was the main story on the prime time evening news.
Thursday marks exactly 50 years since the opening of the first section of the Prague metro, running between Kačerov and Florenc on the C line. Today there are 61 stations and three lines. But did you know that there is also a secret metro station, known as Klárov? Classified as confidential, it was one of the best-kept secrets of the Communist era.
Are you a frequent subway rider and yet you have never heard of Klárov? That’s because the station never opened to the public, and is in fact not even part of the metro network. The idea for its construction originated in the early 1950s, during the peak of the Cold War, explains Prague tour guide Martin Karlík:
“In the 1950s, the communist authorities got the idea to build metro stations that could serve as air-raid shelters in case of war. Once the necessary funds were available, they would dig out the tunnels to connect the shelters and the network could serve as an underground transport system. The authorities therefore began by building a first shelter, just opposite the Straka Academy, which is the seat of the government.”
The second funeral of poet Karel Hynek Mácha, whose remains were exhumed from the occupied Sudetenland 85 years ago and taken to Prague for a second ceremonial burial, ended up turning into one of the biggest anti-Nazi protests in the early years of the occupation.
The Czech romantic poet Karel Hynek Mácha died on 6 November 1836 at the age of just 25, after falling ill from overexerting himself while helping to extinguish a fire. He was buried in Litoměřice, tragically on the day that he was supposed to get married.
To many Czechs, Mácha was a symbol of freedom and the Czech national awakening. That is why, when over 100 years later, Nazi Germany occupied the Sudetenland where Litoměřice was located, the head of the Czechoslovak National Bank, Karel Engliš, wanted to prevent Mácha’s remains from getting into German hands.
Photo: Barbora Navrátilová, Radio Prague International
Among the books nominated for the prestigious Magnesia Litera Award this year was a graphic novel called Arnoštova cesta, describing the life story of the great Czech Jewish writer Arnošt Lustig. I met with his daughter Eva, a writer and documentary filmmaker herself, to discuss the book, and also to talk about the Arnošt Lustig Foundation, which she is in charge of. However, I had to start by asking about an onion which she took out of her handbag upon entering the studio:
“The onion is in my hand because it symbolises the frail nature of our civilisation and humanity. The outer layer, the skin, is very thin and you can start peeling it. In my father’s words, the problem with civilization is its thin outer layer, which you can destroy in a matter of weeks or months.
The Czech Constitutional Court has ruled to abolish forced sterilization for individuals who want to make an official sex change. Czechia is one of the last few EU countries enforcing the sterilization requirement. The change, which will necessitate an amendment to the law, should come into effect in mid-2025. Trans advocate Lenka Králová, told me more about the situation and how she is feeling on this historic day.
“Czechia is one of the last countries in Europe which requires sterilization for legal gender recognition. In order to change the letter in your ID cards from ‘M’ to ‘F’, or vice versa, you need to get sterilized. You have to cut a piece of your body in order to change something in your documents. It’s hard to believe, but it’s just the way it is.”
Frýdlant, a town of about 7,400 inhabitants in Czechia’s Liberec Region, certainly has a Kafkaesque feeling about it. You arrive there only to find that the people you arranged to interview suddenly don’t have time to meet you, saying they are sure that one day, however, one day you will meet – uncannily reminiscent of Kafka’s unfinished last novel ‘The Castle’, where the protagonist desperately tries to gain access to the fortress where the mysterious authorities who govern the village he has been summoned to reside.
The castle from Kafka’s story could indeed have been the one in Frýdlant – although there is unfortunately no proof that it was Frýdlant’s castle that inspired Kafka to write the novel. In fact, the village of Siřem, around 160km away, which will be the subject of our next episode on Kafka, also claims the same accolade.
Kafka regularly came to Frýdlant for his job as a labour safety inspector at the Worker’s Accident Insurance Institute, and would stay at the White Horse (Bílý kůň) Hotel, located on a square dominated by the impressive German-style town hall.
Photo: Amelia Mola-Schmidt, Radio Prague International
The National Gallery at Prague’s Kinsky Palace has been converted into a hockey fans paradise for a new exhibition titled “Get on the ice! Ice Hockey and Skating in Art”. The exhibit showcases skating and hockey in Czech fine art throughout the years, but as I discovered, the sport represents much more to the people of Czechia, and has deep roots in the nation’s political and social identity.
When you think of hockey, the first thing that comes to mind is probably the sound of skates on the ice, the clashes of sticks as players fight for the puck, and the ice arena where it all takes place. What probably doesn’t come to mind, is art. A new exhibition at the National Gallery’s Kinsky Palace is challenging this perception. Titled “Na led”, which translates as “get on the ice”, the exhibition features 100 works of art centred on hockey and ice skating in the Czech lands. Curator Anna Strnadlová, told me how hockey made its way into art traditions.
The 2024 Ice Hockey World Championships are set to begin this Friday in host cities Prague and Ostrava. The tournament, which brings together 16 teams, will take place over the course of two weeks. But how is the Czech team expected to perform on home ice? I put that question and more to Czech Television Sports commentator, Michal Dimitrov.
Just to start off, can you walk me through the roster of this year’s Czech team? Are there any new standout players or familiar faces who are expected to make a bit of a splash at this tournament?
“The Czech trainers really tried to get the best players possible. We have eight players from the NHL this year, maybe the biggest star being Ondřej Palát, a Stanley Cup winner with the Tampa Bay Lightning. We have three goalies who have all performed really well this NHL season – Petr Mrázek, Lukáš Dostál, and Karel Vejmelka. These goalies should be the strongest part of our team.
We have already three “Przhevalsky’s” in the new Gobi Exhibit – three animal species, which were named after Russian geographer Nikolay Mikhaylovich Przhevalsky (1839- 1888). Besides Przewalski’s horse it is Gobi racerunner (Eremias przewalskii) and Przewalski’s toadhead agama (Phrynocephalus przewalskii).
Przhevalsky, a Russian with Polish roots, who later became the Tsar’s General, mounted altogether four journeys to Central Asia. They included Gobi, East Turkestan, Tian Shan and other areas, which mostly had not been explored by Europeans. These expeditions contributed to strengthening Russian influence in this part of the world, where the interests of Russia and Great Britain clashed. At the same time, however, they have brought an enormous number of scientific discoveries. As far as fauna and flora are concerned, this is evidenced by the fact that 108 taxa of plants and animals are named after Przhevalsky!
Przhevalsky is well known in the Czech Republic. On the contrary, our own compatriot Ferdinand Stolička (1838 – 1874), spelled in English ‘Stoliczka’, who also worked and explored in Asia, almost fell into oblivion. There are merely two streets named after him, one in Kroměříž and the other one in Prague’s Stodůlky. And yet the footprint he left behind is extremely significant. If we compare him with Przhevalsky in terms of the number of taxa named after him, we will find that he is more than a worthy rival. I found 101 of them. After all, for example Paralaudakia stoliczkana, Mongolia rock agama, could quite well also be in our Gobi Exhibit.
The geologist and palaeontologist Stoliczka, who was born near Kroměříž, studied in Vienna and Germany. As soon as 1863 he entered the service of the British Geological Survey of India based in Calcutta. It became a base of his journeys, which brought an enormous amount of scientific knowledge (I am deliberately writing this in general, because in addition to geology and palaeontology, it was also ornithology or herpetology). From Calcutta, Stoliczka headed for example to the Himalayas and Ladakh, as well as to Burma and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
In 1873, Stoliczka became a member of the Second Yarkand Mission, which was the most important expedition during the height of rivalry between Great Britain and Russia. It had 350 participants and 550 animals, and 6,474 porters and 1,621 horses on top of that. Its goal was East Turkestan, – then a buffer state of paramount importance, today part of China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. That’s when the routes of the Stoliczka’s and Przhevalsky’s routes probably came closest to each other.
Unfortunately, this mission proved fatal for Stoliczka. At the age of only 36, he died on 19 June 1874 in Murgo, Ladakh, probably as a result of altitude sickness. In less than ten weeks, it will be the 150th anniversary.
Miroslav Bobek
P. S. I have tried to count the number of taxa named after each of the explorers as accurately as possible, but I will be grateful for any revision.
Female lowland gorilla Duni in the outdoor enclosure of the Dja Reserve with her daughter Mobi, who will be exactly four months old tomorrow. Photo by Oliver Le Que, Prague Zoo
The eight-strong gorilla troop at the Dja Reserve visited the outdoor enclosure for the first time with the two cubs this week. Giraffes, zebras and antelopes graze in the open air in the large African enclosure, hippos alternately sunbathe and swim in the pool, and elephants enjoy their first spring mud bath. Lions or tigers also come out of the pavilion, and a whole range of bird species nest across the grounds. Due to the warm weather and increasingly later sunsets, the Prague Zoo is also extending its opening hours from today until 7 p.m. – exceptionally a month earlier than usual.
Elephants Tamara (left foreground) and Lakuna (right background) enjoy a mud bath in the grass enclosure of the Elephant Valley, where the female herd can be found in the morning. Thanks to these baths, Indian elephants take care of their skin, which protects them from the sun and insects, moisturizes it and at the same time cools down in general – elephants lack sweat glands on most of their bodies. Photo by Petr Hamerník, Prague Zoo
“At the current daily temperatures of around twenty degrees Celsius, visitors will see the vast majority of animals at the Prague Zoo outside throughout the day. The lowland gorillas in the Dja Reserve have a slightly different regimen, even with regard to the delicate young, the best chance to observe them grazing on fresh grass is between ten and two o’clock,” advises the Zoological Deputy of the Prague Zoo, Jaroslav Šimek.
Both amphibious hippos – Maruška (right) and Tchéco (left) – receive their species name daily in front of visitors. Photo by Petr Hamerník, Prague Zoo
Prague Zoo is open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. starting May 1. How to save time and money with an electronic ticket or which day or entrance to the zoo is the least crowded? You can find the answers to these and other questions in our tips for visiting the Prague Zoo: https://www.zoopraha.cz/aktualne/14642-deset-tipu-pro-navstevu-zoo-praha.
The female Sumatran tiger Surya enjoys the current temperature in the outdoor enclosure of the Animal and Reptile Pavilion in the lower part of the zoo. Photo by Petr Hamerník, Prague Zoo
Common wombats of the Tasmanian subspecies like spring temperatures of around twenty degrees Celsius, so there is a good chance to catch them in the enclosure: preferably around 2 pm. Pictured is a male Cooper. Photo by Oliver Le Que, Prague Zoo
The Škoda 440, known in Czechoslovakia as the Škoda Spartak, was first seen by the public in a May Day parade in company town Mladá Boleslav in 1954.
The period socialist press ran articles telling the public that the car market would improve and that they would soon get a “people’s” car. However, the Spartak certainly didn’t become one.
At a time when most people’s savings were devalued by a currency reform in 1953, and the average monthly salary was around CSK 1,200, a car costing CSK 27,450 was definitely not for everyone.
Moreover, only those who received a special voucher, usually distributed to selected workers by a trade union, could acquire one. Long before the car was delivered, a deposit of two-thirds of the price had to be paid.
After a period of stagnation, prices of apartments and houses in Czechia are again on the rise, according to players on the property market. But what is driving this development? And what other trends can be observed?
According to a study by the real estate service Bezrealitky.cz, property prices in Czechia are beginning to climb again after a period of stagnation.
In the first quarter of 2024, the average price of older flats went up by 2 percent, while dwelling houses saw a similar rise.
This information is confirmed by Petr Hána, head of financial consulting in real estate and construction at Deloitte.
“The factors that negatively impacted the residential market, last year in particular, have either faded away or eased off somewhat; for instance, the price of energy, which has traditionally influenced people’s attitude to buying property. Other factors are the price of labour in construction, and the fall in inflation.”
The first ever National Development Day was held at the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday. The event highlighted the country’s active cooperation with developing countries around the world – including in the human rights field.
The inaugural National Development Day took place at Prague’s Czernin Palace, the grand home of the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on Thursday.
The event was opened by President Petr Pavel, while other speakers included Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský and Šimon Pánek, founder of the major Czech NGO People in Need.
Photo: Barbora Němcová, Radio Prague International
Join us on a trip to the Liberec Region. Our drone video will show you the region’s hilly landscape with its many castles and the iconic TV transmitter on Ještěd.
Since 2008, the organization ComingOut has been working to protect the rights of LGBTQ+ folks in Russia, as a response to the many dangers and difficulties this community faces on a daily basis. Georgii Kalakutskii, a member of the queer community himself, is taking the work ComingOut is doing across Europe, including Prague, to draw attention to these issues and to build solidarity. He told me more about the discussion he is hosting on May 2 in Prague.
“We’re coming to Prague to speak about the Russian queer community. I work with ComingOut – an organization where we’ve been helping the Russian queer community for 16 years. We want to inform people about what has been ongoing for the last 30 years in Russia, and also what has been happening for the last two years since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began. Since then, the borders of Russia have been heavily sealed, and there is much less information about the troubles faced by the Russian queer community, making it difficult to build solidarity. That’s why we’re travelling across Europe, to build a global community and start a conversation.”
Photo: Barbora Navrátilová, Radio Prague International
Chamber music is a vital part of Czech musical traditions, and on this episode of the Faces of Czech Music, we sat down with four talented and bright young musicians who are adding their take on this classical genre. Together, Eliška Kukalová, Klára Lešková, Daniel Macho, and Filip Rufer form the Kukal Quartet, named after contemporary Czech composer, Ondřej Kukal (Eliška´s father). In this conversation, we speak with the foursome about how they work together, the skills they each bring to the ensemble, and why playing with four is better than performing solo.
Czech-made video game Kingdom Come: Deliverance achieved massive success at home and abroad when it was released in 2018. Warhorse Studios, the games developers are gearing up for the highly anticipated sequel to be released. Tobias Stolz, spokesman for the gaming studio, told me more about what’s to come.
“Kingdom Come: Deliverance (KCD) sold over six million copies to date. One could say that this is really successful for a gaming studio from the Czech Republic. We weren’t expecting this huge success even though we really trusted in our product, and KCD has become a classic game. Even six years after its release, it’s smashing records – people are playing it and buying it. It’s become an evergreen, which is great for our team, studio, and maybe even the Czech gaming industry.”
Photo: Barbora Navrátilová, Radio Prague International
The Franz Kafka Museum in Prague gives visitors an insight into the inner world of Franz Kafka, one of the most important writers of the 20th century. The exhibition portrays Kafka’s life and work, his fascination with Prague and how its atmosphere is reflected in his novels.
Facsimiles of manuscripts, documents, first editions of Kafka’s novels, photographs, drawings and memorabilia displayed in a dark and gloomy “Kafkaesque” setting that is evocative of scenes from the writer’s novels – all this draws visitors into the world of 20th century literary great Franz Kafka.
The museum, which opened in 2005, is located in the unique space of the Herget Brickworks in the Lesser Town on the bank of the Vltava River. Although one might expect a direct link to Kafka’s Prague, there is none, as museum guide Zlatina Novák Jeřábková explains.
The 2024 Ice Hockey World Championships are set to commence on May 10th in Prague and Ostrava. The tournament, which includes 16 teams, attracts fans from all over the world to the hosting country. So how many hockey fans are expected to descend on Prague for the games? I put the question to Barbora Scherf, spokeswoman for Prague City Tourism.
“Data from May 2023 shows that around 650,000 tourists came to Prague that month. Based on this data, and considering the fact that the World Championship is taking place this year in Prague and Ostrava, we expect that around 725,000 people will come to Prague in May 2024. So we expect a 10 percent increase in connection with the championship.”
Twenty years ago, Czechia officially became a member country of the European Union.
Few people doubt that it was a truly historic moment. The simultaneous accession of ten mostly post-communist countries on May 1st, 2004, was the largest in terms of the number of new member states and their population.The current President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, sent this special message to all Czech citizens on the occasion of the anniversary:
“Dear people of Czechia, twenty years ago our family was finally united in a common home. Czechia was always at the heart of Europe. But the Iron Curtain has pulled us apart. The slogan of the Velvet Revolution was ‘Back to Europe’ and this is exactly what you did. You chose Europe and look how much stronger we have grown ever since. Your commitment to freedeom embodied in towering figures like Václav Havel not only inspires rest of Europe, it has made you a European leader in standing up to Russian aggression.”
Female Sumatran orangutan Diri with her cub born today of unknown gender. The baby is already drinking mother’s milk and according to the first observations, it is vital. Photo by Oliver Le Que, Prague Zoo
A Sumatran orangutan was born at the Prague Zoo shortly after noon Thursday 2.5.2024. This is the first cub of the 11-year-old female Diri, who was also born in the Prague Zoo. The father is a 22-year-old male from Paga. According to the first observations, the cub is vital and the breeders have already seen it drinking its mother’s milk.
The Indonesian Jungle Pavilion remains open – so visitors can see the rare addition for themselves now.
“The baby orangutan was born on the day when female gorilla Mobi is four months old and just three weeks after the birth of another baby gorilla.
It is unbelievable that I can now announce the birth of the third critically endangered great ape this year at the Prague Zoo. It is symbolic that this is happening just a week before we welcome Jane Goodall here,” said the director of the Prague Zoo, Miroslav Bobek.
The Prague Zoo has been breeding orangutans almost continuously since 1961. So far, the last cub born here was a male Pustakawan, called Kawi, who will be four years old this November. He lives in the Zoo together with his mother Mawar, and they will be the ones to be found in the outdoor enclosure tomorrow and during the weekend. Diri with Pagy and their newborn today live on a neighboring island on the upper floor of the Indonesian Jungle Pavilion. It is possible to observe the trio there now and will continue to do so in the coming days – the newborn cub will remain inside the pavilion for the time being.
Zoologists from the Dvůr Králové Safari Park have started researching elephants in the Mkomazi National Park in Tanzania. One of the zoo’s main missions is protecting endangered and threatened wildlife species directly in their natural habitats, and this is precisely the aim of their research in Tanzania. Millions of elephants once lived throughout Africa, but today, they only number around 350,000. Ivory poachers kill eight percent of the elephant population every year, but as Michal Šťastný from the Department of Communication and International Projects at Safari Park Dvůr Králové told me, it is not only poaching that threatens the African elephants.
The Dvůr Králové Safari Park has been collaborating with Tanzania’s Mkomazi Park for over 15 years. Why do you collaborate with this park and why is the collaboration important?
“We have always worked closely with our partners in Africa and Mkomazi is an important partner for many reasons. First of all, Tony Fitzjohn, one of the most influential African wildlife conservationists, worked there in the past, and our Safari Park brought four black rhinos there, that now live there and have had offspring and even grandchildren.
“Since 2009, our project has been running there in quite an extensive way, equipping elephants and other animals with telemetric collars that track their movements, what they do and how they do it. Because if you can track what animals do, you can prevent human-wildlife conflicts, which are one of the main threats for African wildlife right now and have been for quite a long time.”
The world-famous Czech composer Antonín Dvořák died 120 years ago in Prague on May 1, 1904, at the age of 62. The 120th anniversary of his death is naturally being commemorated with a host of concerts, but also by us here at Radio Prague International. In today’s Sunday music show we listen to his truly lovely Czech Suite in D major from 1879.
The Czech Suite in D major is a prime example of Dvořák’s melodic talent. After the success of his Serenades for Strings and for Wind Instruments, he originally wanted to compose another serenade. However, he changed his plans and instead decided to compose a suite based on Czech folk dances.
The Suite in D Major premiered on 16 May 1879 in Prague at a concert conducted by Adolf Čech. One year later Dvořák himself conducted the piece at a charity concert raising money for the construction of the National Theatre in Prague.
We’ll hear from two extraordinary Czech women who’ve woven their lives into the fabric of this the vibrant city of London.
First up, we’ll meet Lucie Wenigerová, a dynamic film producer who, along with her Northern Irish husband and their two daughters, navigates the bustling world of British cinema while keeping her Czech roots alive.
“My husbands family are from Ulster and I am now quite confident to say that I understand their accent more than the English do and that makes me proud. The cliché would probalby be that I feel European, and yes, that’s what I am: I was born in Ostrava and I think it is pretty cool. But I feel comfortable in both the cultures.”
Following Lucie, we’ll dive into the thoughts of Magda Aksamitová, a keen sociologist whose insights on Czech expat life are shaped by her own multicultural family, including a New Zealander husband and a curious six-year-old daughter.
A two-meter-wide stained glass window with the Eye of God, which was most likely hidden by a priest during the communist regime so as to safeguard it, has been discovered and restored to the Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in Kunratice u Cvikova, north of Prague.
The stained glass window has an elliptic shape, bordered by plant motifs and in the middle is a triangle with the Eye of God surrounded by rays of light. It was made for the church 150 years ago by a well-known German stained glass artist, Richard Schlein from Zittau who had workshops in Prague and Hrádek nad Nisou. The work of art was prominently placed above the alter of the church, which is also known as the Crystal Temple. It stayed in the church for a century before mysteriously disappearing sometime in the 1980s.
May 1 is the Czech equivalent of Valentine’s Day, when couples kiss under blossoming cherry trees to seal their relationship. Now, however, the custom may be threatened by climate change, which causes trees to bloom much earlier than before.
Many Czech couples searched in vain this year for a cherry tree in bloom for the traditional backdrop to their May Day kiss. In many parts of the country, cherry blossoms had long faded as a result of the early onset of spring. Given the global climate change, this is likely to happen more and more frequently in the future.
A competition for draft horses in difficult terrain took place in Brdy, Central Bohemia, at the weekend. The competition trail led through the Jince military training ground, which exceptionally opened to the public on the occasion of the race.
Last year Mason Parker and a group of other US investors bought American football club Prague Lions, the sole Czech team in the burgeoning European League of Football. Why does Parker feel this is the right time to back the sport in Europe? And just how far can the Prague Lions go? I discussed these questions and more with the Texan-born businessman at the ground where the team trains.
What’s your own background, and what led you here to Prague?
“I grew up in Texas, but I’ve spent the last 20 years of my life and career in New York City, and I spent a lot of time in Europe.
“I left a career in finance – I’d worked for Deutsche Bank for 20 years – in October of 2022, specifically to go find my own projects and work on them.
32-year-old female Shinda holding the cub of her half-sister, 31-year-old female Kijivu. Behind this situation is the close relationship between the two gorillas, who live together all their lives. From the left, the 26-year-old male Kisumu and the 11-year-old female Duni are also pictured. Photo by Petr Hamerník, Prague Zoo
An extraordinary spectacle – two baby lowland gorillas – awaits visitors at the Prague Zoo. The Kijiva female has been lending her offspring to her half-sister Shinda less than two weeks after giving birth. On the other hand, Duni, the mother of the female Mobi, born in January, continues to guard her daughter carefully and has not yet loaned the four-month-old infant to anyone. The different approaches of a mother of five and a first-time mother can be seen with your own eyes in the pavilion of the Dja Reserve. Best at 10 am or 3 pm, when the gorillas are fed.
Kijivu has known Shinda all his life, they have never lived apart, so he has a lot of trust in her. Just a few days after giving birth, she lends her half-sister a small gorilla – according to preliminary observations, also a female – for burial and inspection without any problems. At that moment, Shinda shows herself as an experienced mother, and, even in the role of nanny, she instinctively tries to feed her niece or nephew.
A typical scene observed these days in the Dja Reserve: Kijivu (left) with a two-week-old cub on her breast or belly and Duni (right) with an almost four-month-old Mobi on her back while traveling through the pavilion. Photo by Jaroslav Šimek, Prague Zoo
The greatest interest in the new cub seems to be the same as in the case of Mobi, the newly eight-year-old gorilla adolescent Ajabu. He doesn’t miss a single opportunity for even a fleeting touch. It’s like he’s checking to see if he can play with his new partners. The leader of the Kisumu gang has an overview of everything, and if Ajabu hits on the females too much, he does not hesitate to kill the young man.
Mobi is almost four months old and the breeders have just discovered her sixth milk tooth. She also sucks solid food, although she does not swallow it yet. According to the assumption, Mobi is also trying to get back on its feet. But for now, he can only last a little while before he returns to all fours again. She is also trying to be a toddler, but still with the help of Duni, who supports her tummy with her hand. They also try to grab branches and ropes. In short, he shows all the abilities that such an old and healthy young gorilla should show.
A young female Kijivu, which was born in the Prague Zoo on April 12. A month later – on May 11 – world-renowned primatologist and nature conservationist Jane Goodall “baptizes” Kijiva’s fifth child. Photo by Petr Hamerník, Prague Zoo
Cubs are of course an enrichment not only for the gorilla family but also for visitors to the Prague Zoo. Having two such small gorillas in a group is rather exceptional in the context of the world’s zoos. The spacious auditorium in the warmth of the Dja Reserve pavilion, where people can have a snack or charge their mobile phones, is thus a unique space for watching the growth of both cubs, their joint steps, and discovering the world.
While little Mobi’s name was chosen by Cameroonian schoolchildren and then by the Czech public in the final vote, the second born cub will be named by world-renowned primatologist and nature conservationist Jane Goodall. She will visit the Prague Zoo next month, and on May 11 at 11 a.m., the cub’s ceremonial “christening” will take place. In cooperation with the Czech University of Agriculture, the Prague Zoo organizes a public lecture by this legendary English scientist. The zoo will soon publish more information about registration for the event on its website and social networks.
Little Mobi tries to grab a branch or a rope in the exhibit from the back of her mother Duni. Photo by Miroslav Bobek, Prague Zoo
Czechia is one of the last countries in Europe to still require transgender people to undergo medical sterilisation in order to legally change their gender – meaning that officially changing your sex is not possible without undergoing surgery to remove your reproductive organs. The Justice Ministry announced over a year ago that they were preparing legislation to scrap this requirement, but with little political will to change the law, it has so far not made it to parliament, despite years of criticism from international human rights organisations. Recently around two dozen Czech NGOs and prominent people signed an open letter to Prime Minister Petr Fiala calling for the government to take action.
To help make sense of this often-misunderstood topic, I spoke to Jáchym, a trans man (meaning he was born female) about his experiences of going through the Czech system for gender reassignment. I know Jáchym personally, and indeed had known him as a man for several years without knowing that he was trans. He spoke very candidly and openly about his personal process, starting with when and how he came to the realisation that he wanted to live life as a man.
Photo: Paul-Henri Perrain, Radio Prague International
The South Bohemian Region boasts ancient towns full of life, fairy-tale castles and palaces, unique picturesque villages and literally thousands of fish ponds.
Photo: Barbora Navrátilová, Radio Prague International
Bedřich Smetana has been in the spotlight recently in connection with the 200th anniversary of the Czech composer’s birth. Smetana is also the subject of a new novel, Friedrich řečený Bedřich (Friedrich, Known as Bedřich), by Milena Štráfeldová. One focus of the book is the music great’s complicated German and Czech background.
Hundreds of earlier books have been devoted to Smetana, says writer Milena Štráfeldová, but there is still plenty of material about him that is not widely known. For instance, his diaries, which he began keeping aged 16, have never been published in full.
“What’s interesting is that he wrote them in German. And that could be one reason why people rather tiptoe around this issue. Because in reality how was it with his Czechness and his Germanness?”
