AuthorMartin Hladík

Photo: Magdalena Hrozínková, Radio Prague International

Starting this Saturday, visitors to Prague’s Clementinum will be able to enjoy a new Baroque tour at the Czech National Library’s historic complex. The route will take visitors to the Clementinum Astronomical Tower and Baroque Library, which are otherwise inaccessible to the public.

Prague’s Clementinum, located just a few steps from Charles Bridge, serves as the seat of the Czech National Library, the largest and oldest public library in the country.

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Authors: Ruth Fraňková, Martina Schneibergová

Photo: Ian Willoughby, Radio Prague International

Sculptor David Černý is known to many visitors to Prague for his babies on Žižkov TV Tower and moving Kafka head in the downtown area. Now the colourful artist has a brand new museum – Musoleum – showcasing a cross-section of his works in a former distillery in the Smíchov district. I spoke to Černý there ahead of Saturday’s opening.

“The idea is to get rid of my stuff which was filling up my studio, so it’s partly of course also a storage.

“That was actually the original name that I called it – then I swapped for Musoleum.

“Also behind it is the fact that a friend of mine, who is the owner of the Trigema group, bought this property, which was falling apart for almost 30 years – it was the investment of one British guy who bought it for almost nothing in I think ’92 or ’93 and then just left it.

“Marcel Soural, the owner of Trigema, bought the whole property and this building was actually preserved, plus the chimney.

“Because I’m also the co-architect of the whole complex which will be surrounding this building, we were thinking about what to do with this preserved building.

“So we decided to do something with culture, whatever, a museum.

“And after many discussions it ended up like, Why don’t we do your show here [laughs]?”

See the rest here.

Author: Ian Willoughby

Photo: Viktor Daněk, Czech Radio

Botas, the Czech brand known for its iconic sneakers, which recently fell on hard times and had to cease production at the turn of last year, may yet be resurrected. A rapidly rising Zlín-based newcomer to the Czech shoe market – Vasky – recently announced that it plans to incorporate Botas into its own company and keep the sneakers in production. I spoke to the founder of Vasky, Václav Staněk.

“The reason why I started Vasky seven years ago, when I was 18, was because I wanted to continue the Czech tradition of shoe manufacturing that was started by Tomáš Baťa.

“I believe that the step we are doing now is exactly one of the ways of how to help maintain this tradition, because Botas was founded 70 years ago and I would be glad if it keeps going for another seven decades.”

Tell us how you plan to purchase Botas?

“We have a lot of spares on stock at Vasky and we needed to raise some money to buy Botas. So we did a sale and communicated our plan to our customers.

“I am really glad that they heard us out. It was very cool and we pulled it off. We sold around 8,000 pairs of shoes and that is the reason why we are able to buy Botas.”

See the rest here.

Author: Thomas McEnchroe

Jerry the red panda male

If somebody says that the red panda is a mysterious animal, I will agree. For instance, already for almost two centuries the proper classification of this carnivore has been debated. Today it is clear, that for sure it is not related to giant panda, but I will get to that later.

In 1825, the zoologist Georges-Frédéric Cuvier – the younger brother of the much more famous Georges Cuvier – described a carnivore species new to the science. He called it Ailurus fulgens, translated from Latin as “shining cat”. In French he then chose the name ʻpandaʼ, by which he ignited future endless debates over the origin of the word. Possibly it was borrowed from a Nepali phrase meaning “bamboo eater”. At the same time, however, he showed considerable erudition when he classified his “shining cat” among racoons.

Across the Channel the Frenchman Cuvier aroused considerable indignation with his classification, as the red panda – an animal from the British zone of interest! – had been already presented to scientific community by the British Major General Thomas Hardwicke. However, he had not published his description, so he was out of luck. On the other hand, it was the British who the first obtained a red panda for a zoo, of course, for the London one. This happened on May 22, 1869. Unfortunately, the British, so sensitive to the fact that they were overtaken by the French, had not read what their fellow compatriot Brian Houghton Hodgson wrote (that pandas in captivity avoided meat and accepted only rice, milk and eggs) and tried to feed their red panda meat. When it was not thriving, the head keeper Bartlett allegedly took it for a walk. There the poor starving panda pounced on rose buds and fruit of ornamental pear trees.

However, in the same year – even before the walk in London Zoo – a Frenchman stepped in again. This time it was the missionary Armand David, who in China had obtained the skin of a large black-and-white carnivore. In his first letter to the naturalist Alphonse Milne-Edwards, he suggested a scientific name Ursus melanoleucus, meaning black-and-white bear. Yes, it was the giant panda, although it was given this name only later.

Although there were glaring as well as less obvious differences between the two Asian bamboo-eating carnivores, their similarities clouded the judgement of many researchers. The most important similarity is that both species have a second “thumb” located on the opposite side of the front paw to the real thumb. In both cases the “panda’s thumb” is created by a sesamoid bone, and it makes eating bamboo easier. Among other things, this match lead to the belief that both pandas were relatives, even very close ones, and David’s black-and-white bear was named ‘panda’. The giant panda.

The mistake linking the red panda and the giant panda as close relatives had remarkably strong roots; it started to fall apart irreversibly only at the turn of the 21st century. There were no doubts that the giant panda is related to bears, but the problem was the red panda. Only genetical analysis demonstrated how close to the truth Georges-Frédéric Cuvier was, when he classified it side by side with racoons. The red panda, which has its own family, belongs today to the superfamily Musteloidea, thus in the company of skunks, weasels, and racoons.

So much for one of the secrets of the red panda. Everything else you can find in our campaign Meet Them! which we launch today together with the new main season. Red pandas are represented in it by the male Jerry.

Caption: The obvious difference between the red panda and the giant panda: The first of them has a long furry tail, while the other one is completely missing this feature.

Under the auspices of H.E. Mr. Hideo Suzuki, Ambassador of Japan a very special concert by Hector Quartet was performed at Galerie Jakubska – Hartigovský palac – Mala Strana.

Established in April 2017 while attending Tokyo College of Music.
The Hector Quartet receive a scholarship to study chamber music at The Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (HAMU), and study under Jiří Panocha (Panocha Quartet). They also study under various members of the Panocha Quartet.

The Hector Quartet studied under Eiji Arai, Mazumi Tanamura , Masaharu Kanda, various members of the Verus String Quartet.

They won the gold prize in the 2 nd Antonín Dvořák mladým international competition( Czech), and the 5th prize in the chamber music section of the 29th classical music competition(Japan).

The Hector Quartet’s experience of studying abroad is being captured in the Japanese music magazine “Sarasate”.

Many thanks to Mrs. Alena Onishenko for organizing such a great event.

Czechia is set to cease issuing visas to Russians and Belarusians who also possess citizenship of other states. The country stopped granting visas to regular citizens of Russia and Belarus, except in humanitarian cases, soon after the former’s invasion of Ukraine last year.

The Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs wants to stop people from Russia or Belarus who also have citizenship of another state from receiving visas to enter Czechia.

This would involve an extension of an existing edict barring regular citizens of the two countries from getting visas, except in specified humanitarian cases.

The Czech cabinet is due on Wednesday to discuss the Ministry of Foreign Affairs proposal, under which the freshly modified regulation would remain in place until the end of March 2024.

At the same time officials are proposing more exceptions to a rule under which Ukrainians cannot apply at Czech diplomatic missions in their own country for visas to Czechia.

Currently such exceptions are only granted in the case of applicants for study stays who have received temporary protection visas in another EU state or have applied for one.

See the rest here.

Author: Ian Willoughby

A portion of the Ukrainian child refugee population in Czechia is missing out on formal education because there aren’t enough school places for them. Schools and kindergartens are already bursting at capacity, especially in the capital.

Jana Frojdová is headmistress at an elementary school in the Prague 10 district. It has been forced to down five applications from Ukrainian refugees in the last six months.

“We are very sorry about it – but there was no other way. We have already increased capacity from 400 to 460, and we can’t increase it further due to health and safety regulations. But we have an agreement with other schools in Prague 10, so if a place becomes free in one of them, they let us know which grade – third grade or seventh grade or whatever – so we know where else we can direct applicants to if we haven’t got space for them ourselves. But there have been situations where there simply wasn’t a free place anywhere.”

See the rest here.

Authors: Anna Fodor, Eva Šelepová

Although now in his 80s, Geoffrey Chew is still writing about Czech music. The British/South African musicologist devoted most of his career to the music of the Czech Lands and Slovakia as Emeritus Professor of Music at Royal Holloway University in London and as editor of articles on Czech and Slovak Music for the online Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians. He has also translated Czech literature, including a translation of Karel Hynek Mácha’s ‘Cikáni’ (Gypsies) which was published in 2019. For his contributions to Czech music and culture, Chew was awarded a Leoš Janáček Memorial Medal by the Leoš Janáček Foundation in 2018.

Born in South Africa, Chew has spent most of his life in the UK and when I meet with him at the Southbank Centre in London, he calls himself a “citizen of nowhere”, wryly referencing the former UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s notorious comment at the 2016 UK Conservative party conference that “if you believe you are a citizen of the world, you are a citizen of nowhere” (he adds that “if that’s what Theresa May wants to call us then fine – I’ll go along with that”). But, despite an academic career focused on Czech music, Chew has no Czech heritage or familial relations whatsoever.

See the rest here.

Author: Anna Fodor

Photo: Ian Willoughby, Radio Prague International

Jaroslav Hašek’s The Good Soldier Švejk is one of the most popular Czech books ever published. So it was a special occasion when the original manuscript of the classic novel was exhibited to the public for one day only on Tuesday by Prague’s Museum of Czech Literature.

The Fateful Adventures of the Good Soldier Švejk During the World War, to give it its full title, is said to be the most translated work in Czech literature and has fans around the world.

On Tuesday, 172 pages of Jaroslav Hašek’s original manuscript of the first part of the great unfinished comic novel went on display – for one day only – at Prague’s Museum of Czech Literature.

Museum archivist Petr Kotyk is the curator of the small but captivating show.

“The manuscript shows that Hašek was well aware of the kind of work he was writing. In the first ‘notebook’ edition he said, ‘Throw away your Tarzan and put Švejk on your bookshelves – this is a revolution in Czech and world literature.’

“They sold the notebooks around the pubs but also written on them was: ‘This is now coming out in the US, France and Germany and it’s a work of world importance.’

“And that was just the first few dozen pages.”

See the rest here.

Author: Ian Willoughby

Foto: Martin Pekárek

Jan Smigmator, one of Czechia’s most famous swing and jazz singers, is set to perform in New York’s Carnegie Hall on April 29. The 37-year-old musician, who also hosts his own show on Czech Radio, says that he hopes this could be an opportunity to break through in the United States. His performance in New York will focus on the music of greats such as George and Ira Gershwin, Johnny Mercer, Henry Mancini or Michel Legrand and Smigmator will be singing in both English and Czech.

The Jihlava-born Czech singer has also expressed his excitement at being able to perform with a highly accomplished ensemble of American musicians. His accompanying band will be made up of members of the Tony Bennett quarter, as well as double bassist Marshall Wood, guitarist Gray Sargent, the famous drummer Harold Jones and saxophone player Scott Hamilton. Czechs Jan Steinsdörfer and Jan Andr will also be present. The former playing on piano, the latter occupying the organ.

Smigmator himself made his first mark on the music scene at the age of 14, when he won the Golden nut (Zlatý oříšek) competition, a talent show for Czech children. His first album, Swing Is Back, came out in 2013, followed two years later by Time To Swing, which featured a bonus track in the form of My Way – the legendary song made famous by Frank Sinatra.

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Author: Thomas McEnchroe

Photo: Zuzana Jarolímková, Czech Radio

The remains of Sudan, the world’s last male northern white rhino, which had been on display at the National Museum in Prague, are due to be shipped to Kenya this week. The taxidermy, created by the National Museum’s conservationists, will be displayed in Kenya as a symbol of the fight for nature protection. I discussed the fate of the famous animal with conservationist Jan Stejskal from Dvůr Králové Zoo, which has been spearheading international efforts to save the breed from extinction:

“The animal was born in south Sudan, probably in 1973. We don’t know the exact date, because he was caught in the wild. He was caught in early 1975 by a team led by former Dvůr Králové director Josef Vágner. That same year, Sudan and five other northern white rhinos arrived in Dvůr Králové and my colleagues started the breeding programme.

“Sudan sired two females in our zoo. One of them was Nabire, who lived all her life in our zoo. The other one, Najin, is now in Ol Pejeta in Kenya and she is one of the last two females of the Northern White Rhino known to the world.”

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Author: Ruth Fraňková

Source: Grand Palais Immersif

A long-awaited exhibition opened in Paris on Wednesday, using huge projections, 3D animation and music to bring the work of Czech painter Alfons Mucha to life. A so-called “immersive” exhibition, it uses the power of smell and sound as well as sight to recreate his world. The exhibition also focuses on his legacy, from the “Flower Power” movement of the sixties to Japanese manga, street art, and even tattoos.

Housed in the Grand Palais Immersif, a new venue in Paris dedicated to immersive exhibitions, the ‘Eternal Mucha’ exhibition is a feast for the senses, playing with more than just the visual, as Mucha’s great-grandson, Marcus Mucha, elaborates.

“We wanted to make everything immersive. It’s not just pictures but also music and perfumes. The perfumes convey the scent of Alfons’ favourite flowers from Moravia and the smell of the church in Ivančice where he sang.”

See the rest here.

Author: Anna Fodor

Photo: Archive of UPCE

Restorers from the University of Pardubice, along with colleagues from Germany, have started to examine a unique cycle of paintings in the Emmaus Monastery in Prague, dating to the reign of Emperor Charles IV. During the next three years, they will determine the state of the frescoes, and only then will they start to restore them.

The Emmaus Monastery in Prague is known for its unmistakable white towers with gilded spires from the 1960s, which replaced the original ones, destroyed in February 1945 in an accidental air raid by the Allies.

The former Benedictine monastery is also known for a unique cycle of Gothic wall paintings, made during the reign of Emperor Charles IV, that is between the 1460s and the 1470s.

The entire cycle originally had 33 paintings, but only 26 have been preserved to this day. However, the series is still remarkable for its extent and high artistic quality.

The paintings were mostly damaged in the bombing raid, but they were also affected by leakage into the building and inexpert restoration carried out in the 1950s.

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Author: Ruth Fraňková

British ambassador Matt Field, Photo: Barbora Navrátilová, Radio Prague International

Since taking over as UK ambassador to Prague in January, Matt Field has, with skilful use of social media and visible eagerness to learn, quickly established himself as one of the best-known diplomats in the country. But how has he actually been finding life in the Czech capital? And what are his priorities as London’s man in Prague? They are just a couple of the things I discussed with Mr. Field in this wide-ranging interview.

Reading your CV, one thing jumped out at me and that is that in 2002 you worked for the World Cup Organising Committee in Japan. How did that come about?

“Yes, it was an amazing experience.

“I was very lucky in that I was in the right place at the right time.

“After I graduated from university, I went and worked in Japan for a couple of years.

“I taught, and coached rugby as well, and then 2002 came around they were looking for people who spoke Japanese and were going to be available for a few months.

“So I got picked up and went to run one of their ticket offices, in a place called Sendai.

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Author: Ian Willoughby

Photo: Ian Willoughby, Radio Prague International

Bohemia: History of an Idea, 1950–2000 is the name of a major new exhibition at Prague’s Kunsthalle gallery. It focuses on Paris in the Left Bank days, swinging London and 1970s New York – but also lesser-known scenes, including the Prague of photographer Libuše Jarcovjáková. I discussed the new show with US-based curator Russell Ferguson.

It’s a fantastic exhibition, with works from so many countries and periods. What qualities to these works share?

“They share a relationship to the fundamental idea of what it is to live a bohemian lifestyle.

“But at the same time I was actually looking for ways in which the different cities and the different time periods showed differences in how bohemia is manifested in different periods.

“So a key idea in the exhibition is to show both that bohemia can be represented in different forms in different places, but at the same time to show that there are continuities that run all the way through, and that people are aware of other bohemian scenes and take some context from that.”

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Author: Ian Willoughby

Photo: Sabina Vosecká, Czech Radio

One of Prague’s oldest and most stylish cinemas, Prague 9’s Kino Atlas is reopening to the public this Tuesday after a change in management. The new operators of the venue are a collective of Czech film directors, who intend focus on documentary and artistic films. In a bold move, they also plan to lower ticket costs for visitors.

The new team that is running the cinema is made up of a group of filmmakers. Among them is the award-winning director Václav Kadrnka, who is perhaps best known for his feature film Little Crusader (Křižáček). It took the main prize at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 2017. His wife, producer Simona Kadrnková, is also part of the group. As are FAMU film school bursar Věra Hladišová and documentarist Vít Janeček, who teaches at the same world-renowned institution.

The latter spoke to Radio Prague International about how the idea to take over the 1930s venue came about.

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Author: Thomas McEnchroe

John of Nepomuk, one of the patron saints of the Czech lands, was brutally martyred on March 20, 1393, on the orders of King Wenceslas IV. He was beatified in 1721 and declared a saint eight years later.

It is said that the vicar-general to the Archbishop of Prague was tortured to death because he did not want to reveal the confessional secrets of Queen Sophie.

In reality, historical evidence points to King Wenceslas IV having had the court priest killed for siding with Rome in a political dispute over who would become the next abbot of Kladruby.

Whether the reasons for the martyrdom were power struggles or accusations of revealing confessional secrets, John of Nepomuk is regarded as a symbol of honesty, reliability and integrity. He is the patron saint of confessors, pilgrims, happy returns and boatmen and protector against floods.

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Last week’s decision by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague to issue an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin for overseeing the abduction of Ukrainian children has been welcomed by leading Czech politicians. Against the backdrop of a meeting of justice ministers in London this Monday, Czechia’s Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský argued for the setting up of an international tribunal.

Mr Lipavský has long been an advocate of establishing a special international tribunal that would focus on prosecuting Russia’s crime of aggression against Ukraine. He explained why in an interview with Czech Radio on Monday.

“I think it is absolutely clear that if someone starts a war and confesses to it live on air the same day then it is necessary that they take responsibility for it.

“The crime of aggression is a crime according to the UN Charter, a document that was signed shortly after the end of World War Two wherein the international community aimed to prevent the alteration of borders through the use of force.”

See the rest here.

Authors: Thomas McEnchroe, Lukáš Matoška

Photo: archive of Czech Parliament

An art installation by Israeli artist Keren Goldstein Yehezkeli protesting against the global phenomenon of gender-based murder committed by spouses and other family members, is currently on display in the lower house of Czech Parliament. The main aim of the exhibition, called She’s Gone, is to raise awareness of femicide, which claims the lives of around 47, 000 women and girls around the world every year.

Israeli artist Keren Goldstein Yehezkeli is reading the names of women who were murdered by their spouses and intimate partners.

The garments, once worn by the victims of domestic violence, are now on display in the lower house of Czech Parliament, as part of a chilling art installation called She’s Gone.

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Author: Ruth Fraňková

Spring is in the air and the country’s tourist industry is preparing for the annual influx of foreign visitors. What are the main tourist attractions this year, is Prague still a magnet for foreign tourists and can the country hope to return to pre-Covid figures? I spoke to Jan Herget, the head of CzechTourism about what Czechia has to offer in 2023.

“Czechia is full of cultural heritage sites, beautiful landscape, national parks and vibrant dynamic new cities, but also old picturesque small cities like Český Krumlov. Naturally, the main attraction is our capital Prague which attracts tourists from all over the world – the US, Israel, India, France…Prague is definitely our highlight, but we naturally try to attract tourists to all destinations in Czechia, to get them to visit the regions.”

How many tourists come to Czechia annually and have we returned to pre-Covid figures?

“In the pre-Covid days we used to have more than 10 million foreign visitors a year. Last year there were 7.4 million. So there has been a decline in foreign tourists, but domestic tourism – Czechs travelling around Czechia – reached a historical record and we had more tourists from neighbouring Slovakia as well.”

What do foreign tourists generally come to see and what would you like to draw attention to?

“As I already mentioned the main attraction is Prague, Karlovy Vary (Carlsbad) Český Krumlov, Kutná Hora and other historical cities and spa towns. Foreign tourists appreciate our UNESCO heritage and I would say that Czechia has the highest density of UNESCO heritage sites per square kilometer. But we are trying to promote the whole country – for example Ostrava with its technical heritage, Plzen –the capital of beer, the two Czech candidates for the title European Capital of Culture, Broumov and České Budejovice,one in north and one in south Bohemia, and of course the country’s famous spa resorts Karlovy Vary, Teplice but also Moravian spas.”

See the rest here.

Author: Daniela Lazarová

Photo: Junák – český skaut, z. s.

For several weeks now, Czech scouts have been making special candles for Ukrainian soldiers and civilians to be used in the trenches and during power cuts. They gathered the material in a public collection and have already produced thousands of candles.

Hall number 29 in Prague’s Holešovice market has been turned into a provisional workshop, where scouts and volunteers from the general public meet several times a week to make special trench candles to provide warmth and light to people in Ukraine.

See the rest here.

Authors: Ruth Fraňková, Jana Karasová

A digital recontruction of a humback whale trap feeding. Credit J. McCarthy

Monsters and weird creatures from ancient legends and old bestiaries often are not just pure figments of the imagination but tend to have their real prototypes. As it has recently transpired this is also true about the sea monster, referred to as hafgufa in Norse sagas and manuscripts. Nevertheless, its mystery has been unravelled only thanks to newly acquired knowledge.

The hafgufa is described in detail in King’s Mirror, a didactic text written in the 13th century for the Norwegian king Håkon Håkonsson. It is worth mentioning that a correlation has been found between 26 creatures described in this manuscript and marine animals recognized by modern science. Thanks to researchers John McCarthy, Erin Sebo and Matthew Firth the twenty-seventh one – hafgufa – has now been added to them.

In King’s Mirror the hafgufa is described as a huge fish looking rather like an island. For us the following passage is the most important from the entire description: “It is said of the nature of this fish that, when it goes to feed, it gives a great belch out of its throat, along with which comes a great deal of food. All sorts of nearby fish gather, both small and large, seeking there to acquire food and good sustenance. But the big fish keeps its mouth open for a time, no more or less wide than a large sound or fjord, and unknowing and unheeding, the fish rush in in their numbers. And when its belly and mouth are full, [the hafgufa] closes its mouth, thus catching and hiding inside it all the prey that had come seeking food.”

Another source, Örvar-Odds saga from the 14th century says that the opened mouth of the hafgufa on the water surface is so big, that it could be mistaken for two massive rocks rising from the sea, where a ship can sail in-between.

However, the hafgufa was not known only to Norsemen at the time of Middle Ages. Under the name Aspidochelone it also appears in the work Physiologus, which original Greek text was compiled in Alexandria between 150 – 200 AD. It states: “When it is hungry it opens its mouth and exhales a certain kind of good-smelling odor from its mouth, the smell of which, once the smaller fish have perceived it, they gather themselves in its mouth. But when his mouth is filled with diverse little fish, he suddenly closes his mouth and swallows them.”

Advance from distant history to the present. In 2011, a team of researchers observed near Vancouver Island a remarkable behaviour of humpback whales. They positioned themselves vertically in the water with only the tip of their snout and mandible protruding from the surface. Herrings began to gather in the “shelter” created in this way to be simply devoured by the humpback whales afterwards. At the same time, the effectiveness of this hunting method was further enhanced by them regurgitating a certain portion of the food, which attracted not only fish from a larger distance, which wanted to feed, but also marine birds, from which then the fish had a tendency to hide… This hunting method was named by the scientists as trap feeding. But beware: an almost identical behaviour was described at the same time from the other side of the globe, at Bryde’s whales, which hunted for anchovies in the same way. This time the method was named tread-water feeding.

The similarity between the behaviour of humpback and Bryde’s whales and the descriptions of the hafgufa is striking. Even the mentioning of the smell (though not good-smelling), which is created by releasing dimethyl sulfide from regurgitated zooplankton and small fish. But only the trio of McCarthy, Sebo and Firth managed to notice this similarity and explain it. However, at the same time, another very exciting question occurred: Why were the humpback and Bryde’s whales hunting in this way some one to two thousand years ago – and then began to use the same strategy only recently?

Photo: Festival One World

Among the most hotly anticipated Czech documentaries at the ongoing One World festival is Blix Not Bombs by Greta Stocklassa, which premieres on Saturday. The film is built around interviews with Hans Blix, the Swedish diplomat best-known as the UN’s chief weapons inspector in the lead-up to America’s 2003 invasion of Iraq. I discussed the film with its director.

“I’m half-Swedish, so for a long time I’ve been interested in Swedish neutrality and diplomacy.

“Sweden has a history of internationally famous diplomats.

“And then I think there’s something interesting in this; it’s a little ambiguous, being a diplomat and being able to talk to both the good guys and the bad guys. “So I was interested in that.

“And as I say in the film, I first knew about Hans Blix from [animated satirical movie] Team America.

See the rest here.

Author: Ian Willoughby

Next Tuesday 28 March, on Teachers’ Day, a large-scale, nationwide demonstration will be taking place to protest against the chronic underfunding of the humanities in Czechia. Academic communities from arts and humanities faculties in Prague, Brno, Olomouc, Ostrava and a number of other cities have declared warning strikes and planned protest marches, as well as a programme of events open to students and the public. I spoke to Mirka Horová from Charles University’s Faculty of Arts in Prague to find out more.

“The point is to try and raise awareness about the conditions that we are working under here and have been for decades. While obviously Teachers’ Day is also celebrating primary and secondary school teachers, and their pay has been amended, rightfully and after a long struggle, our situation is still quite dismal.

“We are working several contracts because the pay we get from our primary job provider is simply not enough to cover basic existential needs, especially at a time like this when prices are soaring. But it’s not just a matter of recent years – it has been like this for decades. There are professors across our disciplines who have to work several contracts – this is unprecedented on an international level.

See the rest here.

Author: Anna Fodor

Photo: René Volfík, iROZHLAS.cz

Photo: René Volfík, iROZHLAS.cz

Following Petr Pavel’s inauguration as Czechia’s new head of state, the president’s office chief Jana Vohralíková, also assumed her post at Prague Castle. What changes is she planning? And will the castle become more accessible to the general public during Petr Pavel’s presidency?

Jana Vohralíkova, who previously headed the office of the Czech Senate, has already indicated that there are many things she wants to change about the way that Prague Castle is run and perceived by the public. Like her boss, she is promising greater transparency, greater openness and a visitor-friendly attitude on the premises of the historic seat of Czech kings.

In an interview for Czech Radio following Petr Pavel’s inauguration, Mrs. Vohralíková said that one of her top priorities was to change the working environment in the Office of the President:

“If I have realized anything during the last month, it is that interpersonal relationships here are not what they should be. I’m sure there are a lot of reasons for that.

See the rest here.

Author: Ruth Fraňková

We have had the pleasure of interviewing Jana Vohralíková for our magazine some years back. Take a look at the interview here.

Photo: Ian Willoughby, Radio Prague International

In recent times Covid-19 rather put a dampener on events marking St. Patrick’s Day in Czechia. This March 17, however, the country’s embassy in Prague is again celebrating the Irish national holiday in full for the first time in some years. I spoke to the Irish ambassador to Prague, Cliona Managhan.

See the rest here.

Author: Ian Willoughby

A new study looking at differences in tourist behaviour and motivation between countries has come up with some interesting findings – and the Prague municipal government wants to use them to attract travellers who are willing to spend more money on cultural events, historical monuments and gastronomy.

Prague has long suffered from tourist blight. Like many other centres of tourism in Europe – Amsterdam, Barcelona, Venice – problems from litter to noise pollution to sky-high rent can in some way be attributed to the swarms of tourists that were coming to the Czech capital every year before Covid hit.

See the rest here.

Author: Anna Fodor

Photo: Jana Přinosilová, Czech Radio

Ties between Czechia and Taiwan have been significantly strengthened over the past several years. The Central European state has arguably become one of the continent’s pioneers in expanding relations with Taiwan, despite threats from Beijing. This month will see the largest Czech delegation yet travel to Taipei. It will be led by the speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Markéta Pekarová Adamová. She spoke to Radio Prague International about its significance.

“My delegation consists of various representatives, not just parliamentarians, meaning my colleagues from the ranks of the deputies in the lower-house, but also entrepreneurs and people from the business sphere in general.

“The reason that we are visiting Taiwan is because we want to strengthen the ties between our two countries. Czechia and Taiwan have much in common. I think that both societies are based around common values such as respect for human rights, freedom and democracy.

“At the same time we are cooperating on the business level because Taiwanese investments in Czechia are very important for us and we would like to continue our cooperation.”

See the rest here.

Author: Thomas McEnchroe

Last week, a Czech team presented a study at the European Radiological Congress in Vienna that showed an AI that they developed called Carebot is more accurate than human radiologists at detecting suspicious lesions in lung X-rays.

Artificial Intelligence is already better than humans at playing chess and Go, analysing big data, and with the advent of ChatGPT, the new chatbot by OpenAI that everyone is talking about, answering questions about almost anything, it seems. As if that wasn’t enough, there is now yet another area where the machines are beating us – according to Daniel Kvak, co-founder of Carebot, AI is better at identifying suspicious lesions in lung X-rays than human doctors.

“Various studies indicate that the inaccuracy of radiological description is somewhere between 25 and 30 percent in standard clinical practice. And chest X-rays are precisely where errors unfortunately occur most often. In cooperation with the Masaryk Institute of Oncology, we ran a study where we compared the success rate of artificial intelligence with the success rate of five radiologists. Our AI correctly picked up the lesions 91 percent of the time, compared to 29 to 81 percent for the radiologists.”

See the rest here.

Author: Anna Fodor

Source: Tomáš Roček, Czech Radio

On the occasion of the anniversary of the Nazi occupation of Bohemia and Moravia on March 15, 1939, Czech Radio’s archive has decided to publish the digitised recordings of the trial with Karl Hermann Frank. One of the highest ranking Nazis in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, who played a key role in the infamous Lidice massacre, was sentenced to death in 1946.

A Bohemian German, Karl Hermann Frank was born in Carlsbad in 1898. At the time of the invasion of the rump state of Czechoslovakia in 1939, he was the deputy governor of the Sudetenland region which had been annexed by Germany from Czechoslovakia a year later.

A leading figure within the Sudeten German separatist movement during the 1930s, Frank quickly rose through the ranks of the Nazi administration of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, eventually being put in overall charge of the local SS and police forces. He played a key role in the annihilation of the villages of Lidice and Ležáky following the killing of Reinhard Heydrich by Czechoslovak soldiers.

See the rest here.

Author: Thomas McEnchroe

Photo: Ian Willoughby, Radio Prague International

Leading Czech artist Krištof Kintera is known for large, often complex objects that frequently involve electricity. However, he has also been making poster-style works for two decades and these have now been assembled en masse for a major new exhibition in Prague entitled How Can I Help You? I spoke to Kintera at the show at the DOX gallery.

See the rest here.

Author: Ian Willoughby

Photo: Ian Willoughby, Radio Prague International

Michal Horáček is a man of countless talents. As a very successful song lyricist, his work is familiar to generations of Czechs. He has also been a journalist, was active in the Velvet Revolution, became extremely wealthy with a pioneering betting company and came fourth in presidential elections in 2018. It is rare to meet anybody with such a range of experiences as Mr. Horáček – and he shared several of them on a recent visit to our studio.

Could you please tell us something about your background? What kind of family did you grow up in?

“I was born in Prague, into a family of some interest.

“Because my mother came from a well-established Prague family, full of scientists and artists.

“My great-grandfather was the dean of the Faculty of Law at Charles University, and his son, Jaroslav Heyrovský, was the first Czech to be awarded the Nobel Prize, for chemistry in 1958.

“His brother Leopold was my grandfather. He and my grandmother shared the large apartment we had in downtown Prague.

See the rest here.

Author: Ian Willoughby

Photo: Kateřina Dobrovolná, Czech Radio

A church in the village of Hojsova Stráž in the Šumava Mountains is one of the many properties the Catholic Church got rid of in recent years in an effort to stabilize its finances. The church was bought for a symbolic one crown by a local man, who has gradually transformed it into a vibrant cultural centre.

See the rest here.

Authors: Ruth Fraňková, Kateřina Dobrovolná

Colette Kaines Lang takes us along on her student budget weekend to Harrachov. Surprisingly, the second hand clothes shops of Prague play a vital role in her preparation to ski, bobsleigh and boogie.

A few weeks ago my flatmate announced ‘let’s go skiing!’. She had seen on Erasmus in Prague a rather cheap weekend trip to Harrachov. As a student only studying in Prague for a year I’m trying to say yes to as many experiences as I can. So of course my first thought was – sign me up!

I then realised I had two main issues I didn’t own any ski gear and I had only skied once. My first issue was easier to fix than I had thought; Genesis the second hand shops scattered around Prague.

We were able to run around the multiple Genesis’ in Prague trying on a range of clothes and we all managed to say ‘it will do’ to something we had tried on. It should be said that a day shopping at Genesis is a whole Prague experience in itself. I was able to buy an all in one ski suit for around £2 pounds! Plus a few borrowed items meant in the end I spent very little extra, on top of the trip costs which covered accommodation, food, ski hire and a pass.

See the rest here.

Author: Colette Kaines Lang

The first written mention of the Harrachov glassworks dates back to 1712, but it was most likely established years before that. Today the oldest surviving glassworks in Czechia makes luxury glass for rich clients the world over and occasionally produces special pieces on commission.

The Harrachov glassworks, dating back to the early 18th century, is the oldest surviving glassworks not only in Czechia, but most likely in the world. During its more than three hundred year history, the glassworks produced collections that adorned royal tables around Europe. (One of the two surviving vases made for Emperor Francis Joseph I in 1873 is on display in the Harrachov Museum of Glass.)

Harrachov master glassmakers triumphed at international exhibitions, putting Czech glassmaking on the world map in the mid-19th century. The Harrachov glassworks won a gold medal at the Great Exhibition of Industrial Works of All Nations, in London 1851. In the following years, the glassworks exhibited in Paris (1855), Moscow (1872), Philadelphia (1876), Sydney (1879) and many other metropolises around the world.

See the rest here.

Authors: Daniela Lazarová, Eliška Pilařová

In Today’s edition of Sunday Music Show, we’ll look back at last weekend’s Czech Lion awards and listen to some of the music from the movies that won the prestigious film prizes, including Petr Václav’s “Il Boemo”, Beata Parkanová’s Slovo or Adam Sedlák’s Banger.

Source

Authors: Magdalena Hrozínková, Ruth Fraňková

Photo: Inflatech Decoy

Inflatech Decoy is a Czech company from Děčín which has become a market leader in the production of high-end inflatable models of real military equipment that can be used to deceive the enemy about real troop deployments. Their products are used for training purposes and, possibly, also in real ongoing conflicts. I spoke to Inflatech’s CEO Vojtěch Fresser and began by asking him how the decoys work and what their purpose is on the battlefield.

“Deception is very important for any type of conflict. Historically, [the ancient Chinese general] Sun Tzu said that the art of war is deception. For me the best solution to a conflict is one that never starts.

“Our inflatable military decoys can be used for training and practice. Especially, during electronic warfare training exercises when pilots need visual contact with the target and have to identify objects on the ground via their optical, thermal and radar sensors.

“This is how our inflatable decoys work. They work on three basic levels – they can generate a signature on the optical and thermal levels. This allows them to mislead the thermal cameras of the enemy and they can produce radar signatures that are same to those of real objects.”

That’s what struck me about your product – that it’s not just a simple decoy, but that it can generate all of these other footprints such as the thermal one. Is that something that is common in contemporary decoys, or is it something unique to your products?

“What is common is that they have to be very light because the difference between using the real metal object and the inflatable one is that the latter has higher mobility. It is important that these decoys can be inflated, deflated and packed within a space of 10 minutes. In order for the equipment to be considered effective, the team that operates the decoy needs to be made up of just two or at most four persons.”

See the rest here.

Author: Thomas McEnchroe

Photo: Adam Hříbal, Hypermarket Film

A new documentary looking at many aspects of the Covid period in Czechia hits cinemas this Thursday, the third anniversary of the country’s first coronavirus lockdown. Entitled Velké nic, or The Great Nothing, the thought-provoking black and white film is directed by Vít Klusák and Marika Pecháčková.

The Great Nothing provides a fascinating, sometimes poetic look at life in Czechia during the Covid period.

It follows a number of characters, including an opera singer forced to work in a supermarket and a campaigner against government measures since convicted of spreading disinformation.

See the rest here.

Author: Ian Willoughby

Thirteen film reels with almost five hours of footage, which is extremely valuable for us in Prague Zoo as well as for military historians. After a complicated investigation we managed to find their author. It was Col. Eng. Josef Zelinka.

We know the name, title, and rank of the amateur filmmaker, who captured for us the early years of Prague Zoo. But what was his life story?

Decades later it is difficult to learn more about a man who apparently died without descendants and whose grave was abandoned long ago. However, some things can be discovered. Maybe even more, that we could expect, since he was not only an amateur filmmaker, but first and foremost a distinguished professional on firearms, who greatly influenced their development in Czechoslovakia.

Josef Zelinka was born in Prague on June 15, 1893, in the family of a director of a secondary school. He himself completed the Secondary School in Karlín and began studies at the Technical University in Prague. However, his studies were interrupted by the First World War. He spent almost all of it in the field. He first fought on the Serbian, Italian and Romanian fronts. He commanded a platoon and later a company. At the very beginning of 1918, he was seriously injured, but after his recovery he again found himself on the Italian front.

After the war, Josef Zelinka enlisted to serve in the Czechoslovak Army, got married and finished his studies. The turning point in his military career was his assignment to the Small Arms Department of the Ministry of National Defence. He devoted himself to these arms throughout his entire life. In 1934 – 1939, when he was shooting the films in Prague Zoo, he worked as the Head of the Department of Small Arms and Machine Guns of the 1st Division of the Military Technical and Aerospace Institute. He was a highly qualified expert, but during the Second World War he also proved his courage and patriotism, when he helped to secure weapons for the resistance group of Lieutenant Colonel Josef Mašín and fought on the barricades during the Prague Uprising.

We don’t know when Eng. Zelinka began his filmmaking. His first film we know of is probably from 1934. Of course, our greatest interest is raised by his shots from the zoo, but he also filmed in the army environment and mainly in privacy. Very often he recorded his wife Helena, and sometimes it likely was her standing behind the camera (we think so based on the footage capturing him). He excelled at his hobby. He made good use of his technical knowledge and skills, but at the same time he also put his heart into it.

After he unexpectedly and prematurely died on October 7, 1948, it was stated at the end of his obituary: “I would not be at all surprised, if today the animals in Prague Zoo mourned their good friend together with us, and I believe, that the souls of the cheetah, Šárka the lioness as well as the bumble bee, whom he filmed with such a great persistence while working on the clover head, waited for him at Heaven’s door.”

Miroslav Bobek

source: the Austrian Film Museum.

Hundreds of people in Czechia brew their own beer at home. These “home brewer” enthusiasts are not allowed to sell their products by law, but if they could, they might put some of the big breweries to shame with their excellent homemade brews.

Many Czechs started brewing their own beer out of necessity, when working or living far from home they craved the taste of good Czech beer and there was none to be had. From construction workers to embassy officials, people tell tales of how they slowly learnt the art of making the golden brew that the country is world famous for.

What is more surprising is that many people living in this country have also taken up the hobby of beer brewing when there are so many excellent brands of the market to choose from at a relatively affordable price.

See the rest here.

Authors: Daniela Lazarová, Tomáš Lörincz

Photo: archive of Czech Radio

The villa of the founder of the global shoe empire Baťa was not built by the famous Czech architect Jan Kotěra as had been assumed by historians for many decades. Freshly discovered evidence from the archives shows that the building, which now functions as the headquarters of the Thomas Bata Foundation, was in fact constructed by a lesser known architect called František Novák.

See the rest here.

Authors: Thomas McEnchroe, Růžena Vorlová, Roman Verner

Photo: Eugene Hoshiko, ČTK/AP

The Czech national baseball team enjoyed a winning debut at the World Baseball Classic tournament in Tokyo on Friday, beating China 8-5 in their Group B encounter.

The Czech team qualified for the World Baseball Classic for the first time this year and they gave their scores of travelling fans plenty to cheer about in their debut game at the prestigious tournament.

Indeed the Czechs, coached by Pavel Chadim, were in control for most of the game at the Tokyo Dome.

They did find themselves themselves trailing by a point after a bad sixth inning, but then they turned the game around, deciding it in the ninth inning with four runs, three of which came from a home run by veteran Martin Mužík.

Mužík told the tournament website after Friday’s game that the situation felt unreal.

See the rest here.

Author: Ian Willoughby

Photo: Zajati v Angole/Česká televize

A group of 66 Czechoslovaks, including women and small children, were abducted and forced to walk 1300 kilometres after being captured in Angola by members of the guerrilla UNITA movement, all the while suffering from diarrhoea, exhaustion and terror.

In the early 1980s, civil war had broken out in the southwest-African country of Angola following the end of its war of independence against Portugal. A power struggle between two former anti-colonial guerrilla movements, the communist People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and the anti-communist National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) was raging.

The Angolan Civil War had effectively become a Cold War proxy conflict, as UNITA was backed by the USA while the Marxist MPLA had the support of the Soviet Union, Cuba and Czechoslovakia.

With the assistance of Cuban soldiers and Soviet support, the MPLA had managed to win the initial phase of conventional fighting and become the de facto Angolan government. The Czechoslovak government had agreed to aid the fledgling communist state by helping resurrect and run the Angola Cellulose and Paper Company in the area of Alto Catumbela, which had been left derelict after the Portuguese withdrew.

See the rest here.

Authors: Anna Fodor, Klára Stejskalová

Ing. Zelinka as a lieutenant colonel (three stars), Photo Source: The Austrian Film Museum

This article is part of a new column series written by Miroslav Bobek, Director of Prague ZOO.

I haven’t experienced such a well-attended press conference as on Thursday, February 23, in Prague Zoo, for a long time. We held it because of recently discovered films that captured our zoological garden in the early years of its existence. We wanted to identify the author of the films – an officer of the Czechoslovak Army – and his wife. Very often she stood in front of the camera and likely sometimes also behind it.

“Great Investigation! The Zoo Searches for Mrs Unknown and a Lieutenant Colonel from Unique Films,” read one of the newspapers the following morning; many other headlines sounded a similar note.

However, at that time, we were already following one new, very promising lead. At the same time, I have to say that a whole range of various leads, about which we had hoped that they would bring us to identify the author of the films, had appeared during the last weeks. All of them led us to a dead end. The last time I had put my hope into a guestbook of the pension U Malířských, where the Lieutenant Colonel also filmed his wife. Again, I did not succeed – and I was afraid that we would again be disappointed this time.

It was a paradox that it was not the press conference and its output, which uncovered this new lead. At least not directly. Only after it was over, I contacted the Military History Institute, where I had tried to learn something earlier, and in the evening I received an email from the curator of its film collection Milan Hrubý.

Ing. Zelinka as a colonel (four stars; he was promoted on 1 January 1937), Photo Source: The Austrian Film Museum

“A number of lieutenant colonels of various units assigned to the Military Technical and Aerospace Institute may be considered,” he wrote to me. “The majority of them were from the technical arms service (see annexes), but it is possible that he was from another unit.”

This was in slight contradiction with the previous analysis of the military historian Dr Eduard Stehlík. Based on the uniform of “our” officer, he declared with certainty that the man in question had not been in a combat unit and he had not served in the Czechoslovak Legion in the past. Based on the collar patches, he then formulated the assumption that he was a member of the Judicial Service. However, this assumption appeared to be one of the abovementioned dead ends. My follow-up search based on the colour and material of the colourful triangles on the collar (hardly recognizable in the black and white footage) had gone nowhere. The aforementioned partial contradiction with the report of Milan Hrubý consisted just in the form of the collar patches. As I was going to learn soon, the system of collar patches in the First Republic’s Czechoslovak Army was so wide, complex and variable that even high-ranking officers did not know their way around it.

I did not get to the names mentioned in the email of Milan Hrubý until late in the evening. There must had been over fifty of them. But as I was scrolling through them, my attention was caught by Colonel Josef Zelinka from the technical arms service. I had two reasons why to stop there.

present Ing. Zelinka in civilian life, Photo Source: The Austrian Film Museum

First, his name starts with Z and most of the films start by Z in a circle. As the custodian of the Austrian Film Museum Stefanie Zingl pointed out at our press conference, amateur filmmakers were creating logos out of their initials; she even referred to our lieutenant colonel and his wife as “Mr and Mrs Z.”.

Secondly, Eng Zelinka had been promoted to the rank of colonel on January 1, 1937. This corresponds with the fact, that he appears in the film with the three stars of lieutenant colonel, but on some shot he already has four stars.

Could we finally find our man? In spite of the late hour, I wrote a message to Dr Stehlík. Within a few minutes he answered with notes form his card index:

“Lieutenant Colonel Engineer Josef Zelinka, born on June 15, 1893, Prague. Graduate of Czech Technical University in Prague in 1923. Died on October 7, 1948. Married, childless. He was not a legionnaire.”

Everything fit! The age, technical orientation, the fact that he was not a legionnaire… Even the mention of childlessness corresponded with the film footage. Not only are there no children captured there, but in one sequence “Mr and Mrs Z.” celebrate Christmas – just the two of them alone.

Despite all of that, I was reluctant to believe it. On Friday I started another investigation in various archives; however, this will bring results only over time.

Mrs. Zelinka is at the zoo and at home with her parrot, Photo Source: The Austrian Film Museum

But shortly afterwards we gained unbreakable certainty! On Saturday morning, February 25, I received an email from the police pyrotechnician Lieutenant Colonel Zdeněk Horák:

“The author of the films is Colonel Josef Zelinka from the Military Technical Institute. I have discovered this person while processing archive materials in the area of development of ammunition, thanks to it I have a lot of materials about Col Zelinka (army personal documentation, biography); if you are interested, I can provide them to you.”

I immediately called Lt Col Horák. Besides the other evidence, he said that Zelinka’s obituary also mentioned his filming animals in the zoo. Then more evidence and information began to pour in…

So, the mystery is definitively solved! “Mr and Mrs Z.” were Col Eng Josef Zelinka and Helena Zelinková.

Source of the photos: The Austrian Film Museum.

Photo: Vít Šimánek, ČTK

Outgoing president Miloš Zeman ended his term in office at midnight on Wednesday, with the symbolic lowering of the presidential flag and the closing of Prague Castle’s Gate of the Giants. But that wasn’t enough for some Zeman critics – they wanted a proper ceremony to mark the end of the former president’s time as head of state.

Riffing on the ancient Slavic tradition of marking the passing of winter and welcoming in the spring with a ritual known as “Vynášení Morany“ – burning and drowning an effigy of Morana, the pagan goddess of winter and death – a group of around hundred people started gathering in Hradčany Square in front of Prague Castle on Wednesday evening from about 5.30pm. Except instead of an effigy of Morana made out of wood and straw, they had a giant sculpture of Zeman’s head in tow.

See the rest here.

Author: Anna Fodor

High rates of unemployment and malnourishment, poor infrastructure and a lack of skilled labour make Zambia one of the least developed countries in the world. But supporting small businesses and farmers is one of the ways Czech development cooperation is helping to bring about change.

Esther is from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Her parents fled the war that was raging in the DRC and ended up in neighbouring Zambia.

Although refugees are safe in Zambia, it’s hard for them to access education and employment opportunities. Often they have no choice but to start their own business. However, without education and financing, it’s very difficult.

See the rest here.

Author: Klára Stejskalová

In ex-Yugoslavia in 1997, Vladimir Dzuro delivered the first European war crimes indictment from an international tribunal since WWII. The Czech also investigated the notorious 1991 massacre of Croat POWs at Ovčara near Vukovar. His story is recounted in The Investigator, a documentary by Viktor Portel that enters Czech cinemas this week. I spoke to Dzuro on the eve of its release.

See the rest here.

Author: Ian Willoughby

Photo: Wikimedia Commons, public domain

Composer Viktor Ullmann, who lived in Prague before being sent to the concentration camps by the Nazis, is enjoying something of a revival in Czechia.

Composer Viktor Ullmann was born in Těšín but spent much of his young life in Vienna. In 1919 he moved to Prague to study music, later working with the city’s New German Theatre and Czechoslovak Radio.

Both Ullmann’s parents were from families of Jewish descent but had converted to Roman Catholicism. In 1942 the Nazis sent him to the Terezín ghetto, where he wrote the opera The Emperor of Atlantis. In late 1944 he was murdered at Auschwitz.

See the rest here.

Since the war in Ukraine began, Czechia has given asylum to nearly half a million Ukrainian refugees. Only Poland and Germany have welcomed more immigrants from the war-torn country, but relative to the population, Czechia has helped more Ukrainians than any other country. What is the volunteer morale like a year on?

Czech media reported, quite understandably, mainly on the massive influx of Ukrainian refugees to Prague, Brno, and other bigger cities. But they spread out all over the country. The Ministry of Interior, which is responsible for their registration, published an interactive map which shows, that for example the town of Žďár nad Sázavou with a population of about 20 000, now hosts over 600 hundred Ukrainians. Charita, a charity founded and sponsored mainly by the Catholic Church, is the only non-governmental organization in this region helping the refugees.

See the rest here.

Author: Vít Pohanka

A significant percentage of the hundreds of thousands of refugees that have fled to Czechia since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine are children. The nature of the conflict means that some of them arrive into the country completely unaccompanied by adults, or by just a part of their extended family. To find out what the government is doing to address the needs of this especially vulnerable group I spoke to Diana Šmídová, the secretary of the Committee on the Rights of the Child at the Office of Government.

“In Czechia, the number of Ukrainian child refugees lies at around 130,000. We will have more precise numbers after the re-registration process is over, meaning probably around April. In terms of unaccompanied minors, meaning children who arrived unaccompanied by any person at all, there are around 200.

See the rest here.

Author: Thomas McEnchroe

Small stores around the country are fast disappearing, giving way to multinational chains which are better able to withstand the impacts of the energy crisis and two-digit inflation. In the last ten years over 4,000 small stores –butchers, bakers and specialty shops – have had to close down after customers turned to cheaper products on supermarket shelves.

Marek Baštýř, owner of a family bakery in Lomnice nad Lužnicí proudly takes a gold-crusted loaf out of the oven. This is one of their specialties –a type of bread baked since 1992 according to a family recipe, which attracted customers from far and wide.

Now Baštýř says the bakery is struggling to survive. It still produces high quality breads, rolls and pastries, but they no longer sell like they used to. Production costs are three times higher than they were a year ago. Although the bakery increased prices by an average 50 percent, the profits are minimal. The owner says the last few years have been tough.

See the rest here.

Authors: Daniela Lazarová, Jitka Cibulová Vokatá

Photo: Archive of General Pavel

Petr Pavel has just been sworn in as the new Czech head of state. While the president’s role in the Czech political system is largely symbolic, the way he communicates and presents himself to the public is all the more important, says expert on strategic communication Denisa Hejlová. I spoke to her just a few hours before Pavel’s inauguration to discuss his communication style:

“The role of the Czech president is very different from for instance the US presidential system. Communicating with various stakeholders and various people is one of his main tasks and a very important part of the presidential role in Czechia.

See the rest here.

Author: Ruth Fraňková

Photo: Zuzana Machálková, Czech Radio

Like many cultural institutions, the National Theatre in Prague is struggling with growing energy costs and increasing demand to operate in a more sustainable way. It has recently installed innovative new heat recovery technology – using the body heat emitted by audience members.

The historical building of the National Theatre in the centre of Prague accommodates nearly 1,000 people. A new technology that was recently installed there captures the body heat emitted by visitors and the heat radiated by spotlights, reusing it to heat or cool down the venue.

See the rest here.

Authors: Ruth Fraňková, Zuzana Machálková

Photo: Jan Rosenauer, Czech Radio

The confluence of the Morava and Dyje rivers in South Moravia is set to be declared a protected landscape area, the Ministry of Environment has just announced. The “Moravian Amazon”, as it is sometimes referred to, contains the largest complex of alluvial forests in Central Europe – and may even be declared a national park in the future.

Considered one of the most beautiful areas in the whole of Moravia, Soutok (literally “confluence”) contains many rare and endangered species of animals, such as the common hornbill or the golden eagle. However, it is perhaps best-known for the ancient oaks that look on to the meandering flows of water in the surrounding wetlands.

See the rest here.

Author: Thomas McEnchroe

Photo: Ian Willoughby, Radio Prague International

US journalist Mark Baker spent time in Czechoslovakia in the late 1980s and was long curious whether the Communist state’s secret police kept a file on him. Eventually he did discover that not only was he being monitored in the dying days of the Cold War – the StB also wanted to recruit him as a spy. Baker, who in 2021 published the memoir Čas proměn (Times of Change), has just begun sharing this story – filled with eye-popping details – in a series of blog posts.

In the late 1980s you lived in Vienna but you also covered Czechoslovakia for a magazine called Business International and visited the country many times. Later, after 1989, it seemed from your enquiries that the StB didn’t keep a file on you. More recently it turned out that they did. How did you finally discover that?

“As you said, in the 1980s I was working as a journalist and travelling relatively frequently to Czechoslovakia.

See the rest here.

Author: Ian Willoughby

Prague’s Kampa Island, located on the west bank of the Vltava River, is among the Lesser Quarter’s most idyllic and romantic spots. The verdant oasis is set apart from the historic district by the Devil’s Canal and dotted with historic mills along its edges. Many celebrated Czech actors, musicians and other artists have called Kampa home, no doubt drawn to its tranquil atmosphere, and the waterways reminiscent of Venice.

Source

Photo: René Volfík, iROZHLAS.cz

Retired general Petr Pavel was officially sworn into office as president of the Czech Republic on Thursday. The ceremony, which took place at Prague Castle, is part of a wider programme of inaugural events that will also see the new head of state pray in the Cathedral of Saint Vitus and greet members of the assembled public.

Symbolically closed during the half-day interlude between the end of Miloš Zeman’s term in office on Wednesday night and the inauguration of Czechia’s new head of state, the Giants’ Gate of Prague Castle ceremoniously opened just before noon on Thursday as Petr Pavel and his wife were driven in from Hradčany Square.

Read the rest here.

Author: Thomas McEnchroe

Photo: Matěj Procházka

Photo: Matěj Procházka

Miroslav Beinhauer is a pianist and player of the sixth-tone harmonium, an instrument conceived by the Czech pioneer of microtonal music Alois Hába in the 1930s. Beinhauer, who is probably the only person in the world to master this unique instrument, only started to play it a few years ago, when he took part in the first ever performance of Hába’s sixth-tone opera Thy Kingdom Come. Since then, he has also encouraged contemporary composers to create new repertoire for the half-forgotten instrument.

I met with Miroslav Beinhauer in the Czech Museum of Music in the centre of Prague, where he goes to practice the sixth-tone harmonium, which is part of the museum’s collections.

See the rest here.

Author: Ruth Fraňková

Eva Pavlová and Petr Pavel, Photo: René Volfík, Czech Radio

On Thursday, Czechia will welcome a new First Lady to Prague Castle – Eva Pavlová. But who is she? And what role does the First Lady play in Czech politics and public life?

Some Czech First Ladies have been very active in the public sphere. Charlotte Garrigue, the wife of the first Czechoslovak president, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, was a vocal supporter of women’s issues, and advocated for equal voting rights for women to be enshrined in the fledgling state’s Constitution.

Her oldest daughter Alice, who took over the role of First Lady when Charlotte became too ill to continue with public life, founded the Czechoslovak Red Cross, which she led for twenty years.

Other First Ladies have continued the tradition of being involved in charitable activities, including both the first and second wives of Václav Havel. Olga Havlová and Dagmar Havlová each set up their own charitable foundations to help the disadvantaged.

See the rest here.

Author: Anna Fodor

Photo: Loonoy s.r.o

A new, never seen before product has hit the Czech market – a smart cradle. Developed by the Czech company Loonoy, the cradle is the result of more than five years of development and promises to make parenting a little easier for Czechs willing to spill some extra cash. The CEO of Loonoy, Adam Rumler, says that he got the idea while watching Hulk in the Avengers film series.

“Yes, that served as an inspiration for me. Hulk walked around a cradle in one of the scenes from the Avengers series.

“There was a question if there are any nice cradles on the market. That was about five years ago. I searched on the web and didn’t find anything. That’s how the idea and development of this product began.

“There were a lot of problems because the coronavirus pandemic caused issues in the development of electronic products, so it took five years.”

See the rest here.

Author: Thomas McEnchroe

The Beskids or Beskid Mountains were named a protected landscape on March 5, 1973. They are the last living mountain range in Czechia, according to the area’s director.

The brown bear, the common wolf, the Carpathian newt, the banded vulture and the white-tailed eagle are among the many animals you will find nowhere else in Czechia but in the Beskid Mountains. Other rare animals also include the Eurasian lynx, the river otter, the mountain vole, the capercaillie, the white-backed woodpecker, the black stork, the grebe, the field rattlesnake or the common viper. One of the reasons behind this rich set of local fauna is that the Beskids have a very specific forest composition, containing not just spruces, but also beech trees, firs and hollyhocks.

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Eng. Josef Zelinka in Prague Zoo still held the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Source: The Austrian Film Museum.

Thirteen film reels found in the Austrian Film Museum and almost 5 hours of footage, mostly from 1934 to 1937. Unique shots from the early years of Prague Zoo and other places. Who filmed them and who was the woman, appearing in the films? The answer is: Colonel Engineer Josef Zelinka (1893-1948) and Helena Zelinková.

“Independently of the Thursday press conference, the film expert from the Military History Institute Milan Hrubý led me to the first clue,” says Miroslav Bobek. “In his opinion, it was an officer from the Military Technical and Aerospace Institute. Out of dozens of names I selected Colonel Josef Zelinka based on initials and the date of his promotion. The historian Eduard Stehlík provided me with more information about him. Everything was fitting in, but we still were not sure. Only the police pyrotechnician Lieutenant Colonel Zdeněk Horák, who read our appeal, gave us the final confirmation.”

Eng. Josef Zelinka already as a Colonel; he was promoted on January 1, 1937. Source: The Austrian Film Museum.

Thanks to Lt Col Zdeněk Horák we also have the obituary of the author of the films. It explicitly mentions his filming in Prague Zoo.

“Between 1934 and 1939, when he shot his films in Prague Zoo, Lieutenant Colonel and later Colonel Eng. Josef Zelinka worked as the Head of the Department of Small Arms and Machine Guns of the 1st Division of the Military Technical and Aerospace Institute,” said Bobek, describing the results of the investigation up until now. “He was a highly qualified expert, but during the Second World War he also proved his courage and patriotism, when he helped to secure weapons for the resistance group of Lieutenant Colonel Josef Mašín and fought on the barricades during the Prague Uprising.”

“Unknown woman” – Helena Zelinková. Source: The Austrian Film Museum

The only thing we know about Zelinka’s wife Helena, who often appeared in his films and probably also stood behind the camera a number of times, is that she was born on 1892 in Chotěboř and her maiden name was Ningerová.

‘Overcoming the Darkness’, Photo: Kinodopomoha

The organisers of the One World Festival have just revealed plans for its 25th edition, three weeks before it kicks off in Prague. This year the event will offer 75 feature-length human rights documentaries, including a number focused on Ukraine. I spoke to festival director Ondřej Kamenický.

“The theme of the festival this year is The Cost of Safety.

“Because we feel there is quite an insecure situation, not just in the Czech Republic, but all around the world.

“There are many crises, one after the other, from the war in Ukraine to the crisis with energy and the social-political crisis.

“So we felt it was important to talk about this.”

See the rest here.

Author: Ian Willoughby

Three quarters of Czechs see the war in Ukraine as a case of “unjustifiable Russian aggression”, according to a survey conducted by the Median agency for Czech Radio on the occasion of the one year anniversary of the outbreak of the conflict.

The number of people who condemned the invasion, in line with the official government stance, is still high, but lower than the 87 percent who responded with the same answer a year ago. Meanwhile, an increase was noticeable among those who say that the Russian invasion was not a case of unjustifiable aggression, rising from 9 to 19 percent.

Young people and voters of President-elect Petr Pavel were more likely to condemn the war. Meanwhile, a favourable stance towards Russia was noticeable among the older group of respondents. The latter stance was also more common among people with an elementary education, the unemployed, or ANO and Freedom and Direct Democracy voters.

See the rest here.

Author: Thomas McEnchroe

Ondřej Sekora and Ferda the Ant, Photo: Moravské zemské muzeum

One of the most beloved Czech cartoon characters, Ferdy the Ant or Ferda mravenec, turns 90 this year. Prague’s Villa Pellé is marking the anniversary with a new exhibition celebrating Ferdy the Ant’s creator, Ondřej Sekora.

Ondřej Sekora, a sports correspondent, columnist and cartoonist, published his first regular comic strip with Ferdy the Ant in the daily Lidové noviny in 1933.

In the years that followed, the tiny black ant with a characteristic red scarf with black polka dots wrapped around his neck, went on to become the hero of countless children’s books, cherished by generations of Czech children.

Tomáš Prokůpek from the Moravian Museum in Brno is the author of a new exhibition dedicated to Ondřej Sekora, the man who created Ferdy the Ant:

“Ferdy the Ant is an extremely well-conceived and precisely drawn character. You can’t even tell from the art style that the drawing is 90 years old. It is really timeless.

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Authors: Ruth Fraňková, Tereza Havlínková

Photo: Romy Ebert, Czech Radio

At the end of her five-day fact-finding mission to Czechia, the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatovic criticized the country’s slow progress in addressing discrimination against Romanies. She said that, despite the government’s good intentions, the Roma in this country still face discrimination in almost all areas of life – education, housing, on the labour market and in dealing with the police.

I spoke to Magdalena Karvayova from the Awen Amenca association, which focusses on securing equal access of Romani children to quality education, and asked for her take on the commissioner’s findings.

“Unfortunately I have to agree with her because, as she stated, discrimination still occurs in all the fields mentioned, such as housing, education and there are even cases of police harassment – it is still a big issue which is not being solved.”

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Author: Daniela Lazarová

Photo: Czech Army

General Emil Boček, the last living Czech airman who served in Britain’s RAF during WWII, celebrates his 100th birthday this Saturday. The veteran pilot, decorated with the highest state distinctions, served with the RAF’s 312 and 310 squadrons and participated in over two dozen operational flights.

Emil Boček was born in 1923 in Brno. In 1939, after the Nazi troops invaded his hometown, he decided to leave Czechoslovakia to fight for his country from abroad. At the time, he was still a minor, so he didn’t mention the plan to anyone, not even his mother.

After a complicated and perilous journey through the Balkans, Egypt and Greece, he finally reached Beirut, where he boarded a ship to Marseille. In the summer of 1940, he took part in battles as the French retreated.

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Author: Ruth Fraňková

Přemysl – rocket launcher, Photo: Dárek pro Putina

Gift for Putin has been one of the most active Czech civic groups providing direct support to Ukraine. Its best-known project has been a collection for a tank named Tomáš, which won international headlines. Now – as well as organising a concert in Prague on Saturday – it has begun a collection for Přemysl, a rocket launcher. Gift for Putin’s Jan Polák told me all about it.

“It’s an RM-70 rocket launcher.

“It’s able to cover 30,000 square metres by one volley.

“It has 40 rockets in one load, and by one volley it can cover three hectares.”

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Author: Ian Willoughby

Photo: Embassy of the Czech Republic in Chisinau

Moldova is one of Europe’s poorest countries with a very high rate of migration. According to statistics from the Czech NGO People in Need, four people leave Moldova every hour for a better life abroad. The post-Soviet republic, located between Romania and Ukraine, is one of the six priority countries for Czech development cooperation, which focuses, among other things, on helping children.

“We really wanted to influence the quality of life of children with autism and rare genetic diseases in Moldova, but we needed help from outside. We approached different organisations and embassies and in 2018, the Czech Development Agency developed a four-year strategy addressing the problem. The project was undertaken jointly by – ADRA Czech Republic and ADRA Moldova and had a direct impact on the lives of parents and children.”

Aliona Dumitrash is Executive Director of SOS Autism, a centre helping people suffering with autism based in Moldova’s capital Chisinau. The centre was established within the mentioned project of the Czech Development Agency.

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Authors: Olga Vasinkevich, Ruth Fraňková

Photo: Czech Radio

Male close-harmony singing gained worldwide popularity in the 1920s. In 1930’s Czechoslovakia the leading representative of this trend was the Melody Boys quartet.

This particular vocal style became all the rage in 1920’s Europe and one of its leading representatives at the time was the American band The Revelers, who released numerous recordings.

At the end of the 1920s, their style of singing – acapella, i.e. without instrumental accompaniment, or just with the piano – inspired a group of German singers to establish the ensemble Comedian Harmonists, who soon gained fans across Europe.

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The traditional spring fair Matějská pouť opened its gates to visitors in Prague’s Holešovice district at the weekend. The fair is the biggest in the country offering over 100 attractions. It will last until April 10.

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New rules have just come into force in Czechia aiming to tackle the problem of light pollution. Their goal is to lower the negative impact on the health of people and wildlife by, for instance, setting a maximum level of illumination for street lighting.

Over 80 percent of people around the world currently live under an artificially lit sky at night. In Europe and North America, the number is even higher, with artificial light reaching even the most remote regions of wildlife.

Light pollution has grown by at least 50 percent over the past 25 years and affects not only our health and environment but also our energy consumption, says Ruskin Hartley, director of the International Dark Sky Association, who recently attended a conference on light pollution in Brno:

“By some estimates, in Europe alone, we are emitting 38 terawatt hours of energy each year just to light the night sky. That’s estimated to be at least 10 billion wasted euros.

See the rest here.

Authors: Ruth Fraňková, Martin Srb

Hundreds of independent Russian journalists who fear being prosecuted by the Kremlin could benefit from a new project being set up by Czech Vice President of the European Commission Věra Jourová. Called “Radio Free Russia”, it would include financial and legal support and could even help the establishment of a hub for Russian reporters in Prague.

The current editor-in-chief of the English language newspaper Moscow Times, Andrei Shmarov, lived in Russia for over 30 years before the country launched its invasion of Ukraine last year. But he decided to leave and move to Amsterdam after the Kremlin introduced legislation that targeted independent journalists last March.

“Putin signed a decree that everyone who said unauthorised sayings was viable for a jail term of up to 15 years. Basically that’s when we had to make a choice because it was too dangerous…It was in a space of like two days that we had to make this decision. People left their families, houses, children, wives.”

See the rest here.

Authors: Thomas McEnchroe, Zdeňka Trachtová

Photo: Museum Malý Mehrin

This week saw the opening of the temporary Moravian Jewish Museum in Brno which offers an exhibition focused on the stories of local Moravian Jews through a variety of authentic objects. The site will operate until the new museum building, designed by renowned Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, is constructed.

The temporary museum is called Malý Mehrin (Little Mehrin) and is located in the spaces of a house on Brno’s Vídeňská street. The curator of the exhibition, Martin Šmok, explains what’s behind the name.

“The big museum will be the real Mehrin. Mehrin is a Yiddish slang word for Moravia among Moravian Jews and it is very similar to Polin which is the word for Poland.”

He says that the museum’s newly opened exhibition has 13 stops, each of which displays an authentic object connected to the Jewish history of Moravia and a clip of testimony from the archive of the USC Shoah Foundation, the largest digital archive of found testimony of survivors of the Holocaust and of other genocides.

The idea behind this exhibit is based off an interjection of several concepts, Mr Šmok says.

“It is serving as a proof of concept that Jewish museums don’t have to be based around collections of silver ritual objects and a narration about how Jews used to live. That Jewish museums can actually deconstruct the political history into individually lived human lives. That is the first thing.

“The second thing is that you can actually build a Jewish museum as a museum of stories rather than just objects.

“Third, we would like to adhere to the thesis that there are many interpretations as to the meaning of the word ‘Jewish’. Especially in Moravia, the fluidity of identity has much more radical expressions than in Bohemia.”

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Author: Thomas McEnchroe

Adam Gebrian, Photo: Ian Willoughby, Radio Prague International

Prague has changed enormously since 1990, but recently – with projects like the overhaul of the Masaryk Station area – it can feel like development is accelerating further. For an informed view, I spoke to the best possible guide to the city: architecture expert Adam Gebrian.

In fact Gebrian kindly offered to talk me through Prague’s transformation following an online discussion about whether the area around the Národní Metro station didn’t feel more spacious in the past.

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Author: Ian Willoughby

The video mapping on the building of the Ministry of the Interior, Photo: People In Need

A series of events, organised by the NGO People in Need, will take place in Prague this week to mark the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. They will include a video mapping on the building of the Ministry of the Interior, as well as special film screenings and an exhibition documenting the war month-by-month.

On Thursday, Friday and Saturday evening, visitors to Letná Plain will be able to see two light installations, prepared by People in Need together with the XLAB technological art agency.

The first will be a light projection on the facade of the Interior Ministry’s building, which will aim to convey the atmosphere of life in an occupied country, says People in Need’s media coordinator Milan Votypka from the NGO’s Relief and Development Department:

“We prepared this light installation because we want to present the everyday life of people in the midst of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and we want to give viewers a space to reflect on the event. At the same time, we would like to promote solidarity with Ukraine and ask people to support the country for as long as possible.

See the rest here.

Author: Ruth Fraňková

Photo: Člověk v tísni

The Zaporizhzhia Regional Youth Centre in Ukraine is one of the largest youth centres in Europe and has served as a volunteer headquarters since the outbreak of the war. The centre also received support from the Czech NGO People in Need and was visited recently by our reporter Daniel Ordonez.

“In the beginning they helped us so much,” Kostyantyn Chernyshov from the Regional Youth Centre in Zaporizhzhia, south-east Ukraine, says about the Czech NGO People in Need as he takes Radio Prague International on a tour through the facility.

“They provided food, hygiene, equipment and money for the support of our organisation.”

The Centre and People in Need are no longer working together, he says, but adds that communication with Czech authorities is still ongoing and that the partnership could be restored soon.

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Authors: Daniel Ordóñez, Thomas McEnchroe

Naďa Urbánková, Photo: Milan Kopecký, Czech Radio

Naďa Urbánková, one of Czechia’s most famous pop and country signers, died this month at the age of 83. Aside from being a performer, she was also known for her roles in some of the country’s most iconic musicals such as the 1965 movie ‘If a Thousand Clarinets’, where she appeared alongside Karel Gott, Waldemar Matuška. She also starred in Jiří Menzel’s famous Oscar-winning movie Closely Watched Trains. Her funeral took place in Prague’s Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and was attended by many fans. We will listen to some selected tracks from her album “Gold Collection”, which came out on the occasion of her 80th birthday.

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Author: Thomas McEnchroe

The Czech government is facing a major battle in the lower house over a bill which would reduce the indexation of old-age pensions. While the cabinet argues the need to economize, the opposition says the government is hurting the most vulnerable group in society at time of “brutal inflation”.

The Fiala government on Monday announced that due to the growing deficit in public finances it had decided to cut back on the regular indexation of old-age pensions guaranteed by law according to the given measure of inflation. The bill, which would enforce this, was approved in a state of legislative emergency so that the cuts effected would save 19 billion crowns from state coffers this year alone. Prime Minister Petr Fiala said the growing expenditures for old-age pensions had become untenable and the state could not continue to run up a debt that would have to be paid for by future generations.

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Author: Daniela Lazarová

February is traditionally a time of pig slaughter feasts in Czechia, an event accompanied by eating, drinking and comradery. Kevin Loo shares his impressions of one such event in Prague.

With apologies to any vegan or vegetarian readers out there last week, I had the pleasureof attending a zabijačka – the pig slaughter (more a pig feast than a traditional slaughter). As a city-dweller, it was admittedly a slightly more up-market version than your typical village affair, but the focus of course was still on the sausage production line and special menu on offer throughout the day.

The hearty food of Czech cuisine is a far cry from the spice and variety of my Malaysian-Chinese-Australian upbringing, but I still relished the opportunity to finally enjoy the assortment of škvarky, jitrnice, jelito, vepřový guláš, and more.

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Author: Kevin Loo

Photo: Radek Petrášek, ČTK

Orchids are in full bloom in the Liberec Botanical Garden.

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Photo: Barbora Navrátilová, Radio Prague International

Nusle Bridge, connecting Pankrác plain with Prague’s Karlov, is one of the key transport structures in the city. Over 160,000 cars cross it every day, while 750 metro trains pass through a tunnel inside it.

The first idea to span the Nusle valley dates back to the end of the 19th century. However, it was not until the turn of the 1960s that an architectural competition was organised.

The authors of the winning design were architects Vojtěch Michálek, Stanislav Hubička and Svatopluk Kobra. The opening of the 485-metre-long bridge took place on 22 February 1973.

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Photo: Agáta Faltová, Czech Radio

Twenty-five years ago today the Czech national hockey team won gold at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano Japan. We spoke with all-star goaltender Dominik Hašek who helped lead the Czech team to glory, about how he remembers the game against Russia, what it meant for him and all of Czechia, and how he’s hoping for another gold medal in Czech hockey.

“What a day it was, not only a day, but a great experience, a great tournament, and these are memories I will never ever forget. I was so proud of our team and all the people around me, and I was so proud of Czech hockey and the country, the celebration was just unbelievable.”

The Czech World Juniors just won a silver medal against Canada at the recent tournament, are you hopeful that another gold medal is in the works at the Olympics?

“Sure, the gold medal is coming. I don’t know if it will be in the Olympics, it’s only every four years, and it’s not easy, but I believe we will win the gold medal again, I don’t know if it’s going to be the junior team or the men’s team, but I believe we will win the World Championship. It won’t happen every year of course, but I believe we will win the gold medal again.”

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Author: Amelia Mola-Schmidt

Petr Pavel in the Munich security conference, Photo: Aleš Zápotocký, ČTK

“Continued support for Ukraine for as long as the war lasts” was the main message to come out of the Munich security conference last weekend. However, the Czech president-elect Petr Pavel stressed that Russia’s defeat could happen under various scenarios, including some that the West should try to avoid.

With increased Russian attacks on Ukraine expected in the coming weeks and months, Kyiv has been stressing the need for more military support from the West as fast as possible. As President Zelensky stressed, the country needs more tanks, more ammunition, and fighter jets to defend its airspace.

And, while the will for continued assistance and solidarity with Ukraine remains strong, there are heated debates on how best to secure Ukraine’s victory. Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said the concerns expressed do not detract from the main message.

See the rest here.

Author: Daniela Lazarová

Nearly two-fifths of people who identify as LGBTQ+ in Czechia have faced harassment or insults because of their orientation or identity over the past year. And seven out of ten people think insulting remarks from politicians are widespread. This according to a new study produced by the National Institute of Mental Health and the Queer Geography group. I asked one of the authors of the study, Michal Pitoňák, why these numbers are so high.

“They are part of phenomena that have been overlooked thus far. Issues and topics related to LGBTQ+ people are being overlooked. They not being paid enough attention to and people also internalise this.

“Most people think that discrimination is something that they are used to. That it is something that is happening in their everyday lives. They end up thinking that it’s ok, that it is part of everyday life.

“However, it also reveals how largely overlooked the problem is. Almost a half of the surveyed people are being discriminated against or have been discriminated against over the past five years.”

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Author: Thomas McEnchroe

Czech Deputy Foreign Minister Martin Dvořák, Photo: Kateřina Cibulka, Czech Radio

The government should this week consider proposals from the Foreign Ministry to terminate treaties allowing Russia free rent of land on which Russian-owned buildings stand in Czechia. The Czech side are also seeking rents paid for the use of such properties. I discussed the matter with Deputy Foreign Minister Martin Dvořák, first asking how Russia came to own dozens of properties in this country.

“To be honest, I don’t know exactly.

“But I think it is because the then Soviet Union misused the situation after the occupation of our country.

“In the 1970s they just declared some properties as their own, or said they were used for diplomatic activities, and the then Czechoslovak government just confirmed that.”

And the issue is here that the Russians own the buildings, but not the land under the buildings?

“Yes. It was a part of the declaration, or the agreement, that the land is still in the ownership of now Czechia, then Czechoslovakia, and the buildings are the property of the Russia Federation.”

It’s reported that Czechia plans to end these deals with Russia on the free rental of land on which the Russian buildings stand, and also that Czechia is seeking to recover rents from these properties. What more can you tell us about the Ministry’s proposals?

“You know, please understand that we are not very happy to share with you or the media our plans how to do the next step.

“But of course we already declared that part of these buildings are not any more accepted as diplomatic missions, which means they lose the protection of the Vienna Convention.

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Author: Ian Willoughby

Photo: Czech baseball team

Czechia’s national men’s baseball team is on the road to the World Baseball Classic in Tokyo this March, but many may not be aware that this team is largely made up of professional baseball players, who also have full time careers outside of wearing Czechia’s national jersey.

Members of the Czech national baseball team dropped into Radio Prague International ahead of their departure to Tokyo to play at the World Baseball Classic (WBC). I had the chance to speak with designated hitter Petr Zýma, infielder Willie Escala, pitcher Marek Minařík, assistant coach David Nevěřil and pitcher Lukáš Ercoli, about the journey for the team to get the ticket to the WBC, and their new documentary, ‘Small Country, Big Dreams’.

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Author: Amelia Mola-Schmidt

Karel Řehka, Photo: Czech Army

In a forthright speech on Tuesday, the head of the Czech Army said that if there were a war between NATO and Russia, the Czechs would immediately become active participants. Karel Řehka told the country’s top brass that preparations must be made now for such a possibility.

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Author: Ian Willoughby

Každý den je nový (Every Day Starts Anew), Photo: Tomáš Vodňanský, Czech Radio

Czechia’s annual Muriel Awards for best comic book of the year went to a comic diary by the respected Czech comic author Lucie Lomová. The book, called Každý den je nový or Every Day Starts Anew, also won the prize of the Czech Academy of Comics. I discussed the book with the academy’s director Pavel Kořínek:

“It started as her own work that wasn’t supposed to be published, but five years after the 2017 experiment, she decided, together with her publisher, to present it to the audience.

“So in her new book, the Czech comic reader gets a really interesting piece of autobiographical fiction or autobiographical comics, something that is not written beforehand, something that is not based on well-prepared script, but that keeps evolving, just like our lives are.”

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Author: Ruth Fraňková

On the occasion of the first anniversary of the war in Ukraine, the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Markéta Pekarová Adamová, together with the representative of the Ukrainian Embassy to the Czech Republic, Vitaly Usaty, unveiled an original work by the street art artist Chemis. The work inspired by the girl from the Kyiv bunker will be on display on the parliament balcony above Malostranský náměstí for the whole of the following month. The Chamber of Deputies also commemorated the innocent victims of the war conflict in Ukraine with a symbolic minute of silence at the beginning of its meeting.

Czechia has many friends in Cambodia. And small wonder, hundreds of Cambodian graduates of Czech universities, including King Norodom Sihamoni himself, cherish fond memories of their stay in Czechia and still retain some of the Czech language skills they picked up here. And due to ongoing cooperation, the ties that bind remain strong. Czech specialists, especially medical professionals, have an excellent reputation in the country.

“My name is Alzbeta Nemcova, I am 28 years old and I am a midwife. I have five years of experience at the Apolinar Obstetric Hospital in Prague, specializing in high-risk pregnancies and complicated deliveries. I like my work and I also like to travel, that’s a big part of my personal development.”

Alzbeta is recently back from her second two-week health mission to Cambodia. These trips, which she and her colleagues undertook to Southeast Asia in January 2022 and earlier this year, were part of the “Czech Perinatology Hands to Cambodia” project. Its aim is to reduce maternal, neonatal and infant mortality which is high in the country. The project is implemented by the Czech Development Agency in cooperation with the Vita et futura Foundation.

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Authors: Magdalena Hrozínková, Daniela Lazarová

The Czech Society for Ornithology has announced that the Bird of the Year for 2023 is the common pochard. A common type of duck in this part of the world, its population has dropped by a third over the past 30 years.

The common pochard is the second most common duck in Czechia after the mallard and can be seen on ponds and lakes across the country.

In recent decades, however, its populations have been dwindling, not only here in Czechia, but also elsewhere in the world.

To raise awareness of the problem, the Czech Society for Ornithology decided to name the common pochard 2023’s Bird of the Year, says ornithologist Petr Voříšek:

“It’s a flagship species for the problems we are facing with wetlands. It helps us to indicate and to understand what is going on with the wetlands.

“The other reason is that the species itself is threatened. Since 2015, it has been listed on the IUCN’s global red list of threatened species. So the species itself deserves conservationists’ attention.”

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Author: Ruth Fraňková

There’s no doubt that Czechs love their beer, but with inflation at an all time high, the prices of pints are going up by nearly five or ten crowns per half litre. But the rising cost has less to do with beer itself getting more expensive and more to do with running a business becoming increasingly expensive, as Amelia Mola-Schmidt found out.

Walking through the streets of Prague, you come across countless bars and restaurants serving the golden Czech brew. Beer is the Czech national drink and Czechia’s long tradition of brewing iconic brands such as Pilsner Urquell, is renowned worldwide. The average beer consumption every year in Czechia is 129 litres per capita, and while this number is high, it is actually down by nearly 30 litres since 2008. So, while Czechs have been drinking less beer, they still reign as the European nation with the most beer consumption per capita, and the concept of meeting in a cosy pub is a ritual for many Czechs and expats living here. But with inflation and prices going up in most areas of the national economy, is the cherished pint of beer and its consumption under threat?

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Author: Amelia Mola-Schmidt

Przewalski’s horses returned successfully to western and central Mongolia. The prepared project will focus at the east of the country. Photo: Miroslav Bobek, Prague Zoo

Prague Zoo employees in cooperation with their Mongolian colleagues and partners have completed selection of the locality for the planned reintroduction of Przewalski’s horses to the east of Mongolia. After a long-lasting process, which included remote sensing methods as well as many visits to the selected localities and research into their botanical, zoological and parasitological characteristics, they chose the Valley of Monasteries (Sumiin khooloi). The area of 1,700 km2 lays mostly inside Numrug Strictly Protected Area (SPA).

The map shows the Valley of Monasteries (Sumiin khooloi) – the locality selected for reintroduction of Przewalski’s horses to the east of Mongolia. Source: Prague Zoo

“We became convinced that the Valley of Monasteries with its wide surroundings is the right locality,” the Prague Zoo director Miroslav Bobek said. “There is a rich grass vegetation, the valley has a suitable terrain profile, it is not significantly infested by ticks and the nearest herders travel tens of kilometres away. We could not find a better locality.”

The Valley of Monasteries should be the fourth area in Mongolia after Great Gobi SPA, Hustai National Park and Khomin Tal, where Przewalski’s horse would return. But it is the only one at the east of the country. After selection of the locality, the project Dornin Takhi (Wild Horse to the East) enters the implementation phase.

The Valley of Monasteries with the winding Hook River (Degee River). Przewalski’s horses could inhabit this area at the east of Mongolia as early as in 2026. Photo: Miroslav Bobek, Prague Zoo

“We prepare everything in close cooperation with the Ministry of Environment and Tourism and other relevant authorities,” says O. Ganbaatar, the Executive Director of NGO We Help Them to Survive Mongolia, which will implement the project together with Prague Zoo. “The interest in Mongolia is exceptionally high.”

After completing all the formalities, the project works will begin, preceding the construction of the base and acclimatisation enclosures at the confluence of the Hook River (Degee River) and Southern Monastery Stream (Uvur sumiin gorkhi). At the same time, further scientific research will continue in the area of interest. The first Przewalski’s horses from Europe and current Mongolia localities could be transported to the Valley of Monasteries in the summer of 2026.

Organizations participating on the project Dornin Takhi:

• We Help Them to Survive Mongolia NGO,
• National University of Mongolia,
• Mongolian Society of Mammalogy,
• Mongolian University of Life Sciences,
• Institute of Veterinary Medicine,
• Department of Applied Geoinformatics and Cartography, Faculty of Science, Charles University,
• Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Science, Charles University.

You can support the project in particular by the donation of any amount to the collection account We Help Them to Survive (IBAN: CZ24 0100 0000 4368 0466 0247, SWIFT: KOMBCZPPXXX). Another option is by buying souvenirs at the e-shop of Prague Zoo at the section called We Help Them to Survive: https://eshop.zoopraha.cz/suvenyry/pomahame-jim-prezit.html, or by sending any amount via touch screens located in the zoo area. And last but not least, of course, by visiting the Prague Zoo.

The employees of Prague Zoo together with their Mongolian colleagues during final January exploration of the Valley of Monasteries (Sumiin khooloi). Photo David Rauch, Prague Zoo

February 13 is World Radio Day. Under the slogan “Radio and Peace”, this year the UN put the spotlight on the role of radio as an independent medium of peace making, Radio Prague International brings you this special broadcast in collaboration with journalists from Radio Canada International, Polskie Radio, Radio Romania International and Swissinfo. We explore these topics with a particular focus on how the respective countries are reporting on the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Source

Author: Thomas McEnchroe

Photo: Czech Television

The band Vesna has been chosen to represent the Czech Republic at this year’s Eurovision Song contest. The all-female group won the national round with the song “My Sister’s Crown”, beating competitors such as Markéta Irglová and Pam Rabbit.

For the first time in 15 years, the Czech Republic hosted a live broadcast of the songs competing to represent the country at this year’s Eurovision Song contest. On the evening of Monday, January 30, five musical acts including Rodan, Maella and Markéta Irglová, known to international audiences from the hit film Once, competed against each other to be the one to have the honour. However, instead of crowning a winner during the show, fans were given until 6 February to vote via the official Eurovision app.

The Prague-based band Vesna received the most votes from the public and will get to perform their song, My Sister’s Crown, in Liverpool this May. Band leader Patricie Fuxová says the song is about sisterhood, respect, support, and cooperation. Bulgarian rapper Tanita Yankova and Ukrainian musician Kateryna Vatchenko also feature in the Eurovision song.

See the rest here.

Photo: Michaela Říhová, ČTK

Prague got a new lord mayor on Thursday, with Bohuslav Svoboda starting his second term as head of the city council. Critics question whether the Civic Democrat, who is 79, will be able to devote all his energies to the role, given his other positions.

Nearly five months after elections in Prague, representatives of the three-party Together alliance, the Pirates and the Mayors inked a coalition deal this week formally established a city government on Thursday.

Together comprises the Civic Democrats, TOP 09 and the Christian Democrats, with the city’s new lord mayor coming from the ranks of the first mentioned.

Bohuslav Svoboda is extremely familiar to Praguers, after a previous stint as head of the city council, from 2010 to 2013.

The Civic Democrat politician turned 79 this month, making him the city’s oldest lord mayor since 1989.

See the rest here.

Author: Ian Willoughby

More than 8,000 people have already signed a petition initiated by the NGO Konsent, calling for the improvement of sexual education in Czech schools. What do Czech children learn about sex? And is it really the school’s role to educate them on the subject? I asked Konsent’s Karolína Křížová what prompted them to launch the petition:

“We mostly had experiences from our own work in schools, because we do workshops in elementary and high schools. And we knew that the students didn’t know much about the topics. They told us themselves that it’s not really spoken about, that they didn’t have any sex education or that it was very narrow.

“In 2020 the Czech High School Union did their own research on what is or isn’t covered in schools, what students themselves think about sex education, what they would like to cover more and so on. That also revealed big gaps in sex education.

“We also did our own research with teachers and found out that a lot of them were motivated and wanted to teach these topics and tackle them interactively, but they don’t have sufficient materials. Because they are not trained, they are not confident speaking more complex social topics, such as consent, respectful relationship and so on.”

See the rest here.

Author: Ruth Fraňková

Photo: National Theatre archive

Karel Čapek’s play The Mother, about a woman who does her all to prevent her son dying in war, got its premiere in Prague 85 years ago, on 12 February 1938.

The famous Czech writer’s final play, like the earlier The White Disease, came in response to the rise of Nazism and the threat to democracy in Europe.

The drama was part inspired by Čapek’s wife, the actress Olga Scheinpflugová, and part by a 1937 photograph of a woman kneeling by her son’s corpse during the Spanish Civil War.

The anti-war play contrasts the large-scale deeds of the male world with the fate of a woman who gradually loses her husband and her five sons. One dies during scientific work, the other in a plane and her twins become victims of the civil war.

See the rest here.

Photo: Mewery

Brno-based startup Mewery has recently had a big breakthrough – it created the first prototype of cultivated meat in the region of Central and Eastern Europe. The company says its prototype has nutritional benefits and that the method to produce it is cost-saving and unique among companies working in this field.

It looks just like a regular fried meatball. But this meatball wasn’t created from the mashed-up remains of an animal – it was grown in a lab.

Leading the field in cultivated meat in this part of Europe is the Brno startup Mewery, which recently presented its debut prototype to the world. In fact, CEO and founder Roman Lauš says that with the prototype, his company has achieved several firsts.

“It is the first prototype of cultivated meat in Central and Eastern Europe and it is also unique in the world, because it combines pork cells and microalgae cells. It’s 100% cell-based and there are no other supplements or proteins used. Normally in other kinds of prototypes you use soya, pea or other supplements, but this consists only of cells, either porcine (pig) cells, which make up 75%, or microalgae cells, which make up the remaining 25%. This has been the big milestone we have been trying to achieve for more than half a year.”

See the rest here.

Author: Anna Fodor