AuthorMartin Hladík

Photo: Khalil Baalbaki, Czech Radio

Czechoslovak Radio saw some of the most intense violence when the USSR led an invasion of the country in August 1968. That traumatic moment and the preceding Prague Spring period are the setting for a new film, Vlny/Waves, now being made by well-known actor-writer-director Jiří Mádl. I discussed the project with him at Czech Radio this week.

“The main focus is on two brothers and I’d say that the main topic is taking care of your loved ones in hard times.

“The story takes us through their relationship, where the older brother is hired under strange circumstances into this very high-profile newsroom – a group of journalists.

“That puts him in danger, which he doesn’t want; he was trying to avoid any kind of danger in the ‘60s, which was a hard time for journalists and for freedom of speech in general.

“So he doesn’t really want to work for the heroes, he wants to be hidden – but he’s there.”

See the rest here.

Author: Ian Willoughby

Photo: Ministry of Culture

After more than 80 years, the Czech state has returned art objects that belonged to the family of a wealthy Jewish businessman Johann Bloch, who lost his property during WWII. The four paintings and 10 liturgical vestments were returned to Bloch’s heirs as part of an effort to mitigate the wrongs of the Holocaust.

Johann Bloch was a Jewish entrepreneur who owned a leather processing and leather goods factory in Brno. He was also an art collector and amassed a large collection of paintings, sculptures, furniture, textiles and antiques.

In 1939, his firm was seized by the Nazis and Johann Bloch and his wife decided to emigrate. In order to obtain permission to leave and export his art collection, he first had to deposit part of it in a designated public institution.

Despite doing so, Bloch did not get the permission to leave. He died in 1940 due to heart complications, while his wife Erna, as well as his brother and his wife, perished in concentration camps.

See the rest here.

Authors: Ruth Fraňková, Jan Dlouhý

Czech footballer Jakub Jankto has made major international headlines by becoming the highest profile player currently in the men’s game to come out as homosexual. The 27-year-old’s move has won support from the soccer community around the world.

With a 44-second video on social media, Jakub Jankto took a step few male professional footballers have ever taken. Speaking directly to camera, in English, he came out as gay:

“Like everybody else, I also want to live my life in freedom, without fears, without prejudice. Without violence, but with love. I am homosexual and I no longer want to hide myself.”

Jankto, who is 27, is contracted to Spanish club Getafe but is currently with Sparta Prague.

His coming out video has been watched on Twitter alone over 3.5 million times since being posted on Monday.

See the rest here.

Author: Ian Willoughby

“After the 1968 Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia we always rooted for the Czech hockey team” the Israeli ambassador to Czechia, Anna Azari, says in an interview for Radio Prague International. Azari is a seasoned diplomat with a special interest in Central and Eastern Europe. She was posted to Prague in 2021, to what she calls “the friendliest country for Israel in Europe” and says it is easy for her to feel at home here, despite the fact that Czechs and Israelis are often as different as chalk and cheese.

Ambassador Azari, before coming to Prague you served as Israeli ambassador to Poland, Russia and Ukraine. You know this region and its peoples well. How do you perceive the war that Russia is now waging on Ukraine?

“Well, I perceive it as a huge tragedy, which none of us expected to happen after WWII. There were some signs of banalization of the memory of WWII including the Holocaust. Of course, it is horrible what it going on. By the way, the big tragedy is happening in Ukraine, but I believe that what is going on in Russia is going to change it or even destroy it. So it is a tragic feeling. It is very interesting to be here in the Czech Republic – and I visit Poland often as well because I have family there – and I am really proud for you, for the Czechs and the Poles for how you reacted to this crisis, for the help that is given to refugees and to the country itself. I think it is amazing to watch. Once – that was closer to the beginning of the war when big bulks of people were moving through Europe – I took a train to Warsaw and the train station there, and here as well, was full of volunteers helping people. And, of course, God knows when it is going to end.”

See the rest here.

Author: Daniela Lazarová

Flat prices went down for the first time since 2013 in Czechia in the last quarter of 2022, according to the index of Hypoteční banka, a daughter company of ČSOB bank. The index suggests that the cost of an average flat fell by 0.7 percent in quarter-to-quarter terms. However, real price decline may actually be far higher than the statistics indicate.

According to Martin Vašek, the chairman of the board at Hypoteční banka, the last quarter price decline was indicative of a deeper trend noticeable since the middle of 2022. This was caused by a combination of high interest rates, the low availability of housing and the overall economic situation.

Robin Petrásek is the CEO of Expats Finance, a mortgage advisory firm aimed at foreigners living in the country. He says this decline in prices will likely continue for some time.

“I think that we will be seeing this for a while. It’s not going to be a huge down trend, but I don’t see it changing direction. The main driving factor are the high interest rates. I think it’s safe to assume that when the rates get better, for example 3 or 4 percent which might take two or three years perhaps, then demand will most likely increase because it won’t be as expensive to borrow money and people will be motivated to buy again.”

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Author: Thomas McEnchroe

Landscape protection, development of tourism and support of alternative social services – these are just a few examples of Czech development cooperation projects that are currently running in Georgia. The mountainous country located on the border between Europe and Asia is one of the Czech Development Agency’s six priority countries and the two states have very close ties.

Barbara Dzhabanishvili lives in the remote mountain village of Tkiliana in the Pshav-Khevsureti Protected Landscape Area. Together with her large family she runs a small guesthouse. Barbara is one of the many local people who have benefited from a grant provided by the Aragvi Local Action Group. The project, run by the Czech NGO People in Need, aims to improve the socio-economic situation of the local people, including by developing tourism.

See the rest here.

Author: Ruth Fraňková

The pangolin pup was born early on a Thursday morning. It is not only the first ever born pangolin pup in the Prague Zoo, but also in all of Europe. Photo: Miroslav Bobek, Prague Zoo

On Thursday morning I could see for the first time the newly born pangolin baby on the footage of the night camera. But I could hardly recognize only a part of the head and at a one point also the long curved claws of the left front leg. Fortunately, one hour later I could see it for a second with my own eyes. It was an amazing sight! If pangolins are referred to as living cones, it is a bit of exaggeration. However, in a case of a newly born baby it is an absolutely accurate description. A living spruce cone: by size and appearance.

We really needed to hear good news like this, less than a week after the elephant female Amalee succumbed to a herpesvirus infection. The first pangolin baby in Europe was born in Prague Zoo! Of course, it is still too early to celebrate – the first days after birth may be critical for the baby, but it is very well developed, its birth weight is above average, it seems to drink mother’s milk, and its mother Run Hou Tang has already successfully bred one young.

After a huge disappointment, huge joy is within reach. I have been wishing to get pangolins for a very long time. They are not only highly remarkable, but also highly endangered, and both in sub-Saharan Africa and south-east Asia we are trying to contribute to their conservation. Therefore, it seemed to me right and logical to have their “ambassador” in Prague. However, it was difficult to get pangolins and at the same time to know that we would be able to breed them successfully. Many pangolins had already been brought to many zoological gardens (including our own), but none of them had survived for long. Only recently has the methodology of their breeding been mastered, particularly the preparation of the substitute food. Taipei Zoo has been in the forefront of this effort, and just from there we got last year in April the breeding couple of Chinese pangolins, thanks to the negotiation of the Prague Mayor, Zdeněk Hřib. So, we became the second zoo in Europe where a visitor can see these unique animals.

Some time ago I described here what the preparations for the arrival of the pangolins entailed, and how the keeper David Vala prepared the substitute food for them. What I think I didn’t write about, was that already in mid-June our pangolins started mating and the female became pregnant. David had a special little bar made for her and taught her to lean on it with her front legs, so she could undergo an ultrasound examination. After four months her pregnancy was confirmed. After another two months, in mid-December, we became very nervous. When will the baby be born? It could be the next day or in the middle of February. It happened after a seven-and-half-month-long pregnancy, on Thursday, 2 February before 4 am.

Please keep your fingers crossed for us, so we will succeed to breed this living spruce cone!

Author: Miroslav Bobek, Director of Prague ZOO

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In Czechia, ice hockey is one of the most popular and celebrated sports. But while men enjoy the privilege of being able to play in different leagues based on their age and skill level, women struggle to finance and find clubs to play in.

While some might think of countries like Canada when ice hockey comes to mind, it is one of Czechia’s most popular sports, and the world has seen Czech ice hockey legends take on international stardom in the North American National Hockey League, from Jaromír Jágr, to Jakub Voráček. There is no doubt that Czechs are proud of their legendary ice hockey players.

Author: Amelia Mola Schmidt

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The Vietnamese community is the third largest ethnic minority group here in Czechia, but how much do Czechs and other foreigners living in the country know about their community and history?

Walking through the streets of Prague, you might notice stores called “Potraviny”, or see many restaurants selling piping hot bowls of pho. And, if you take a look inside these restaurants, you’re brought into the world of the Vietnamese community, right here in Czechia.

If you find yourself in the IP Pavlova area, you might stumble upon a place called Ngo restaurant, run by a family, and one man especially.

Author: Amelia Mola Schmidt

See the rest here.

Photo: Michal Kamaryt, ČTK

The earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria in the early hours of Monday morning has now claimed over 5000 lives, with the death toll still rising. Although the hopes of finding people alive buried underneath the rubble are decreasing now that more than 24 hours have passed, search and rescue teams are still working in the area, including a team of Czech firefighters. Czech NGOs are also organising humanitarian aid.

The roughly 70-strong Czech urban search and rescue team made up of firefighters from Prague and Moravia-Silesia departed on Monday evening and was flown on Tuesday morning by Turkish military planes to the city of Adiyaman, where they immediately started working. Martin Kavka is the spokesperson for the Prague firefighters.

See the rest here.

Author: Anna Fodor

Photo: Barrandov Studio

Director Karel Kachyňa’s Ucho/The Ear is considered one of the greatest Czech films of all time. It centres on a Communist elite couple in the early 1950s who are gripped by panic that – with party purges taking place – the secret police will come for them next. While the film is justly famous, the man who wrote the book it is based on, Jan Procházka, is today largely forgotten.

However, a new translation, entitled simply Ear, by Mark Corner should help draw attention to Procházka’s name in the English-speaking world.

Read the rest here.

Author: Ian Willoughby

President-elect Petr Pavel made international news this week by phoning the president of Taiwan – and later saying Czechia would no longer act “like an ostrich” toward China. What is behind these moves? And what’s next for relations between Prague and the world’s most populous state? I discussed Mr. Pavel’s call to Taiwan and more with Ivana Karásková, a China specialist at Prague’s Association for International Affairs.

“It is not only significant, it’s actually unprecedented.

“If you can think of any other president or president-elect calling Tsai Ing-wen very shortly after they he was elected, that was only Donald Trump in 2016. “So this is quite a significant move from the Czech side.

“The question of course is what is behind it – whether there is a big strategy, or whether it was a small tactical move.”

Author: Ian Willoughby

See the rest here.

The series of eight murders committed by Jaroslav and Dana Stodol in 2001 and 2002 are unprecedented in the history of Czech criminology. The case was exceptional not only because of the scale and cruelty of the crimes, but also because of several grave errors on the part of the police.

The unemployed couple sought a solution to their poor financial situation by robbing and murdering the most vulnerable members of society –elderly people. The targets were mostly pensioners who had to endure violent torture before they died. In total, the Stodolos committed 17 serious crimes in which eight people were brutally murdered.

Their case is also exceptional in the fact that forensic doctors and criminologists on the case erred, giving the Stodols time to commit more crimes. Police officers initially closed the cases of three murdered elderly men as suicide or sudden death. The Stodols systematically manipulated potential evidence. For example, after killing two elderly men, they turned on the gas in the house, or they strangled another man and then tried to hang him by a rope in the attic.

See the rest here.

Photo: Tomáš Maleček, Czech Radio

While daily commuters in Prague want a comfortable and fast ride to work, veteran tram enthusiasts saviour the feeling of getting on one of the old open, wooden trams for a nostalgic ride through Prague. With that in mind, Prague City Transport invests not only into modern technology, but into maintaining some of the city’s veterans which are brought out on special occasions.

The red K2 tram went on its first tour of Prague close to half a century after leaving the factory gates of CKD Praha in 1977. It was selected for Bratislava where it served in training drivers up until 2009. After that, it stood forgotten in the Krasňany depot in the Slovak capital.

See the rest here.

Authors: Daniela Lazarová, Tomáš Maleček

Czechoslovak UNPROFOR base in Yugoslavia, 1993, Photo: Czech Army

Thirty years ago, a Czech unit serving in the UNPROFOR mission rescued over fifty French soldiers under siege in what was then still Yugoslavia. It was one of the greatest successes of the newly formed Czech army. The unit was led by Czechia’s president elect Petr Pavel.

Petr Pavel took part in the UNPROFOR mission in what was then still Yugoslavia, between the years 1991 and 1993. It was during this mission in January 1993, that a unit led by Mr Pavel, helped rescue more than 50 French soldiers under siege in Croatia.

See the rest here.

Authors: Alexis Rosenzweig, Ruth Fraňková

Photo: Ondřej Hájek, ČTK

Czech “Mardi Gras” celebrations have kicked off around the country. The Zubrnice Open-Air Museum in Ústí nad Labem organized the traditional carnival procession of masks in their locality.

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Shelters and emergency housing facilities across Czechia have started filling up as the freezing weather drives homeless people off the streets. With nighttime lows likely to stay at around minus 12 degrees for the rest of the week, I spoke to Jitka Modlitbová, head of social services at the Czech branch of the Salvation Army about what they are doing to help.

“Every winter we are increasing our capacities in our social services, here in Prague. This applies to our night shelter and also our day centre. In the day centre not only are the capacities bigger during the day, but also during the night. When it is below zero and when temperatures are as freezing as they are now, we leave the day centre open during the night as well so that people in need can come inside and spend the night inside on so called “warm chairs.”

See the rest here.

Author: Daniela Lazarová

Agriculture, water and education are three of the main areas where Czechia cooperates with Ethiopia on development. While just under a third of the country’s inhabitants live below the poverty line and more than half are illiterate, the population is growing fast. Aside from the problems this situation brings with it, such as unemployment and deforestation, Ethopia also has to fight something else caused by the developed world: climate change.

Ethiopia is one of the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ priority countries for bilateral development cooperation due to the high poverty rate in the country. This in itself is the result of a complex crisis caused by a number of factors such as climate change, Covid, the various current international crises, as well as ethno-political conflicts in the region.

See the rest here.

Authors: Anna Fodor, Martina Kutková

The Interior Ministry’s latest report on the manifestations of extremism in Czechia warns of groups of people who have the potential to threaten the democratic foundations of the Czech Republic. According to the report, the potential is already there, but could increase even further.

Miroslav Mareš, a political scientist at Brno’s Masaryk University whose research focuses on political extremism, terrorism and security policy in Central Europe, thinks there are two main messages contained in the report.

“One, which may be the most important, is the fact that, in this country, there is a mass of people without a strong ideological background or they are from very different groups, who are dissatisfied with the political system, and they can be radicalised towards extremist views or they already have them, and they are now maybe ready for some radical action.

Read the rest here.

Author: Anna Fodor

Czech radio – A hundred years is just the beginning, Photo: Czech Radio

Czech Radio is currently gearing up to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of the station’s foundation in May. The public broadcaster, of which Radio Prague International is part, is running several projects and events in connection with the centenary. I spoke to the station’s director general, René Zavoral, at a special presentation on Thursday.

“It’s a special occasion, I think.

“It’s an opportunity how to reach a new audience, of course – by offering not only our content, but also showing the new distribution platforms, the new habits of our listeners, and so on.

“And of course we’d like to reach the young audience – that’s a big task for us.”

See the rest here.

Author: Ian Willoughby

Photo: Ludmila Opltová, Czech Radio

The Czech National Bank has issued a 1,000 crown banknote to commemorate the birth of an independent Czech currency after the split of Czechoslovakia.

Thousands of people braved the freezing cold, queuing up outside the Prague branch of the Czech National Bank since the early hours of Wednesday to buy a special 1, 000 crown banknote issued on the 30th anniversary of the Czech crown. The Czech currency was born of the split of Czechoslovakia in 1993. The banknote, which will also be valid in normal commercial transactions, can be purchased for 1,000 crowns at the central bank’s cash desks in Prague, České Budějovice, Plzeň and Ústí nad Labem, Hradec Králové, Brno and Ostrava.

The central bank is putting 200,000 pieces of the special banknote into circulation.

Author: Daniela Lazarová

See the rest here.

Photo: Archive of Moravian Tapestry Manufactory

Large-scale tapestries inspired by the artworks of Josef Čapek and several other Czech painters are currently on display at the Imperial Stables of Prague Castle. The stunning pieces were created by the Moravian Tapestry Manufactory in Valašské Meziříčí, which was established more than a century ago.

Eleven large tapestries in striking colours inspired by the linocuts of Josef Čapek form the core of the exhibition, called Reborn in Tapestry, which will run at Prague Castle’s Imperial Stables until April 23.

The famous avant-garde painter, who was influenced by Cubism, created his linocuts between the years 1915 and 1919. The wall hangings based on his artworks were woven in the Moravian Tapestry Manufactory in Valašské Meziříčí during the past year.

Author: Ruth Fraňková

See the rest here.

The pangolin pup was born early on a Thursday morning. It is not only the first ever born pangolin pup in the Prague Zoo, but also in all of Europe. Photo Miroslav Bobek, Prague Zoo

Born just before 4 a.m., it weighs 135 grams and resembles a living spruce cone. The first pangolin pup that was born not just in the Prague Zoo, but also the first one ever in all of Europe.

„We are incredibly happy, but at the same time we do realize that the following days might be critical,“ warns the Prague Zoo director Miroslav Bobek. „The female pangolin Run Hou Tang that we got from the Taipei Zoo had already raised an offspring, so the chances are relatively high.“

The Chinese pangolins, the female Run Hou Tang and the male named Guo Bao, were obtained by the Prague Zoo directly from Taiwan in April 2022. Prague Zoo became only the second zoo in Europe that keeps these peculiar and highly endangered mammals.

During the pregnancy, a special bar was used for ultrasound screenings of the female. It allowed for a quiet examination, while the female feeded undisturbed leaning against this unique construction. Photo Petr Hamerník, Prague Zoo

„The birth of a pangopup in the Prague Zoo is a significant and cute outcome of economic diplomacy. We have the rare pangolins in Prague only thanks to a close partnership with the Taiwan metropolis Taipei that we had established three years ago,” says Zdeněk Hřib, the mayor of the city of Prague.

Breeding the pangolins is extremely difficult as they require a specially prepared nutritious mash, the main component of which being the bee larvae. Also the whole gravidity term was closely observed.

„We started doing regular ultrasound screenings of Run Hou Tang since the fourth month of her gravidity,“ recalls the zookeeper David Vala. „We constructed a special bar that allows for a quiet examination, while the female feeds undisturbed leaning against this unique construction.“

Pangolins are the most illegally trafficked mammals in the world and the Prague Zoo has been striving to protect them in their homeland for a long time now, both in Africa and Asia. Prague Zoo will keep the public informed about the possibilities to see the pangolin pup in a close future.

The Chinese pangolins, the female Run Hou Tang (in the photo) and the male named Guo Bao, were obtained by the Prague Zoo directly from Taiwan in April 2022. Prague Zoo became only the second zoo in Europe that keeps these peculiar and highly endangered mammals. Photo Petr Hamerník, Prague Zoo

Photo: Prague Castle Administration

Czechs assessed President Miloš Zeman’s ten-year performance in the country’s top post with an average 4 on a five point scale, the equivalent of a “D” in the Western school grading system, according to the results of a survey conducted by NMS Market Research.

As the country elects a new president, Czechs were asked to assess the performance in office of the outgoing head of state President Miloš Zeman. Mr. Zeman is now winding up his second five-year term in office, due to end on March 8.

In a survey conducted among 1,300 respondents around the country, President Zeman received an average 4 on a five-point scale for “overall performance”. In the individual areas assessed, Mr. Zeman received the best average grade, 3.4 , for actively supporting Czech entrepreneurs during trips abroad, and the worst average grade, 4, for the selection of his closest associates and for his role as a moral authority. People were also critical of the way in which he represented the country abroad and claimed that he divided society.

See the rest here.

Author: Daniela Lazarová

Photo: Ondřej Deml, ČTK

Retired army general Petr Pavel is set to become Czechia’s next president after winning a sweeping victory in the second round of presidential elections. He beat his contestant for the top post, former prime minister Andrej Babiš by the biggest margin in the history of Czech presidential elections.

Petr Pavel celebrated a triumphant victory on Saturday in an atmosphere reminiscent of the heady days of the Velvet Revolution. The war hero who served as chief of the Czech Army’s General Staff and later as chair of NATO’s Military Committee, led a campaign highlighting values such as “honour, dignity and responsibility”.

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Author: Daniela Lazarová

The newly-elected Czech president Petr Pavel has promised sweeping changes at Prague Castle. He wants to open up the historic seat of Czech kings to the public and return to the tradition of employing a Prague Castle architect.

Asked what he would do differently from his predecessor in office, Miloš Zeman, the newly-elected head of state quipped: everything. In addition to a different style of communication, Pavel wants a more “civil” presidential role better suited to the 21st century. He has no plans to reside in Prague Castle and says that his administration will only take up a small part of the premises. The rest should be open to the public. Moreover, he is the first head of state after Václav Havel, who wants to employ a Prague Castle architect. The man whom he would like to see in the post is the respected Czech architect Josef Pleskot.

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Authors: Daniela Lazarová, Olga Vasinkevič

Steriani Elavsky is an associate professor at the University of Ostrava who has spent years researching the benefits that physical movement has on our mental and physical wellbeing. Steriani spent 17 years at the University of Illinois and Pennsylvania State University before continuing her research at the University of Ostrava and is now considered one of the leading Czech specialists in this field. So when she made time for Radio Prague International I began by asking her to enumerate the benefits we get from regular exercise.

“Exercise or physical activity has numerous beneficial effects –it increases our heart rate, breathing rate and as a result of that we produce certain chemicals, neuro-transmitters like serotonin and dopamine that effect our mood. There is a whole array of physiological benefits which are responsible for the fact that we feel well after exercising. We have an elated mood due to the fact that our body has started producing some chemicals in our brain. Among the many psychological benefits that exercising gives us is a new level of confidence, or perceived competence about what we can do; we have a more positive attitude about ourselves and how we view our bodies, which in turn can increase our sense of self-worth and self-esteem and that can also contribute to feeling better and having a better quality of life.”

See the rest here.

Author: Daniela Lazarová

Photo: Filharmonie Brno

The Brno Philharmonic is embarking on a ten-day tour of the United States. The orchestra, which last performed in North America nearly 50 years ago, will play seven concerts at seven different locations. The tour will kick off with a performance of Philip Glass’s symphony No 12 called Lodger in Carnegie Hall in New York City. I discussed the details with the philharmonic’s managing director Marie Kučerová.

“We performed this symphony already at the Prague Spring Festival in 2021 and also at the Moravian Autumn Festival in Brno. We also recorded this symphony for our own label, which was nominated for the International Classical Music Awards.

So we are very glad that we can bring this symphony to New York, because it is going to be the New York premiere and we very much hope that the performance will take place in the presence of the composer himself.”

See the rest here.

Author: Ruth Fraňková

Photo: Ladislav Renner

A captivating picture of Bezděz castle won the 2023 competition for the most beautiful Czech postcard. The photographer, Ladislav Renner, told Czech Radio how he managed to capture the arresting shot.

A stunning medieval Gothic castle snaking its way up a tree-covered hill shrouded in mist, low clouds clinging to its back and softly lit by the backdrop of a rising sun. This is the picture postcard that won the competition for the most beautiful Czech tourist postcard of 2023. The photographer, Ladislav Renner, took not just one but an incredible five out of the top ten winning images. He told Czech Radio about how the striking picture came to be:

“It was a bit of a fluke – one evening an acquaintance reached out to me on Facebook to say that a place for a hot-air balloon ride had become available at the last moment. The next day I set out early in the morning towards Bezděz. It was my first ever hot-air balloon ride so I was a bit anxious, but I survived and the conditions for taking photographs were perfect.”

See the rest here.

Authors: Anna Fodor, Jolana Nováková

Have you ever tried in vain to identify the pests that are eating your houseplants? A new technology, developed by a Czech start-up, could make it easier. It can classify over six thousand insects using Artificial Intelligence. All you need to do is take a picture with your mobile phone and upload it to the Insect.id website.

The Czech start-up, called FlowerChecker, has already developed a successful plant identification technology, as well as a mobile app for gardeners and plant enthusiasts, which can identify around 30 million different plant species.

See the rest here.

Author: Ruth Fraňková

Photo: Martina Schneibergová, Radio Prague International

Events marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day to honor the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust and millions of other victims of Nazism are being held around Czechia on Friday. A special commemorative event attended by foreign diplomats and members of the Jewish community in Czechia is being held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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Photo: Miroslav Chaloupka, ČTK

A meeting of lovers of PC, board, arcade and retro games, Pokemon, comics and cosplay took place in Plzeň at the weekend as part of the second year of the science fiction and fantasy festival Co.Con.

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In the UK and US, people attempt a month without drinking alcohol under the banner of Dry January, but in Czechia, February is the nationally recognized month for abstaining. Suchej únor (Dry February) is now in its 11th year, and this time is being held under the slogan ‘Not Drinking Is An Art!’

Suchej únor launched in Czechia in 2013, the same year that Dry January launched in the UK, and has only increased in popularity since then. Last year, 13.5 percent of the adult population in Czechia participated in the event – and according to a survey, more than half of those who participated were still drinking less than previously even four months later.

See the rest here.

Author: Anna Fodor

The following post is an editorially edited press release by NGI.

Multilayer Internet infrastructure is becoming crucial to the European economy. European businesses and citizens are starting to recognise the real benefits of an interconnected world, and it is time for Europe to grab new opportunities by strategically supporting digital commons. That is why the New Generation Internet (NGI) Outreach Office was hosting a high-level expert Webinar on digital commons and digital sovereignty this week.

Digital commons are among the core assets to pursue Europe’s Digital Sovereignty. Indeed, they can play a genuinely important role for individuals and organisations by ensuring open, inclusive and decentralised access to digital resources and achieving the combination of broad democratic accountability and meaningfully distributed opportunity that was core to the equitable economic growth of democracies in the 20th century.

Much of the most admired digital world functions as commons

As experts at the World Economic Forum have pointed out, there is already evidence that a move towards common-pool digital public goods could have widely shared benefits. Parts of the digital world – often the most useful and admired parts – already function as commons: Internet protocols, which are governed by international institutions and open standards, the open-source software that enables these protocols, which are often community-stewarded, and much of the crucial information layer of the Internet, including Wikipedia, the Digital Library of Commons and the range of content under Creative Commons, all of which have their own, commons-inspired governance structures.

However, in order to ensure that such approaches can grow and become viable alternatives over the current concentration of Internet resources, it is crucial to pull resources. Therefore, policymakers, regulators, public authorities and all other relevant players in the internet arena must converge to define collaboration policies and targeted institutional and financial plans to guarantee interoperability and community governance.

That is the reason why the NGI Outreach Office hosted a High-Level Expert Webinar on Digital Commons and Digital Sovereignty on 31 January 2023. The webinar was held online with key speakers, including Gemma Carolillo, Deputy Head of Next Generation Internet Unit and Nele Leosk, Ambassador-at-Large for Digital Affairs of Estonia, and together with a list of high-level panel speakers, including Paul Keller, Director of Open Future, Kasia Odrozek, Director of Mozilla Foundation, Melanie Dulong de Rosnay, Director of CNRS Center for Internet and Society, and Laureen Van Breen, Director of WikiRate.

Three-pillar plan for next year

“Next Generation Internet is one of the Commission initiatives that nurture digital commons. NGI has already delivered a wide portfolio of open source solutions, both hardware and software, covering all layers of the Internet. The plan for the next year revolves around three pillars: structuring the human-centric internet ecosystem, piloting the NGI solutions in key sectors, mapping active communities of commoners to devise a plan to better support those according to their needs,” says Gemma Carolillo, Deputy Head of Next Generation Internet Unit, European Commission.

For the first time ever, the high-level expert webinar was discussing the role of the NGI initiative as a way to foster digital commons and European digital sovereignty. The event aims to steer conversations around European digital priorities supporting an open, free, interoperable, and secure internet by exploring the latest evolution of digital commons. Therefore, policymakers, regulators, public authorities and all other relevant players in the internet arena will converge, defining collaboration, policies and targeted institutional and financial plans to guarantee the development and uptake of digital commons across the European Union.

The NGI’s path to Europe´s digital sovereignty

The NGI initiative is funding “commons” and open-source projects, both at the European and national levels. Several initiatives, including some digital commons communities, call for specific needs that the NGI initiative groups and connects these networks within the NGI Ecosystem, enabling sharing of expertise, knowledge, and the current concentration of Internet resources. The NGI is also actively promoting open calls launched by the European Commission and by the NGI project partners targeting strategic digital commons and giving opportunities for researchers and innovators to fund and support their ideas.

Photo: Václav Chochola, © Archiv B&M Chochola

Václav Chochola, a native of Prague’s Libeň district, is often associated with snapshots of city suburbs. But he also photographed famous Czech and world personalities such as Jan Werich and Salvador Dali.

Chochola’s famous series of portrait photographs of the then 70-year-old Dali holding an egg or sitting on a divan with a walking stick became his best known works worldwide. Dali himself was full of praise for them. How much he liked them is proven by another iconic photo, where Dali holds an image of himself taken by Chochola while striking his well-known pose.

See the rest here.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of the six countries which the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs is currently focussing on in its development cooperation programmes. Due to its linguistic and cultural proximity to the Balkan state, Czechia has been developing close partnerships there since the 1990s and has also been supporting it in its preparations for EU accession.

The partnership between the Czech Republic and Bosnia and Herzegovina began during the war of 1992–1995, which erupted as a result of the collapse and breakup of the socialist multi-ethnic state of Yugoslavia. At that time, Prague provided humanitarian aid to the region of south-eastern Europe, says Štěpán Šantrůček, the Czech Consul in Sarajevo: “At first it was just individual charitable activities during the war. In fact, the delivery of humanitarian aid to Bosnia and Herzegovina was one of the first activities carried out by the humanitarian organization People in Need, at that time outside the official framework of foreign development cooperation. Then, in the second half of the 1990s, immediately after the end of the war in 1995 and onwards throughout the early 2000s, Bosnia and Herzegovina was included as one of the priorities for foreign development cooperation.”

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Authors: Anna Fodor, Daniela Honigmann

Frilled lizards are now on display in Prague Zoo’s Feline and Reptile Pavilion. Being predominantly insectivorous lizards, they mainly get crickets and grasshoppers. Photo Petr Hamerník, Prague Zoo

Prague Zoo now has frilled lizards on display. This is the first time the zoo has kept these striking reptiles. Visitors can find the Australian lizards, which inspired the creators of Jurassic Park, in the Feline and Reptile Pavilion.

“These are extremely attractive animals that are valuable not only as an exhibit, but also educationally. Lizards have various horns or growths, but only this species boasts such a characteristic frill of skin,” said reptile curator Petr Velenský, adding that the frill is made of loose skin reinforced with long cartilage and can be up to 26 centimetres wide.

According to Velenský, the frilled dragon, as it is also known, benefits from spreading its collar when threatened, as it makes itself look bigger and can startle a predator more easily driving it away when combined with its threatening hiss. Of course, the animals will not be so stressed at Prague Zoo. “The frill also serves other functions: the lizards like to shake it when courting or only partially open it for internal temperature regulation,” assured Velenský.

The frilled lizard is unmistakable because of its frill of skin. It uses it when threatened, but also as a means of internal temperature regulation or during courtship. This attractive lizard was once the inspiration for the creators of Jurassic Park. Photo Petr Hamerník, Prague Zoo

Frilled lizards inhabit the dry forests and bush in northern and north-eastern Australia as well as southern New Guinea. They can grow up to 90 centimetres in length, with almost half that length being the tail. They are mostly insectivorous, so in Prague they mainly get crickets and grasshoppers. Their diet is supplemented by vegetables – lettuce, carrots and napa cabbage.

Prague Zoo has four specimens that are just under two years old: a male and three females. Visitors can find them in the Feline and Reptile Pavilion in a terrarium that is also home to Malayan flat-shelled turtles. Frilled lizards are diurnal animals and during the day they like to sit in upright positions pressed tightly against a tree trunk or branch, so it is a good idea to look for them at the top of the exhibit, near the light source.

Roman Červinka | Photo: YouTube

Sixteen-year-old violinist Roman Červinka from České Budějovice won the most recent season of the popular classical music reality TV competition Virtuosos V4+. He beat thousands of other applicants to take the prize.

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Author: Anna Fodor

Prague, January 16, 2023 – The University of New York in Prague (UNYP) will be hosting a panel discussion on the practice of sports sponsorship on February 1st, at the O2 Universum. The panel will be discussing the best practices from the point of view of the sponsor, the athlete, the sports agent and will highlight the case studies that have come from the experience of the speakers.

The link to the event can be found here.

The link for registration can be found here.

The speakers of this event are:

Martina Sáblíková, a Czech speedskater, three-time Olympic Winner, world record holder, and 21 time World Champion. Martina holds seven Olympic medals, and was the first Czech to win two Olympic gold medals at one Winter Games in 2010.

Petr Hercík, the current Executive Director and Chairman of the Board of SPORT INVEST Marketing, a.s., throughout his career he has functioned as an Event Manager, Athletes Manager, Executive Manager, and Executive Director having experienced all aspects of sports marketing, sponsorship, management, and business.

Hana Kovářová, the Executive Director for Brand Strategy and Communications of the Komerční banka Group, and formally the Marketing Director of Raiffeisenbank, has worked on countless sponsorship projects throughout her career including sports such as ice hockey, golf, running, horse jumping, racing, and esports.

Mark Anderson, the Marketing Director for the University of New York in Prague, has worked with the Czech Olympic Team as a Partner with GE Money Bank, and now as the Educational Supplier to the Czech Team, is the Official Partner of Sparta Floorball, Partner of Prague Lvi Volleyball and works together on various projects with AC Sparta Praha on the sponsorship of their Arena in Podvinny Mlyn as well as the Czech Floorball Federation and even Rytíři Kladno hockey club.

The event is open to the public and to the press/media, is free of charge and will be held primarily in Czech language with simulcast translation to Czech and English. The event is meant for people in the marketing industry that work within sponsorship projects, sponsored athletes, sports clubs and federations and students of sports from any school.

The event is run with the auspices of the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport.

Press room with Czech and English downloads can be found here.

The live stream of this event can be found here.

Media Partner:

Photo: Julian Faik, Radio Prague International

A recent video by a pair of Prague theatre students has caught the attention of people on social media and sparked a debate about ‘trdelník’ – the sweet chimney or funnel cake which turns on a spit and has become ubiquitous in Prague’s city centre over the past couple of decades. Many of the vendors selling the cinnamon-dusted confection have signs alluding to the long rich history of trdelník as an old Czech tradition – a tradition which, as the video points out in an amusing way, is totally made-up.

See the rest here.

Author: Anna Fodor

Photo: Vladimír Pryček, ČTK

During the eleventh year of the international championship in historical skiing in Staré Hamry – Gruň in the Beskydy Mountains, a competitor skis the slope in telemark style.

Source

Lou Reed, Jan Macháček and Václav Havel, Photo: Archive of Jan Macháček / Paměť národa

Folk, rock, jazz, pop music – the musical tastes of Czechoslovak and later Czech presidents differed significantly. Václav Havel had the most friends among musicians, including world stars.

“Ach synku, synku” (“Oh son, son”) is a well-known Czech folk song. It was reputedly the favourite song of the first Czechoslovak president Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk and was played almost every time he visited the countryside. However, according to a biography written by Zdenek Nejedlý, the song TGM liked most was “Teče voda, teče” (“Water is flowing, flowing”).

See the rest here.

Photo: Netflix

Four Czech filmmakers will compete for an Oscar at the upcoming 95th Academy Awards. They have been shortlisted for Netflix’s World War I drama All Quiet on the Western Front. The first-ever German-language adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s famous novel won nine Oscar nominations, including top categories best picture and best international feature.

Edward Berger’s powerful adaptation of Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front, first published in Germany in 1929, premiered at the International Film festival in Toronto last September and was launched internationally on the Netflix streaming platform a month later.

The drama, following the story of an ordinary German front line soldier in the trenches, evolves mainly in France. However, most of the filming actually took place in various locations in and outside of Prague.

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Authors: Ruth Fraňková, Martin Hrnčíř

Photo: Magda Arnoštová, Czech Radio

There has only been one Czech Nobel Prize winner in a scientific field to date – Jaroslav Heyrovský, who won it in chemistry in 1959 for his invention of the polarographic method. But another one could have followed just a year later, if not for the Soviet scientific terminology that Czechoslovak scientists were made to use in the 1950s.

Peter Medawar, described by popular science writer Bill Bryson as the “patron saint” of the immune system, was one of the greatest twentieth-century British scientists, winning the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1960 for his discovery of acquired immunological tolerance. In short, he figured out why the body rejects skin grafts from one person to another, revolutionising organ transplantation.

Medawar’s key insight was that the immune system learns early in life not to attack its own healthy cells – essentially, it figures out early on what is self and what is other. By experimenting on mice, he discovered that a mouse exposed to skin from another mouse when it is very young is able to accept a skin transplant from that other mouse later in life – the immune system has in a sense been trained at a young age to recognise it as self.

See the rest here.

Authors: Anna Fodor, Eva Kézrová

Dina Gottliebová-Babbitt | Photo: YouTube

It was her skill as an artist that saved Brno-born Dina Gottliebová-Babbittová from death in Auschwitz’s gas chamber. She was protected by the angel of death himself, SS doctor Josef Mengele.

The Czech-American artist was born on January 21, 1923. During the Nazi occupation period she was kicked out of her studies at the local art school because she was a Jew. Then, in 1942, Gottlieb was transported into the Terezín Ghetto. A year later, she was sent to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.

See the rest here.

Photo: Czech Foreign Ministry

The Czech government’s humanitarian aid program MEDEVAC provides medical assistance to people in need the world over. In war-torn Ukraine it is literally helping to save lives.

Last year, 16-month-old Yulia was close to death. With burns on 60 percent of her body, she lay in a hospital in Lviv where doctors were unable to help her. Her life was saved by a complex emergency aid effort organized by the Czech Interior Ministry’s humanitarian program MEDEVAC. The aid operation involved dozens of people in Ukraine, Poland and Czechia.

See the rest here.

Authors: Daniela Lazarová, Ľubomír Smatana

Photo: Botanická zahrada Praha

Visitors to Prague’s Botanical Garden in Troja have a rare chance to see the world’s smallest water lily in bloom. The plant, called Nymphaea thermarum in Latin, isn’t just tiny; it is also one of the rarest plants in the world.

Nymphaea thermarum is the world’s smallest water lily yet described, with the leaves measuring only one centimetre in diameter. By comparison, the leaves of the largest water lily, Victoria Amazonica, can reach up to three metres.

The world’s tiniest water lily was only discovered in 1987. Less than 30 years later it was considered extinct in the wild, due to the destruction of its native habitat. It was saved from extinction when it was grown from a seed at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew in London in 2009.

See the rest here.

Author: Ruth Fraňková

Photo: Roman Verner, Czech Radio

Josef Lada is undoubtedly one of the best-loved Czech painters of all time. He is known for his illustrations of children’s books as well as for his landscape and village paintings, many of which have appeared on Czech Christmas cards. The self-taught artist is also noted around the world for his illustrations of Jaroslav Hašek’s The Good Soldier Švejk.

See the rest here.

Authors: Barbora Navrátilová, Tomáš Pancíř

Photo: René Volfík, iROZHLAS.cz

A special tram commemorating the 30 year anniversary of President Vaclav Havel’s election began making rounds across Prague this Thursday. Havel was elected as Czechia’s first president on January 26, 1993.

The vehicle is operating on the route normally taken by the number 18 tram. Its interior is decorated with a wide range of citations from Václav Havel that emphasise his contributions to the Czech state. The Czech News Agency reports that the tram is part of the Havel for travellers (Havel pro cestující) event, which aims to commemorate the former president’s significance in the history of the modern Czech state.

“Vaclav Havel was independent Czechia’s first president, but his opinions and attitudes are still relevant, even three decades after his election,” Prague’s Mayor Zdeněk Hřib stated in connection to the event.

See the rest here.

Author: Thomas McEnchroe

Cigarette butts, one of the most hated types of street debris, could actually be useful. A team of scientists from the Tomáš Baťa University in Zlín, say that they have developed a method of using cigarette butts to catch hormones in wastewater.

Whether it be on the pavement, in parks or even in the sea, cigarette butts can be found almost anywhere. Aesthetically displeasing and difficult to clean up, it is hard to find anyone who would appreciate this smokers trail. But that didn’t stop a team of scientists at Tomáš Baťa University in Zlín from trying to find a way to redeem this type of refuse. Dušan Kimmer, a researcher at the university’s Faculty of Technology, explains.

“We found out that cigarette butts are the third most common type of waste found in the world’s oceans. It’s also a problem on land, of course. We asked ourselves the question: What can be done with this? And so we tried recycling them and making something useful out of them.”

See the rest here.

Authors: Thomas McEnchroe, Roman Verner

Photo: Galerie výtvarného umění v Chebu/Společnost Jana Zrzavého, z. s.

Jan Zrzavý was a painter, illustrator and scenographer, and a leading representative of the Czech avant-garde. He was a mysterious, solitary artist living in his own world, rarely open to anyone else. Although he was never admitted to the Prague Academy of Arts, his paintings now sell for millions of dollars at auction.

See the rest here.

After two “COVID” years Prague Zoo returned to normal in 2022. Despite the lower number of foreign visitors and the deteriorating economic situation a high number of visitors returned: in 2022 a total of 1,419,122 visitors passed through its gates. In a way it was a breakthrough year in both a positive sense (the Dja Reserve opening) and a negative sense (especially the increase in energy prices).

#1 THE DJA RESERVE OPENING

After almost three years of construction, the Dja Reserve was opened in Prague Zoo – a generously designed house for gorillas and other representatives of fauna of the Congo Basin. The Dja Reserve is to a large extent inspired by a biosphere reserve of the same name, which is in central Cameroon and where the Prague Zoo’s education and awareness raising project Wandering Bus takes place. Its central part is planted with numerous plants which evoke tropical rain forest, and the atmosphere is enhanced by surround sound. Other additions to the house are, for example, a school classroom brought from Cameroon, or a tent of the reserve rangers equipped with replicas was well as with many original artifacts. Prague Dja Reserve has gained great responses from both visitors and international experts.

The aerial photograph of the Dja Reserve shows very clearly how sensitively this exposition complex is incorporated into the landscape. Photo: Miroslav Bobek, Prague Zoo

#2 MOJA’S STORY CONTINUES

The decision to keep Richard and his two sons Kiburi and Nuru in the old gorilla house made creating a new breeding group in the Dja Reserve possible. The Coordinator of the European Ex-situ Programme for gorillas suggested to add to the three “Prague” females – Kijivu, Shinda and Kamba – and the young male Ajabu, a new leading male, and another female, with the provision that two females in such a created group will be allowed to reproduce. He recommended to bring Kisumu, the male who had until now lived in Austrian Schmiding, and Duni, the female from Cabárceno, the daughter of famous gorilla Moja, to Prague. This recommendation exceeded all our expectations: Moja’s story can continue in Prague thanks to her daughter.

Kisumu and Duni in the Dja Reserve shortly after they were connected. Photo: Miroslav Bobek, Prague Zoo

#3 OTHER INHABITANTS OF THE DJA RESERVE

Although the Dja Reserve is by force of habit referred to as the new gorilla house, it actually presents eleven species of vertebrates and eight species of invertebrates. For the very first time visitors to Prague Zoo can see here straw-coloured fruit bats or some representatives of invertebrates, for example the red-legged golden orb-web spider or horrid king assassin bug. Other species already appeared in Prague Zoo, albeit a long time ago. An example can be the very attractive de Brazza’s monkey, which was shortly kept in 1954 and in 1968 – 1969. Other mammal species of the Dja Reserve are bread traditionally; they were located in different parts of the zoo. These are eastern black-and-white colobuses, which now share the exhibit with the western lowland gorillas, northern talapoins, red river hogs, African brush-tailed porcupines and Gambian pouched rats.

A female of de Brazza’s monkey in the enclosure in the Dja Reserve. Photo: Petr Hamerník, Prague Zoo

#4 GREAT YOUNG

450 mammals were born, and 475 birds and 318 reptiles and amphibians hatched during the year 2022 in Prague Zoo. Altogether these comprised 218 species of the abovementioned four groups of vertebrates; in case of the reptiles the breeders achieved a record of forty reproduced species. The aardvark female and the triplets of maned wolf have probably gained the highest popularity among visitors. Media were very interested in the hatching of the Asian leaf turtles – a species, which Prague Zoo received before it was scientifically described, and which reproduces in the Indonesian Jungle house without human intervention. From the breeding point of view the reproduction of the Chinese goral, long-nosed potoroo, Cabot’s tragopan, Salvadori’s fig parrot and princely mastigure are considered the most valuable.

The young of the princely mastigure are the first breeding of this species within EAZA. Photo: Tereza Mrhálková, Prague Zoo

#5 THE BEGINNING OF PANGOLIN BREEDING

A couple of Chinese pangolins, the male Guo Bao and the female Run Hou Tang, arrived at Prague Zoo from Taipei Zoo in April 2022. So, Prague Zoo became one of the only two zoos in the world where these scaly mammals can be seen. Pangolins deserve the attention of the public not only because of their exceptionality, but principally because they are the most illegally traded mammals of the world. After all, Prague Zoo is involved in their protection both in Asia and Africa. The arrival of the pair of pangolins was preceded by a great deal of demanding preparations, including a complete rebuilding of the night exhibit in Indonesian Jungle. After more than half a year it seems that we have managed taking care of these extremely demanding animals and that the first European pangolin baby might be born right in Prague.

The Chinese pangolin male Guo Bao in the night exhibit of the Indonesian Jungle house. Photo: Petr Hamerník, Prague Zoo

#6 REBUILDING OF THE PLAINS

After a water reservoir was expanded in the south-east part of the so-called Plains, the new construction of stables and enclosures for Przewalski’s horses has started. It will be complemented by an exhibit of Pallas’s cats and “olgoj chorchoj”. It presents the first phase of transformation of the entire Plains, which will be dedicated exclusively to Asian fauna. So, Prague Zoo will return to breeding rhinos, among other, about which visitors often ask. Besides the works on the Plains (and of course finishing the Dja Reserve) a lot of smaller construction works and, last but not least, the preparation for construction of the Arctic exhibit complex were undertaken. It will be intended especially for polar bears, whose breeding Prague Zoo would have to terminate without the construction of a new breeding facility. In the ideal situation the construction of the Arctic could start at the end of 2023.

The visualization of the new design of the main enclosure and the background areas for Przewalski’s horses, which should evoke the environment of the Dzungar Gobi. Credit: ABM Architekti

#7 GREAT GRANDCHILDREN OF OUR PRZEWALSKI’S HORSES IN GOBI

Between 2011 and 2019 nine air transports of Przewalski’s horses to western Mongolia were realized. The tenth one did not take place due to COVID – and the great news is that it may even not be needed. Thirty mares transported from Prague to Great Gobi A Strictly Protected Area have not only had eighty foals so far, but have also had eleven grandchildren and even the first great grandchildren. The total number of Przewalski’s horses in this reserve has reached the sufficient number of more than four hundred individuals. However, the activities of Prague Zoo in Mongolia do not end here. Its employees in cooperation with local colleagues are preparing a brand new Przewalski’s horses reintroduction project in eastern Mongolia. Currently the best locality has already been selected.

A Przewalski’s horse mare with a foal in Takhin Tal locality in the Great Gobi A Strictly Protected Area. Photo: Miroslav Bobek, Prague Zoo

#8 WE ARE SAVING CRUCIAN CARP

Prague Zoo continues to implement or support many projects on biodiversity conservation on five continents, but it is also engaged in conservation of the fauna of Czech Republic. One of the species it has been focusing on since 2021 is crucian carp, once a common and typical fish of our waters. It reached the brink of extinction due to changes in water management and spreading of invasive Prussian carp. After the methodology to find last remaining crucian carps of Elbe genetic lineage was developed in cooperation of the Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences and the Czech University of Life Sciences, the carps were moved to four tanks at the premises of Prague Zoo. The first breeding success came in 2022, therefore in October the first 99 reproduced fish could be released into a pond in Vinoř.

Releasing the crucian carps bred in the premises of Prague Zoo into the pond in Vinoř. Photo: Miroslav Bobek, Prague Zoo

#9 HELP TO UKRAINIAN ZOOS

Immediately after the Russian invasion of Ukraine Prague Zoo announced fund-raising collection to help Ukrainian zoological gardens and, in cooperation with its Polish partners from the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria, it started to send via Poland feed and equipment to Ukraine. Financial support to selected Ukrainian zoos followed and at the end of the year a powerful diesel generator was purchased for Mykolaiv Zoo. By December 29, 2,756 contributions totalling 5,263,352 CZK have been made to the Ukrainian collection. So far 4,076,896 CZK has been spent out of this sum for the abovementioned help. Another form of help was a symbolic entrance fee of 1 CZK for women and children fleeing the war; this event lasted from February 28 until April 30.

The diesel generator destined to Mykolaiv Zoo before its transportation to Ukraine. Photo: Oliver Le Que, Prague Zoo

#10 A LOOK AT THE FIRST YEARS OF PRAGUE ZOO

In Vienna’s Österreichisches Filmmuseum the local curator of the amateur film collection started examining 13 reals of 9.5-millimetre films. It was discovered that part of them depict Prague Zoo during the early days of its existence, specifically the period between 1935 – 1937. It is an extremely valuable material, all the more so because the substantial part of the Prague Zoo archive was destroyed by the floods in 2002. The discovered films portray Professor Jiří Janda with his wife, his assistant Dr V. J. Staněk, many keepers and of course a lot of animals, both famous and completely forgotten ones. Unfortunately, we have not yet been successful in discovering the identity of the author of these amateur films, we only know that he was most likely a lieutenant colonel of the Czechoslovak Army.

The films, taken by a so far unknown amateur, capture also the feeding the sea lions Batul and Hýta, donated to Prague Zoo by Vlasta Burian. Credit: Österreichisches Filmmuseum

We thank all who help Prague Zoo as well as those who visit it and appreciate it!

Miroslav Bobek, Director of Prague Zoo

The visualization of the new design of the main enclosure and the background areas for Przewalski’s horses, which should evoke the environment of the Dzungar Gobi. Credit ABM Architekti

The new exhibit complex for Przewalski’s horses and other representatives of fauna of inner Asia is currently being created in south-east corner of the Plains in the upper part of Prague Zoo. Until its opening in spring of 2024 Prague inhabitants can see Przewalski’s horses only at Dívčí hrady, where a herd of six now roams. At the same time Prague Zoo is preparing a new reintroduction project for Przewalski’s horses in the east of Mongolia.

“Przewalski’s horses are iconic animals of Prague Zoo. Therefore, the transformation of the Plains starts with their stables and enclosures, which will be complemented by exhibits of other animals, for example Pallas’s cats or animal-legend olgoi-khorkhoi,” Director Miroslav Bobek outlined Prague Zoo’s plans.

The long-term project of reconstructing the Plains in the upper part of the zoo started by removing the original stables of Przewalski’s horses the year before last, the expansion of the water reservoir followed and last October the construction works on the exhibit complex for Przewalski’s horses began. After its completion reconstruction of other parts of the Plains will follow step by step ending with the Obora Kiosk. Following the completion rhinos will also return to Prague Zoo.

At Prague’s Dívčí hrady people can now see a six-headed herd of Przewalski’s horses, which now consists of the gelding Nepomuk and the mares Vereda, Xicara, Gruhne, Khamiina and Lana. The last two mentioned mares were for some time last year placed in the breeding station in Dolní Dobřejov and covered by the stallion Granola.

“We decided to breed the mares in Dolní Dobřejov gradually to prevent gravidity of all the mares coming at the same moment so that we would have enough time to properly place the foals born. We still don’t know if the mares Khamiina and Lana have conceived successfully, the possible nearest dates of birth would be at the turn of March and April,” explained Curator of ungulates Barbora Dobiášová.

Whether the possible descendants of Khamiina and Lana would be transported to the country of their ancestors, Mongolia, is of course still an open question.

The newly put together six-headed herd of Pzewalski’s horses is grazing at Dívčí hrady. From the left the gelding Nepomuk and the mares Lana, Vereda, Khaamina, Xicara and Gruhne follow. Photo Petr Hamerník, Prague Zoo.

“Preparation of the new reintroduction project will take several years, but it is not impossible,” Miroslav Bobek says. “Now we have already selected the most suitable locality, which we will check together with our Mongolian colleagues in the winter conditions in the second half of January. Then we start planning construction of the acclimatization enclosures and premises for the staff.”

Current inhabitants of Dívčí hrady

Nepomuk is a gelding, who at Dívčí hrady fulfils the role of a stallion. He was born in Slatiňany in May 2009, from there he came to Dolní Dobřejov one year later. Nepomuk was released at Dívčí hrady last year in March.

Vereda was born in Prague in May 2017. Her father is the stallion Len, who is a descendant of the mare Orlica III – the last Przewalski’s horse captured in the wild. Vereda was released at Dívčí hrady together with Nepomuk.

Gruhne comes from Belgian Reserve d’Animaux Sauvage, where she was born in July 2017 and from where she travelled to the breeding station of Prague Zoo in Dolní Dobřejov two years later. The mare Gruhne was released in April 2021 together with Xicara, Lana and Khamiina.

Xicara was born directly in Prague Zoo in July 2018. She was released at Dívčí hrady in April 2021.

Lana was born on 1st August 2016 in Germany’s Kölner Zoo. She was released at Dívčí hrady in April 2021, but one year later she was together with the mare Khamiina moved to the Breeding and Acclimatization Station in Dolní Dobřejov to get a chance to conceive after being covered by the seven-year-old stallion Granola. She returned to Dívčí hrady last September together with the mare Khamiina.

Khamiina comes from Berlin’s Tierpark, where she was born in September 2017. Together with Lana they returned to Dívčí hrady last autumn after being covered by the stallion, where they may both have foals at the beginning of this year.

Thirteen-year-old gelding Nepomuk (in the front of the photo) is guarding the mares and he is adequately dominant; therefore he fulfils the needed role of a stallion in the herd. Photo Petr Hamerník, Prague Zoo.

You can support the project Return of the Wild Horses by transfer of any amount to the collection account We Help Them to Survive (č. ú.: 43–680 466 0247/0100) or 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. And last but not least of course also by visiting Prague Zoo.

Photo: Vodasoft

A short demo just released on Steam for an upcoming game is said to be reminiscent of Warcraft 3 – but instead of orcs, you are commanding Hussite soldiers. And instead of the giant team that was behind Warcraft, this game is the work of a single Czech developer.

Songs of the Chalice has a lot in common with Warcraft 3 – a real-time strategy computer video game with three-dimensional stylized graphics and soldiers obeying every command of the hero who leads them. But while in the classic game that gave rise to the even more famous World of Warcraft you send orcs and knights into battle in a fantasy world, in this new game you command Hussite soldiers with lances and crossbows.

And while Warcraft 3 was created by the colossal Blizzard Entertainment studio, Songs of the Chalice was created by just one person – Jan Vodička, alias Vodasoft. Vodička works as a software developer in Pilsen, but comes from southern Bohemia – just like famous radical Hussite Jan Žižka. Although he says in an interview with new site CzechCrunch that his birthplace is not the reason he chose the theme of the game, he nevertheless refers to the game as “Hussite Warcraft”.

See the rest here.

Author: Anna Fodor

Photo: Ian Willoughby, Radio Prague International

Among those taking part in elections for the next president, which begin on Friday, will be many thousands of Czechs living abroad. With postal ballots not an option, registered voters need to travel to a Czech embassy or consulate and cast their ballots in person. Jan Pěnkava, who has been living in Derby, England for eight years, says he is planning to go to London – for the second round in two and a half weeks’ time.

“We left [Czechia] shortly after the Schwarzenberg-Zeman presidential election, and while we were here in the UK the second term of Zeman started – and we participated in those elections.

“That was still at the time when we considered, Oh, we might be actually going back. “We didn’t know how long we would be staying.

“So I was in a similar situation to people who are abroad on a short-term basis – and they are, of course, then using the embassy to cast their vote.

“In the meantime, that has changed [the family has settled in the UK].

“But I keep my citizenship – and these are elections that I’m really interested about.”

See the rest here.

Author: Ian Willoughby

Dagmar Hazdrová and Jan Vondráček, Photo: Petr Hejna, Dopravní podnik hl. m. Prahy

For decades now Prague city dwellers have been used to hearing a calm, modulated and well-known voice citing the names of the various stops on tram, bus and metro routes around the city. Who will have the privilege to be the voice that hundreds of commuters hear every day is decided by a public poll on test announcements read by some of the best actors and voiceover artists in the country.

Jan Vondráček, whose voice many Czechs associate with Moe the bartender from The Simpsons, has been chosen to be the new voice on trams and busses making the rounds in the capital city.

See the rest here.

Authors: Daniela Lazarová, Klára Škodová

Miroslav Sekera, Photo: Tomáš Vodňanský, Czech Radio

Czech composer Bedřich Smetana is probably best-known for his set of symphonic poems Má Vlast, or My Country, as well as for his folkloristic operas and string quartets. However, the Czech music great has also written a number of piano compositions. Czech pianist Miroslav Sekera recently released an album dedicated to Smetana’s piano works, confronting them with those by Franz Liszt.

“Smetana’s compositions are not as well-known as Franz Liszt’s works, and yet in many cases they are true piano masterpieces of the 19th century. I would like to prove that Bedřich Smetana was a composer comparable with Franz Liszt and that his music deserves to be performed at major concert venues worldwide.”

It was with this goal in mind that Miroslav Sekera recorded the album, simply called Bedřich Smetana and Franz Liszt: Piano Works.

The connection between the two composers is not accidental: both were excellent pianists and the piano played an important role, especially at the beginning of their artistic careers.

See the rest here.

Author: Ruth Fraňková

Photo: Patrik Uhlíř, ČTK

People in Brno paid tribute to Monty Python’s famous Ministry of Silly Walks sketch last week on the occasion of the 10th edition of the annual international day of silly walking.

Source

Photo: Czech School Without Borders London

The Czech School Without Borders has been running in London since 2007, allowing children with a Czech parent to enhance their language skills and meet other kids from bilingual families. On a recent visit to the UK, I stopped by the school to meet the teachers and children and see how this unique school operates.

It is around 9am on a bright autumn day and a year 1 class at a school in North London are about to start their first lesson of the day.

But this is no ordinary school in England. For one thing this lesson is taking place on a Saturday. And secondly, the kids are reading out loud what they did at the weekend from their diaries – which they wrote in Czech.

The person behind the Czech School Without Borders is Zuzana Jungmannová, the partner of artist Hynek Martinec, who immortally portrayed her in a hyper-realistic painting that won the BP Young Artist of the Year award in 2007. She is the face in the portrait, but also the brains behind the school.

She says she first got the seeds of the idea for the school after completing her diploma. She studied art with a focus on classical textile weaving and for her final project, she helped people with special needs make a series of tapestries. In doing so, she discovered that she loved working with people even more than with objects. It was her first sign that perhaps she was better suited to working with others rather than sitting alone in a studio.

“We moved to London and I was thinking, ‘maybe it’s time to start something new.’ It was tiny steps – we started with a small group and continued. In 2010, we decided to make an official statute, a charity, cooperating with the Czech side as well, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Culture. We have lovely relationships here in London as well with the Czech Centre and embassy, and now we are a settled and complete school for bilingual kids.”

See the rest here.

Author: Anna Fodor

The Plzeň 35th Regiment, Photo: VHÚ

The Plzeň 35th Regiment, whose fame is reflected in a song familiar to many Czechs, was founded in 1683.

The military annals of the Austrian monarchy state that Emperor Leopold I commissioned George Frederick, Duke of Württemberg, to set up an infantry regiment in January 1683.

The unit received the number 35 under Empress Maria Theresa, when it fought under General Laudon against the Prussians under King Frederick II.

It was an elite regiment that, in the spirit of the motto “We will endure until we win” on its banner, fought in the Napoleonic Wars and had a very long history after that.

The Thirty-Fivers, as they were known, had a famous song written about them by the Czech musician Karel Hašler, in 1918 Entitled Hoši jako květ (Boys Like Blooms), it went on to become an anthem of Plzeň’s soccer and ice hockey clubs.

See the rest here.

The 10th edition of Prague’s ÍRÁN:CI festival of Iranian film gets underway on Wednesday. This time it is taking place in the shadow of four months of unprecedented protests and brutal repression in Iran – a situation which has greatly shaped this year’s festival. Just before it began, I spoke to founder Kaveh Dashemand.

“The focus of the 10th edition of ÍRÁN:CI is going to be on the main theme of all the uprisings that are happening at the moment, which is Women, Life, Freedom.

“We are bringing some of the films that can reflect on this very urgent topic.

“Of course it’s impossible to bring films that actually show what is happening in Iran, because it’s only four months that all the uprisings are happening.

“But we have put a theme together that can bring some of the most outstanding, but at the same time controversial and oppositional, films from Iran to the 10th edition of the festival.”

See the rest here.

Author: Ian Willoughby

Czech scientists, in cooperation with their colleagues from Great Britain, are carrying out research aimed at tracing the origins of medieval Gregorian chants. They are doing so with the help of computational algorithms, that are commonly used in biology.

The Gregorian chant is a form of unaccompanied sacred song in Latin, which originated in Europe in Medieval times. The chants could be heard in cathedrals and small churches and served to pass sacred texts onto the next generation.

That’s why strict care was taken to ensure that they didn’t differ in any way, says Jan Hajič from the Masaryk Institute and the Archives, who is heading the research team:

“In practice, however, it turns out that it wasn’t so uniform. That’s what makes it interesting in terms of cultural evolution.”

To trace the origins of the famous melodies that are hundreds of years old, Jan Hajič and his colleagues will draw on a digital database of more than 15,000 Gregorian chants.

See the rest here.

Authors: Ruth Fraňková, zuzana machálková

Photo: Masaryk University Brno

A team of scientists from Brno has announced a unique discovery that could contribute to an innovative and sustainable way of lighting in the future, possibly even replacing electric light bulbs. The results of their study, based on the inner mechanisms of a bioluminescent sea coral, was published in the prestigious scientific journal Nature Catalysis.

More than four decades ago, scientists discovered that organisms living at the bottom of the ocean are able to produce light thanks to a glowing enzyme called luciferase. Until now, however, it has not been clear how the mechanism works.

Scientists from Loschmidt Laboratories, RECETOX and the Faculty of Science at the Masaryk University in Brno, who have been studying luciferase isolated from the sea pansy called Renilla reniformis, have now come up with an answer.

Author: Ruth Fraňková

See the rest here.

The 2023 Dakar Rally was only a few days away from ending and Czech rally raid truck driver Aleš Loprais was in the lead. But he has now confirmed that he is dropping out of the famous race following an incident where a spectator died after being hit by his truck.

The tragic accident took place on Tuesday evening in the ninth stage of the competition. Loprais said that he had not even been aware that the collision had happened at all.

“A human life was lost and it was de facto my fault because I was behind the wheel, but I have to say that I didn’t know anything about it and neither did any of the crew. But there is video proving it and in any case, that doesn’t change the fact that a human life was lost. Therefore I want to express my sincere condolences to the family, his loved ones and friends – I’m very sorry and this will stay with me for the rest of my life.”

Author: Anna Fodor

See the rest here.

Despite the Velvet Divorce, relations between Czechia and Slovakia still remain very close. This is perhaps most evident in the Moravian Slovakia region, which lies on the border between the two countries. Radio Prague International visited the area in December and has this report.

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Authors: Zdenka Kuchyňová, Guillaume Narguet, Thomas McEnchroe

Although still a largely unknown sport among the majority of Czechs, cricket has been played in Czechia since at least the 1990s. Today the country boasts several leagues as well as a national team that has even set some records. The sport is especially popular among expats from Commonwealth countries, but there are also promising signs that the next generation of players may be home-grown.

Strolling through the fields of Vinoř near Prague on a summer weekend, you may find yourself wondering whether Czechia is not in fact part of the Commonwealth of Nations. Cricket, England’s iconic sport, has recently been experiencing a significant boom in the land more commonly known for its ice hockey legends.

“Every year you see a lot of people joining us, the count increases drastically. That kind of shows that it is getting popular in Czechia,” says Satyajit Sengupta, the captain of Spartans Cricket Club, one of Prague’s many teams that have sprung up in recent years.

Taking a look at the team you may be excused for thinking that Czech cricket is the domain of Indian expats. Indeed, the majority of players on the pitch are from South Asian countries, with some Britons, Australians and New Zealanders getting ready to play too, but Satyajit says that the locals have also expressed willingness to learn how to use a bat.

Author: Thomas McEnchroe

See the rest here.

Photo: Jolana Nováková, Czech Radio

Prague’s Municipal Library has recently become a hit among foreign tourists visiting the Czech capital. The reason? An artwork called Idiom that has been in the library’s lobby since 1998, and which has just recently become a hit on social media.

Since late December, long queues of people have been forming in front of the entrance to the city’s Municipal Library in the city centre. They haven’t come to borrow books, however, but to check out an artwork called Idiom, created by Slovak artist Matěj Krén. One of the thousands of tourists to visit the place in recent weeks is Craig from Canada:

“I do a lot of travelling and when I go to a new country, I do a Google search on top 10 things to see in that country and this came up as a destination to see. What I do then is I find it on a map and when I get to the country, I go and check it out. So I never saw it on an Instagram account and never saw a video of it, but when I got here, I took a video and photos and I of course posted it on my Instagram and TikTok account!”

The circular structure, known as Column of Knowledge, is made out of 8,000 books. When you look inside, mirrors installed within the column create an impression of an endless tunnel.

The artwork was installed in the lobby of the Municipal Library in 1998, when it reopened after a three-year renovation, but it has only now become such a sensation, after becoming a hit on social media, including TikTok, explains journalist Janek Rubeš:

“Kids that were in Prague looking into their phones suddenly saw a cool thing that they liked and they wanted to see it as well. And as it is in today’s world, everyone wants to have the same picture or same video, because it looks cool and they can get likes. So that’s why there is a big line of people taking the same picture.

See the rest here.

Author: Ruth Fraňková

Adina Biguine, Photo: Barbora Navrátilová, Radio Prague International

Adina Biguine was born in Kyrgyzstan, but spent more than half of her life in Prague. She originally came to the Czech capital to study at the Faculty of Humanities, but instead of psychology, she decided to pursue the art of pastry making. Today she is an executive pastry chef at Prague’s Café Milléme which has become known for its wide variety of international flavour fusions, mixing all sorts of unusual ingredients, from yuzu lemon, matcha tea and wasabi to blueberries and saffron. I met with Adina to discuss her life and work and I started by asking her when she first visited Prague:

“I first visited Czechia in 2006 when I was 15 years old. Prague was the first European capital that I had ever seen. Until then, Europe was something I only knew from films. I immediately fell in love with the place and with its parks, streets and architecture.”

What were your first impressions of the city?

“I remember it was summer and there were a lot of tourists and everybody was friendly and spoke English with me. I was 15 and it seemed like another world to me!

“Everything was different, including the climate and the air, which was much cleaner and not as hot as in Kyrgyzstan. We also visited Karlovy Vary and Český Krumlov and I just immediately grew fond of the country.”

See the rest here.

Author: Ruth Fraňková

The Czech government has approved an amendment to the Road Traffic Act that will mean higher penalties for the most serious transgressions such as speeding and drink-driving, while allowing young people to start driving a year earlier, from the age of 17, under the supervision of a parent. The proposed changes are expected to go into force next year.

Czech roads are not the safest in Europe. According to preliminary statistics, 468 people died and over 1,600 were seriously injured in road accidents in Czechia last year.

The most serious transgressions, which often result in fatal accidents, are speeding, drink-driving and using a hand-held mobile phone while driving. Under the proposed bill, all of these transgressions will result in steeper fines. The penalty points system will be simplified to two, four or six points for a given violation. Transgressions such as speeding and drink driving will result in higher fines and a maximum six penalty points. With a maximum limit of 12 points this means “two strikes and you are out” for serious transgressions and “three strikes and you are out” for less serious ones. On reaching 12 points the driver’s license is confiscated for the duration of a year after which they have to take tests anew.

See the rest here.

Author: Daniela Lazarová

On moving to the Czech Republic, many foreigners are surprised to find famous women such as Hillary Clinton and Meryl Streep referred to in the Czech media as ‘Hillary Clintonová’ and ‘Meryl Streepová’. Now one Czech news outlet has sparked debate on the matter, after dropping this practice for foreign women’s surnames.

Deník N published an editorial on New Year’s Day announcing that it was no longer going to use the suffix ‘-ová’ for foreign women’s surnames – a decision that has divided its readership, with some welcoming it and others strongly criticising it.

See the rest here.

Author: Anna Fodor

Photo: Office of Czech Government

Monday saw no fewer than nine former Czech prime ministers attend a special dinner hosted by the country’s current head of government, Petr Fiala. The get together was organised on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of independent Czech and Slovak republics. A special concert, attended by Slovakia’s Prime Minister Eduard Heger, was then held in Prague’s Rudolfinum, where both leaders paid tribute to Czechoslovakia and its modern day successors.

After the traditional New Year’s lunch with the president on Monday, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala sat down to a special dinner with his predecessors in office over the past 30 years.

“Despite some of us being political opponents who hold different opinions on things, I think it’s a good idea. I want all of us to be together. All of those who held the responsibility and had the opportunity to lead this country’s government, be in charge of the executive and help forge this country’s future. I want us to meet and celebrate this important anniversary.”

See the rest here.

Author: Thomas McEnchroe

Photo: Michaela Říhová, ČTK

Days after it ended, cabinet members publicly assessed Czechia’s presidency of the European Union on Tuesday. The Europe minister said the country’s success during six months at the helm of the EU had surprised fellow members – and improved its international image.

A special news conference on Tuesday looking back at the Czech presidency of the Council of the EU began with a glossy video.

Images of Czech leaders in action – and visiting European dignitaries – were accompanied by swelling music.

The government’s evaluation of Czechia’s six-month stint as the face of Europe was similarly upbeat, with the minister for European Affairs, Mikuláš Bek, telling reporters that the Czech presidency had been a “surprising success” in the eyes of many EU states.

“We have been receiving major commendations from our partners.

“This is undoubtedly in part because expectations weren’t so high; the Czech Republic had a name as a Hungarian satellite, somewhere on the periphery of Europe.

“And during those six months we managed to significantly shift perceptions of the Czech Republic.

See the rest here.

Author: Ian Willoughby

Next year Prague is set to see the goodbye concert of Kiss, a return of Maroon 5 and the first ever visit of Jack Black’s Tenacious D. In Brno, locals can look forward to bands such as Deep Purple or the Hollywood Vampires led by Johnny Depp and Alice Cooper.

It’s not a Kiss concert unless it’s accompanied by lots of fireworks, flames, masks and effects. June will see Kiss perform its 10th concert in Czechia and, since this is part of the legendary band’s End of the Road World Tour, it’s guaranteed to be an epic goodbye in Prague’s O2 Arena. Czechia’s largest indoor stadium is set to host two Iron Maiden concerts in May.

The world-famous pop rock band Maroon 5 is also set to play in Prague. Three years after their last showing in the O2 Arena, the band led by American singer and songwriter Adam Levine is set to perform as part of the June Prague Rocks Festival. The concert will take place in Letňany.

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Authors: Klára Stejskalová, Thomas McEnchroe

Czechs and Slovaks are marking 30 years since they parted in what has become known as the Velvet Divorce. Although the two nations have gone their separate ways, culturally they remain very close and nowhere is this more evident than in the sphere of music.

Almost every year at least one Czech and Slovak duet hits the airwaves and many of them have become hits. We have selected some of the best Czech-Slovak duets born after the break-up. The first by the Czech band Chinaski and Slovakia’s No Name, recorded in 2007 is about the friendship that survived the divorce.

In the years following the break-up there was inevitably a feeling of nostalgia for the common state which lasted for over seven decades. This was a sentiment that Chinaski and the Slovak singer Bára Hosnedlová reflected in their song Česká vlajka má Slovenský klín – the Czech flag has a Slovak wedge –referring to the blue triangle wedged between the red and white strips of what is now the Czech flag.

See the rest here.

Author: Daniela Lazarová

Stigma around mental health issues and seeking professional help to deal with them has traditionally been high in Czechia. But a survey suggests attitudes may be changing, even among the older generation.

According to OECD data, Czechia seems at first glance to be a country where people suffer from mental health problems significantly less than elsewhere on the continent – only 15% of the population reported having a mental health problem in 2016, the fourth lowest proportion in Europe.

But the reality may be somewhat different. As the Ministry of Health points out in its Mental Health Action Plan for 2020-2030, the stigmatisation of mental illnesses is still extremely high in Czechia by European standards, both in the general population and among doctors. Because of this, people are afraid to admit that their mental health is suffering, so while it may seem that Czechs are mentally healthier than most of the rest of Europe, this may not be the full picture.

See the rest here.

Author: Anna Fodor

František Kupka was the first artist in the world to publicly exhibit abstract art and received a lot of negative reviews for doing so. But nowadays his abstract paintings sell for millions – in 2021 one of his works fetched over GBP 7.5 million (over CZK 230 million) at an auction at Sotheby’s in London, the highest amount a Czech painting has ever sold for at auction.

See the rest here.

Monument of Jaroslav Hašek in Lipnice, Photo: Eva Odstrčilová, Czech Radio

Jaroslav Hašek, author of the most translated Czech book The Good Soldier Švejk, died 100 years ago today ( January 3, 1923) before he had reached the age of forty. Vit Pohanka looks at the life and work of this improbable titan of Czech literature.

The adventures of the Good Soldier Švejk during the World War is considered to be one of the gems of European, if not world literature. This satirical anti-war novel was not an immediate success when it was first published. Some Czech critics even considered it “pulp fiction”. But a century after the author’s death Švejk is more than just a classic literary character: he is a phenomenon. Professor Pavel Janoušek works at the Institute of Czech Literature of the Czech Academy of Sciences:

“Švejk is a literary type that reaches the level of Don Quixote by Cervantes or Anna Karenina by Tolstoy. These are characters that in a way leave the original literary work and live their own life. People know (or think they know) who they are even without reading the books. There is no doubt that if Hašek had not written The Good Soldier Švejk he would never have gained such a high level of international acclaim and recognition.”

See the rest here.

Author: Vít Pohanka

Photo: John Wilson / Netflix

One of the biggest movies in the world at present, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, has a Czech connection. The Netflix hit heavily features crystal sculptures made by a small company from North Bohemia.

The current number one film globally on Netflix is Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.

Rian Johnson’s big budget movie stars such names as Daniel Craig and Kate Hudson – and a large number of Czech-made crystal sculptures.

They are the work of the company Pačinek Glass, which is based in Kunratice u Cvikova in North Bohemia.

Founder and master glass maker Jiří Pačinek says collaboration began when the film’s producers came across the name after entering “Czech glass” in a Google search.

It was a demanding commission, with 60 or so pieces – originals and copies – having to be completed in around a month.

See the rest here.

Author: Ian Willoughby

Millions of people round the world have got used to seeing the New Year in with a grandiose fireworks display. Now Czech scientists from the Academy of Sciences are warning about the damage that the harmful chemicals from fireworks can do to our health.

On New Year’s Eve tons of harmful chemicals from a vast variety of fireworks are released into the air. The substances are not banned and no one monitors how much of them gets into the environment. Scientists can only make a rough estimate based on the amount of fireworks sold. Petr Klusoň from the Czech Academy of Sciences says the health hazard is underestimated.

“Many people who attend the celebrations feel bad the day after and sometimes for longer. They naturally put it down to having drunk too much champagne. In actual fact they are more likely to be feeling the effects of acute smog poisoning. On New Year’s Eve about 12 and a half tons of magnesium, ten and a half tons of barium, a ton of strontium, almost a ton of titanium, half a ton of copper and 1.2 tons of rubidium pollute the air in Czechia. That is the amount that eventually descends on us and that we breathe in. If ten percent of that mix was produced once a year by any factory, its management would end up in prison.”

See the rest here.

Authors: Daniela Lazarová, Martin Srb

Viktor Fainberg, Photo: Vít Šimánek, ČTK

Soviet-era Russian dissident Viktor Fainberg, one of the eight brave human rights activists who risked their lives to protest against the Soviet-led occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1968, has died at the age of 91. Fainberg was locked up in a psychiatric hospital for five years for his brave action and later emigrated to the West where he remained a vocal defender of human rights the world over.

On August 25th, 1968, just four days after Soviet tanks rolled through Czechoslovakia to crush the Prague Spring reform movement, eight brave Russians gathered in Moscow’s Red Square to protest against the invasion, unfurling banners that read “Hands off Czechoslovakia!” and “Shame to the Invaders!”. They were linguist Viktor Fainberg, academic Konstantin Babitski, student Tatiana Bayeva, philosopher Larisa Bogoraz, poet Vadim Delone, manual worker Vladimir Dremliuga, mathematician Pavel Litvinov and Natalya Gorbanevskaya, a young mother of two pushing a pram with her 3-month-old-baby. Their brave protest was short-lived. The square was full of secret police in plainclothes who cracked down on the group, knocking Fainberg’s teeth in and beating Litvinov over the head, before throwing them all into a police van. In an interview for Czech Radio, years later, Fainberg explained what made him take the risk.

See the rest here.

Author: Daniela Lazarová

Demand is falling and the economy is headed for recession according to the head of the Czech National Bank Aleš Michl. Meanwhile, the IMF’s chief Kristalina Georgieva has said that half of the European Union will experience a recession in 2023. So is a recession coming and how hard will Czechia be hit? Those are some of the questions I put to Cyrrus bank economist Vít Hradil.

“I do agree and I would be more specific than that. I would say that we actually are in a recession as we speak. Recession is defined as two quarters of real GDP decrease. We already saw the first one in the third quarter of 2022. Now we are just waiting for data for the fourth quarter, but I am pretty sure that there is going to be a decline there as well.

“So we already are in a recession, at least as far as I am concerned. I think that we will probably be more affected than most of the other countries in the EU.”

Mr Michl also said that getting on top of inflation would remain the priority for the Czech National Bank also this year and that the recession could help with this process. Do you think inflation will start decreasing noticeably in the spring, as the head of the Czech National Bank promised?

Author: Thomas McEnchroe

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The European Commission recently approved a new prostate cancer drug called Pluvicto, co-developed by a Czech researcher. The revolutionary treatment, designed for patients with advanced prostate cancer for whom other treatments have proved ineffective, is being administered in Czechia as part of a clinical trial at the Olomouc University Hospital.

Ladislav, who has suffered from prostate cancer for several years now, is one of the first patients in Czechia to receive the new radioactive drug. Two years ago he started hormone treatment and since February he has gradually switched to a clinical trial with Pluvicto.

The revolutionary treatment that delivers radiation to specifically targeted cancer cells was developed at the German Cancer Research Centre in Heidelberg.

See the rest here.

Authors: Ruth Fraňková, Andrea Skalická

Czechoslovakism, the idea of a unitary political Czechoslovak nation with two ethnic and linguistic branches, was one of the foundational ideas of the First Czechoslovak Republic. It was born of both political pragmatism and 19th century nationalism. However, by the time of the Second World War, the idea was clinically dead and would instead be replaced by a new strive for federalisation.

When the Czechoslovak state declared its independence from Austria-Hungary in October 1918 it identified as a unitary political Czechoslovak nation with two ethnic and linguistic branches. But where did this concept come from? And why did it fail?

The origins of Czech and Slovak identity

“We have to understand that national identities at the beginning of the 19th century were not yet completely defined. For most of the agrarian population, the fact that they spoke some kind Slavic dialect was not related to some sort of national identity.

“They usually had some territorial, local identity. They had very developed confessional identities, but not national ones as we know them today. That means that, for all nations in Central Europe, including Czechs and Slovaks, there were always more options in the 19th century.”

See the rest here.

Author: Thomas McEnchroe

Vladimír Mečiar and Václav Klaus|Photo: ČT24

This January marks 30 years since the end of the common Czech and Slovak state. While some of the phenomena that ultimately led to the Czechoslovak split can be identified already in the early and mid-20th century, the separation of the two nations ended up being driven by politicians. Three decades on, Czechs still regret the end of Czechoslovakia more than Slovaks.

The state of Czechoslovakia was born in an atmosphere of pan-Slavic brotherhood in October 1918. It survived both the Second World War as well as four decades of Communist rule. However, less than three years after the country re-emerged as a democratic nation, Czechoslovakia would end up becoming two countries – the Czech and Slovak republics.

Contemporary historiography argues that the causes of the Czech-Slovak split stretch back far into the past. They include the failure of Czechoslovakism to truly take root during the First Republic period or the inability of the 1968 constitution to successfully address the question of how to federalise.

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Author: Radio Prague International

“A language is a dialect with an army and a navy.” This is the maxim often cited to explain the sometimes arbitrary distinctions between languages and dialects. So what about the case of Czech and Slovak, which are generally considered to be mutually intelligible? Were they always considered to be separate languages, even when Czechoslovakia was one country? And has anything changed linguistically since the nations went their separate ways politically?

Tomáš is a computer programmer from Košice, Slovakia, who has been living in Prague for 13 years. He first moved here at the age of 18 to go to university and says the language was never a problem for him to understand, and he was able to pick up how to speak it after about a year. However, he says his spoken Czech is far from perfect.

“There was a prime minister in Czechia called Babiš, who is a guy of Slovak origin who moved in and learnt to speak Czech. But whenever he got angry he switched back to Slovak, and now he doesn’t speak either language properly. And I think I’m quite similar to him in this regard. I do understand Czech 100%, but when I speak I don’t get the declinations right – which doesn’t prevent me from getting the point across, but people recognise it after the first sentence, that I’m not from here.”

See the rest here.

Author: Anna Fodor

Traditionally, the arrival of the New Year kicks off the largest and most successful fund-raiser in the country. The Three Kings Collection involves thousands of children taking to the streets in groups of three dressed as the three wise men, singing carols and collecting money for charity.

Organized by the Catholic charity Caritas CR, the Three Kings Collection is the largest and most trusted charity event in the country. It was inspired by the Christmas tradition of caroling and, since its launch 23 years ago, it has collected over 1.3 billion crowns for the needy.

Throughout the country thousands of volunteers, mostly young children, take to the streets dressed as Kaspar, Melichar and Balthazar – the three wise men, later known as kings, who followed the star of Bethlehem to find the new-born Jesus. They go caroling from house to house, wishing people Happy New Year and leaving their initials – ‘K + M + B’ – on door frames as a symbol of blessing. The letters also stand for “Christus mansionem benedicat” (May Christ bless this house) and the chalks they write with have been blessed by a local bishop. In smaller towns and villages, people put their names on lists of households that the children have been asked to visit, so as to make sure they will not be left out.

See the rest here.

Author: Daniela Lazarová

It weighs just two kilograms and can be packed for travel, but it sounds just like the wooden original. The 3D printed cellos made by the Přerov-based company Sensio.cz are being exported across the world and the business has plans to expand its instrument range further.

It was during the coronavirus pandemic that Ondřej Kratochvíl and his friend Jan Tobolík decided to buy a 3D printer from Prusa Design and start printing cellos.

“We tried to maintain at least the outlines of the instrument, so that our cello would resemble the original. It may have a slight modern futuristic feel, but it still contains everything that the musician needs. It even has a phone case for notes,” says Mr Kratochvíl.

See the rest here.

Authors: Thomas McEnchroe, Alžběta Havlová

In response to the Taliban‘s crackdown on women’s rights in Afghanistan, several international aid organisations, including the Czech NGO People in Need, have suspended their programmes in the country.

Last weekend the Afghan Ministry of the Economy issued an order that all female NGO employees are no longer allowed to work until further notice.

Among the organisations that have been impacted by this measure is the largest Czech human rights NGO: People in Need. Tomáš Kocián is responsible for the Middle Eastern region within People in Need.

„Currently, women make up around a third of the 140 employees that we have in Afghanistan. Right now, we have to let them stay at home or we would lose our registration which allows us to operate in the country. We will have to see how the situation develops in the coming days and weeks.”

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Authors: Thomas McEnchroe, Petr Král, zuzana machálková

Czech artist Yemi Ayinkemi Dele (professionally known as Yemi A.D.) is one of eight people selected to join Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa on a trip around the Moon on board Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket next year. The dancer and choreographer with Nigerian roots, who has worked with Madonna and Kanye West, was handpicked from more than a million candidates. I caught up with him shortly after the news was announced to discuss what it feels like to be Czechia’s first space tourist, and started by asking him how he got involved in the project:

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Author: Ruth Fraňková

‘Dormant’, Toyen (1937)|Photo repro: Karel Srp, ‘Toyen’/Argo

Toyen was unconventional in many ways for a woman of her time and even by today’s standards, both in her life and art. She rejected gender conformism, favouring a gender-neutral pseudonym over her birth name, referring to herself in Czech using masculine grammatical forms when speaking in the first person, and often dressing in masculine-style clothing. She portrayed themes of violence and sexuality in her works at a time when this was very unusual for women, and joined several avant-garde artistic movements, including male-dominated surrealist groups. Her surrealist artworks are still highly prized by art collectors today.

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Lucy Erent’s father and grandparents, Leningrad 1977, Photo: archive of Lucy Erent

This is the last episode in our series A Stitch in Time, where young people tell stories from their family’s past. We have a taste of sugarcane from Guangdong province in China, we meet a Jewish boy in Baltimore who remembers his own circumcision, and a teenager from Brno takes us to a twilight zone of the unexplained.

These three very different stories reflect the complexities and some of the mysteries of the world we live in. Nathalie Rowe from Brno recounts an experience her father had as a soldier, for which no one has ever been able to offer a rational explanation. An-Li Frisk imagines her biological parents having to leave their life in rural China to go to the city, and Lucienne Erent tells the story of her father, leaving the Soviet Union as a thirteen-year-old for a new life in the United States.

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Author: David Vaughan

Ester Ledecká, Photo: Roman Vondrouš, ČTK

Ester Ledecká has been crowned Czech Sportsperson of the Year for the second time. The 27-year-old took her third Olympic gold medal in Beijing – but perhaps surprisingly says that wasn’t the high point of her 2022.

Ester Ledecká was named Czech Sportsperson of the Year at a ceremony at Prague’s Hilton Hotel on Wednesday night.

She received 1,593 votes in the 64th annual poll of sports journalists.

The 27-year-old finished more than 250 points ahead of her closest rivals, the tennis doubles pairing of Barbora Krejčíková and Kateřina Siniaková, while ice hockey star David Pastrňák came third.

Ledecká was previously named Sportsperson of the Year in 2018, the year she took Olympic gold in both parallel giant slalom, a snowboarding event, and the Super-G in alpine skiing.

It was the first time in history that a woman had topped the podium in two different sports at one Olympics.

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Author: Ian Willoughby

Photo: Technologie hlavního města Prahy

The number of electric vehicles in Czechia is growing and according to official estimates their number could reach 100,000 by 2030. Most of them will be in the capital city. Prague has therefore decided to increase the number of charging stations available. Drivers will find them, among other places, in the smart lampposts lining the streets of Prague’s Vinohrady district.

The electric chargers are built into selected city lamps, to prevent new installations cramming sidewalks. Drivers should look for a black box with cables and pictograms explaining how to use the station. Most of the stations allow two vehicles to be charged at the same time, and a total of 13 new chargers have now been installed in Prague’s Vinohrady district.

Until the end of the year, Prague residents can charge their cars for free without registration, they just need to connect the cable. As of next year, it will be possible to charge in two ways. The first is a one-time recharge without registration via a QR code, the second is via registration, where drivers get a recharge chip. Tomáš Jílek, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Prague Technologies explains.

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Authors: Daniela Lazarová, Karolína Burdová

Virtually every Czech household will be eating some form of potato salad as part of their Christmas Eve dinner – but everyone seems to have their own recipe and surprisingly the list of ingredients can spark heated debate between the “traditionalist” and “liberal” camps. To find out what most Czechs put into their potato salad, and whether there are any significant regional differences, a team of data journalists at Czech Radio polled a number of listeners and did a statistical analysis on the results.

Petr Kočí, part of the team behind the survey, describes how the data was collected.

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Author: Anna Fodor

This edition of Sunday Music Show marks the Fourth Sunday of Advent, called Golden Sunday here in Czechia, when people light the last candle on their Christmas wreath. To help you get into the festive spirit we’ll be listening to some of the best known Czech Christmas songs, featuring Karel Gott, Eva Farna and other Czech pop stars.

See the list here.

Author: Ruth Fraňková

Running a successful small business requires a combination of hard work, planning, and the ability to adapt to changing conditions. In order to achieve success, you must be prepared to go the extra mile and make smart decisions that will benefit your business in the long run. Operating a small business can be one of the most exciting and rewarding experiences, but it’s also one of the most challenging things you will ever do. Luckily, there are some important factors to consider when running a small business that will allow you to turn those challenges into opportunities.

A digital marketing strategy

As more people move online for information about new services and products, it’s crucial for your business to be present on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. This can help you build your brand and get potential customers excited about what you have to offer. Not only that, but you should also create a professional website which can feature relevant blog posts for you chosen domain. Digital marketing strategies revolve around optimizing your content with SEO principles, which will make your pages rank high on the web. You can also advertise by creating video content on YouTube or by leveraging email strategies such as newsletters.

Good customer service

People want to do business with companies they trust, so it’s important that your company provides good customer service from start to finish. This includes making sure your employees are friendly and knowledgeable about your products or services, answering questions in a timely manner via email or calls. Customer service can also be enhanced if you automate a part of your responses using AI chatbots on your website.

Improving the work culture

It’s important for employees at all levels of an organization to understand why their work matters within the context of the overall mission. There are ways you can make this happen and ensure that everyone’s motivation and productivity is high. The workplace itself is a reflection of your work culture. And in order to keep everyone motivated you should maximally improve the way your office building feels and looks. You can do this by hiring Strata maintenance professionals to help you keep the company premises in perfect condition, whether that’s waste management, painting the walls or landscaping. In addition, you can include team building events and employee training to level up your work culture.

Planning measurable goals

Planning ahead for future growth opportunities can help ensure that your company continues scaling over time without having any issues with cash flow at any given point in time when things might get tough financially due to unforeseen circumstances, such as losing employees or dealing with sudden market changes. If you don’t have a plan, how do you know what to focus on? A good plan has a few key components: actionable goals that will continually inspire your workforce, and a timeline for achieving those goals so you know when to celebrate successes or when to try something else. Tactics are another important component, as they make your goals into a reality. They may vary depending on what kind of business you’re running, so think carefully about which ones will work best for you and your clients. Lastly, metrics allow you to measure how well your tactics are working, so that you know how and when to pivot.

Cutting costs

When you’re running a small business, it’s easy to get caught up in the hustle and forget about your resources. You might be so busy taking care of customers, hiring new employees and vendors, and ensuring that everything is running smoothly, that you don’t have time to focus on asset and resource management. That includes everything from how much money each department is spending on supplies to making sure your office space isn’t being wasted by housing too much furniture or not having enough electricity fixtures installed correctly so they actually work properly without having any power issues which could lead to safety hazards and added costs.

As you can see, planning your business is one of the best ways to ensure that everything runs smoothly and effectively. You should also pay attention to all the other business aspects such as improving your customer service, creating a better work culture, and cutting costs.

By Peter Minkoff

Peter is a lifestyle and travel writer at Men-Ual magazine, living between Ústí nad Labem and Antwerp. Follow Peter on Twitter for more tips.

The number of cross-cultural marriages in Czechia is on the rise. Last year alone close to 5,000 Czechs tied the knot with a partner from a different cultural background. Kevin Loo explores the challenges and joys of being married to a Czech partner and making a new home in Czechia.

Starting a new life with someone from a different cultural background can be exciting and challenging in equal measure. There are language barriers, cultural differences and even clashing values within the broader family to be overcome.

How hard is it for the foreign nationals who fall in love with and marry a Czech to settle here, make new friends and bring up their children far from home? Kevin Loo spoke with the spouses of Czech partners to find out more about their experience.

Lauren, who comes from the US, admits to initially being fascinated with classical European notions of romance.

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Author: Kevin Loo

Josef Moravec (left) was the first lung transplant patient in the Cz.rep. In the photo with doctors Pavle Pafek (right), Robert Lischek (second from left) and Jaromír Kabát (December 22, 1997), Photo: FN Motol

The first lung transplantation was performed by the team of Professor Pavel Pafko from the Prague Motol University Hospital on December 22, 1997.

The first patient with a lung transplant in Czechia is Josef Moravec, from Nymburk. The man, who was 41 years old at the time, was in the final stage of an inflammatory disease of the lung chambers that could lead to respiratory failure. A lung replacement was his only hope. The donor was a 26-year-old man who suffered a deadly gunshot injury. Moravec lived with his new lung for six years.

The lung transplant programme in Motol is currently headed by Robert Lischke. In 2014, he headed a team that performed the second ever combined lung and heart transplant in Czechia.

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For readers around the world, Josef Lada’s illustrations of the Good Soldier Švejk are inextricably linked to the famous character created by Jaroslav Hašek. But Lada did far more than illustrate Hašek’s novel, and his idealised paintings of carol singers and family gatherings are an enduring symbol of Christmas for many in Czechia.

Josef Lada was born in the village of Hrusice, just outside Prague, in 1887. His father was a cobbler and the family were poor, and little Josef lost an eye when he fell out of his cradle and landed on one of his father’s knives.

However, Lada seems to have had a happy childhood – and loved Christmas. Years later he recalled with relish the traditional foods his family prepared, and said he loved their small and modestly decorated Christmas trees more than wealthier boys whose trees reached the ceiling.

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Author: Ian Willoughby

Kino Pilotů, Photo: Martina Kutková, Radio Prague International

Independent Prague cinema Kino Pilotů received a prize for Best Programming at the Europa Cinemas Awards earlier this month – the first time a Czech movie theatre has won. But what makes the small “kino” so special?

Film buffs and cinema enthusiasts are never at a loss for places to go in Prague – the city is home to several top-notch independent cinemas. One of the most popular is Kino Pilotů in Prague’s Vršovice district, which gets its name from the fact that it was operated by the former Union of Czechoslovak Pilots in the 1930s. The cinema has a history dating back to the early 20th century when it was a purely open-air cinema that screened films outdoors, before the present-day building was constructed.

But the cinema in its current form opened its doors in 2016, under the management of married couple Jan Macola and Alžběta Macolová. Alžběta spoke to Radio Prague soon after the prize was announced.

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Authors: Anna Fodor, Martina Kutková