The Pussy Riot art movement is coming back to Prague after three years.
On September 8th, 2022, the audience at the Meetfactory in Prague can look forward to a punk, electronic, but above all revolutionary opera that reflects the current events. The performance is an innovative combination of live music, theater and video.
The group has travelled around the world since its formation, becoming famous for a happening in Moscow’s Christ the Saviour Cathedral, for which its three members were imprisoned for the first time.
However, their fight for freedom does not end at this point and is becoming more and more topical. Founding member Maria Alyokhina has spent the last year in prison for supporting a political opponent of Vladimir Putin.
She managed to escape from the house arrest by disguising herself as a food delivery worker.
Earlier in June, another member – Aisoltan Niyazova, was also arrested in Croatia, after she had been accused by her native state of Turkmenistan of embezzling $40 million from its central bank.
Fortunately, both of them will be appearing in Prague.
The money generated from the concerts will go to minors fleeing the war in Ukraine and a hospital in the country.
Pussy Riot became internationally known when in 2012, Alyokhina and several other members entered a cathedral near the Kremlin to sing a song denouncing then-Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin.
She and bandmate Nadezhda Tolokonnikova were each sent to labour camps for two years.
They were pardoned and freed at the end of 2013, but Alyokhina has repeatedly been targeted by Russian authorities, including in connection with imprisoned Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny. A night-time curfew was placed on her last year.
Pussy Riot has announced 19 performances for their tour and are due to appear in cities including Munich, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Zagreb, Barcelona and Lisbon.
Tickets here
About 2,000 farmers gathered in Prague on Wednesday to protest against the Czech government’s new subsidy policy favouring small farmers, which they say will disrupt Czechia’s ability to produce food.
The protest on Wednesday (8 June) was called by the Chamber of Agriculture, the Farmers’ Union, and trade union associations. After a morning meeting, they marched to the seat of the government, waving banners saying “The end of Czech food” and chanting “There will be hunger!”.
The events restricted traffic in the capital, but there were no major disruptions to public order.
The owners of large farms criticize the government’s recent decision to change the so-called redistributive payment, which farmers receive for the first 150 hectares of land.
For the next subsidy period, this payment will cover 23% of direct payments for farmers owning at least that much land – a 10% increase compared to what was originally planned. Small farmers will thus receive more money.
This will leave farmers focused on food production struggling to survive, Jan Doležal, president of the Chamber of Agriculture, said during the event.
Giving smaller farmers more money from the common pot will lead to medium-sized and larger enterprises being unable to compete with companies from neighbouring countries, he added.
Labour and Social Affairs Minister Marian Jurečka (KDU-ČSL) promised the government would support livestock production and growers of important commodities like potatoes.
The protest was criticised by the country’s Association of Private Farming, representing small farmers, which is in favour of the changes.
Today, June 10 is the anniversary of one of the worst atrocities in modern Czech history.
On the morning of Wednesday, 10 June 1942, the village of Lidice, about 20 km North-West of Prague, was destroyed in retaliation for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, the highest-ranking Nazi official in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.
Women who refused to leave their husbands were also shot, and men who happened to be away from the village were later found and killed.
Meanwhile, the Gestapo and SS hunted down and murdered Czech agents, resistance members, and anyone suspected of being involved in Heydrich’s death, totaling over 1000 persons. In addition, 3000 Jews were deported from the ghetto at Theresienstadt for extermination. In Berlin, 500 Jews were arrested, with 152 executed as a reprisal on the day of Heydrich’s death.
As a further reprisal, Hitler ordered the small Czech mining village of Lidice to be liquidated on the fake charge that it had aided the assassins.
The world first learned about Lidice via a brutally detached Nazi radio announcement broadcast the day after the attack:
“All male inhabitants have been shot. The women have been transferred to a concentration camp. The children have been taken to educational centers. All houses of Lidice have been leveled to the ground, and the name of this community has been obliterated.”
All 172 men and boys over age 16 in the village were shot. The women were sent to concentration camps, 53 of whom did not survive them. The children from Lidice, 82 of them, were gassed to death in a mobile gas chamber at a deportation camp.
The village was then destroyed building by building with explosives, then completely leveled until not a trace remained, with seeds being planted over the flattened soil. The name was then removed from all German maps.
The Nazis even dug up the town’s cemetery. They dumped massacre victims into a mass grave dug by prisoners from Terezin, a nearby concentration camp, and gleefully filmed the aftermath of the annihilation. This footage would soon become Nazi propaganda designed to quell further resistance.
After the liberation, 17 of those who survived the razing of their village as children and 143 of those who survived as adult women gradually came back to the village.
But the Nazi intention to wipe the little Czech village off the face of the Earth did not succeed. Several villages throughout the world took over the name of Lidice in memory of that village.
In 1947 the foundation stone of a new Lidice was laid 300 meters away from the original site and in May 1948 work began on building the first houses.
The old site was preserved as a memorial including the common grave of the Lidice men, a monument and museum, and between it and the new village a “Garden of Peace and Friendship” was opened on June 19, 1955, where thousands of rose-bushes from various parts of the world were planted.
Today, Lidice—a small town of about 540 residents, rebuilt alongside a memorial and museum commemorating the tragedy—stands in defiance of the Nazis’ attempted extermination: 82 larger-than-life bronze statues, each representing a lost child of Lidice, greet visitors.
At Prague Ice Cream Festival you will find all types and flavors of ice cream – gelato, soft, yogurt, ice roll, sorbets, special (vegan, organic, etc.), and ice lollies.
The festival is for the whole family. It offers entertainment for children and adults, a number of competitions, and tastings. Lovers of fresh fruits, alcoholic and soft drinks, coffee, and good food are also sure to be satisfied.
The festival, established in 2015, is currently the biggest ice cream festival in central Europe. The festival participants aren’t only from the Czech Republic, but also from Ukraine, Slovakia, Poland, and Austria.
They all offer a wide range of ice cream flavors and types such as sorbets, ice lollies, froyo, gelato, ice rolls, and many more. This year, the festival will be taking place on June 26, at the Holešovice exhibition grounds from 10:00-20:00, and tickets can be purchased here.
And in case you are still not convinced, not only is this festival perfect for people of all ages but also for those with different dietary restrictions as they also offer gluten-free, lactose-free or vegan ice creams.
Furthermore, a variety of both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks will be available, as well as good food, fresh fruits, competitions, and tastings.
Prague Ice Cream Festival offers also entertainment for children and adults, a number of competitions, and tastings.
Each visitor to the festival will receive an identification bracelet to be worn on the wrist, which serves as a ticket entitling him to enter the festival site with the ability to leave at any time and then return.
More information about the festival and all the featured participants can be found on the Prague Ice Cream Festiva Facebook and Instagram pages, which are being frequently updated.
The festival is organized under the auspices of the Capital City of Prague, the Embassies of Slovenia and Croatia.
British blues and rock guitarist Jeff Beck is due to perform in Prague in July along with US actor and musician Johnny Depp, the organizers announced on Wednesday.
Just last week, a United States jury awarded Depp $15 million in his defamation suit against ex-wife Amber Heard.
A musical collaboration between Beck and Depp was announced in April 2020, with Depp describing the English guitarist as “my dear friend and my brother […] and one of my all-time guitar heroes.”
Jeff Beck, an eight-time Grammy Award winner, has been ranked by Rolling Stone magazine among the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. He last performed in the Czech Republic eight years ago.
The gig, scheduled for July 11, is part of his European tour.
While Depp is best known for acting, he’s further delved into the music world in recent years as a member of Hollywood Vampires with Alice Cooper and Joe Perry.
Depp also famously starred as a rock star in Tom Petty’s “Into the Great Wide Open” video and turned up performing with the Black Keys at the 2012 MTV Movie Awards. He’s also hopped onstage with Stone Temple Pilots in recent years.
In June 2018, Depp played onstage with the Hollywood Vampires at the Prague Rocks festival in Letňany, which was headlined by Ozzy Osbourne.
The Czech branch of Colliers, a leading provider of diversified professional services for commercial real estate and investment management, published a survey of the Prague office market for the first quarter of 2022.
According to this survey, there was a further increase in vacancy, which increased across Prague. However, gross take-up recorded a year-on-year increase of 44 %, and thus returned to pre-pandemic levels.
The increase in prices throughout the city is still felt especially in construction projects, mainly due to rising costs for materials and construction
work.
Record volume of gross take-up
The first quarter of this year was very successful, especially in terms of gross take-up. With a total of 135,600 sqm, it was the highest volume ever recorded during the first quarter.
„A year-on-year increase of 44 % shows that we are back at pre-pandemic levels and the demand for offices seems unscathed,“ says Josef Stanko an analyst at the consulting company Colliers.
Almost 40 % of the net take-up, which amounted to 75,700 sqm, was concluded in Prague 8, confirming that Karlín and surrounding areas are still the most sought-after submarkets. The following most sought-after districts were Prague’s 1, 4, and 5.
Rising vacancy and low interest in subleases
Despite the growth in gross take-up, there was a further increase in vacancy in the first quarter of this year, which increased by 60 basis points to 8.4 % and represents a total of 315,300 sqm.
The vacancy has increased throughout the entire city in recent quarters, but the largest is located within Prague 4, with a share of ca. 24 % of the overall vacancy. „The inner-city submarket is slightly above average in general, but this area surrounding the city centre represents 56 % of the
stock, with most of the A-class properties lying within this submarket. The current level of vacancy can still be considered as healthy,“ says Josef Stanko.
At the same time, according to him, the sublease submarket is dwindling again, offering approximately 59,800 sqm. Such a volume represents
approximately 1.6 % of “grey” vacancy. „Following the general trend on the market, subleases are not that sought after. Many of the units offered for sublease were withdrawn from the market and the offer was reduced by 24 % quarter-on-quarter,“ explains Josef Stanko.
Rents continue to rise
Prime headline rents in Prague followed the course set in the last quarter and increased by another 50 cents and range between €24.00 and €24.50.
The citywide increase can still be felt, especially on projects under construction, largely thanks to the rising cost of materials and labour. Prime inner-city office locations are offered at €16.00 to €18.00 and prime outer city locations range from €13.50 to €15.00. However, we have to take into account that the price gap between the inner and outer city will blur very soon with some of the upcoming projects on the border locations like Hagibor, Radlice, and Roztyly.
Net effective rents are still considerably lower and with rising vacancy, some landlords and developers have had to increase their offers considerably. This can result in the net effective rent being up to 25 % below the initial headline
The list of projects for the coming years is expanding
The offer of truly modern office space in Prague is limited, and we do not expect a development boom any time soon, rather the opposite. This is mainly due to the war in Ukraine, rising prices, unavailability of building materials and construction workers, and rising interest rates.
Despite all of the uncertainties, projects are being pushed through and proposed and the pipeline for the upcoming 5 years is growing. The market is alive with requests and activity is building up towards the end of H1.
„Due to weak construction, the market will remain balanced between landlords and tenants, respectively will be more inclined to landlords. Tenants will not have enough choice of new buildings in popular locations and will extend their leases in existing buildings,” says Petr Žalský, Head of Office Department at Colliers, and adds: „We do not expect a significant increase in vacancy, on the contrary, the situation could encourage developers to build quality products in the desired locations, for which tenants are increasingly interested in the quality and sustainability of buildings.”.
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The Czech Republic and Poland will start uploading large datasets on the refugee crisis into the European registration system of refugees from Ukraine that will be launched in the forthcoming days. The registration system will allow for a rapid disclosure of duplicity in registered refugees within the whole of the EU.
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The white-collar workers’ trade unions have declared a strike alert from June 9 to push for their demands for a pay rise due to high inflation in the Czech Republic. The trade unions demand that the salaries be levelled up based on inflation to preserve their purchasing power. They have not reached an agreement yet.
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The Czech National Museum has brought 20 valuable collection items from Syria from the Bronze Age and antique, some of which are up to 4,000 years old, to Terezin for restoration. The artefacts were transported from Damascus with the aid of the Czech military.
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British blues and rock guitarist Jeff Beck is due to perform in Prague in July along with US actor and musician Johnny Depp, the organizers announced on Wednesday. The two artists recorded the song Isolation together in 2020 and are releasing a joint album in July.
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Czech carmaker Škoda Auto will resume supplies of vehicles to Ukraine in June and deliver 80 cars which will be assembled at the plant of Škoda’s business partner Eurocar in Ukraine’s Solomonovo.
Unemployment in the Czech Republic fell to 3.2 percent in May, a decrease of 0.1 percent when compared with the previous month, data published by the Czech Republic’s Labour Office on Wednesday show.
There are 235,468 job seekers in the country, 8,190 less than in April. The number of job vacancies decreased by about 7,000 compared to the previous month.
Last May, unemployment in the Czech Republic was 3.9 percent.
The labor market continues to be affected by seasonal work, which is in full swing, especially in construction, gastronomy, tourism, agriculture and horticulture, but also in forestry, fishing, spa and mining, said Viktor Najmon, director of the Czech Labor Office.
According to Najmon, unemployment could fall even further. “But everything will also depend on how the war in Ukraine develops and on the impact of the energy crisis on businesses,” he said.
According to available sources, a total of 68,885 citizens found a job since the Russian invasion of Ukraine; currently, at the end of May, 56,388 Ukrainians were working in the Czech Republic with a temporary visa. Most of them are in the Pilsen, Central Bohemia regions and in Prague.
Most unemployed people are in the Karviná region
The lowest unemployment rate remained in the Pardubice Region in May, with 2.1 percent. The share of unemployed people in the Ústí Region remains the highest at 5.1 percent. Year-on-year, the situation changed the most in the Karlovy Vary region, where unemployment fell to 3.8 percent from last year’s 5.7 percent in May.
Among the districts, the highest share of unemployed people is 8.2 percent in the Karviná region. It is 6.6 percent in the Most region, 6.2 percent in the Chomutov region and 5.6 percent in the Bruntál region.
The lowest unemployment rate of 1.1 percent is in the district of Prague-East, and 1.5 percent is in the districts of Pelhřimov and Prague-West.
Sports fans and runners will enjoy Moravia. The biggest out-of-Prague race will take them to Smetanovy sady in Olomouc – a beautiful park that is always full of spectators.
The race will start on Saturday, June 18.
One of the most popular race starts at 7 p.m. from Horní náměstí. The event is a celebration of a healthy lifestyle and a great atmosphere.
“We are always happy to come back to Olomouc, which is part of the historical region of Czech Silesia. Olomouc has a reputation as a race where nothing is impossible and every year brings surprises, especially when it comes to situations where an almost unknown athlete beats far more famous running colleagues,” said Project manager Run Czech Igor Murko.
Mattoni Olomouc Half Marathon has a five-star European Athletics Certificate which guarantees high European standards and qualities. This is also the reason why the race was several times voted the favorite by the runners.
Up to 6,000 runners from the Czech Republic and abroad are expected at the start of the race.
The event offers more categories. In addition to the half marathon, a 2Run is prepared for runners who do not yet feel completely prepared for the whole race.
The relay race is an ideal alternative for team runners. Of course, the traditional dm family run which will start at 5 p.m, is prepared for all family members.
The undemanding 3,5 km long course in the center of Olomouc is really suitable for everybody.
If you do not have a registration yet, do not wait for long. The last starting numbers are available here
The new Dvorce Bridge in Prague just got official approval. It will be open to trams, buses, cyclists, and pedestrians, but not cars.
The Prague City Hall has announced the winner of the tender for the construction of a new bridge across the Vltava, which will connect the Zlichov and Dvorce districts (Prague-5 and Prague-4).
The best offer was made by the consortium of companies Metrostav TBR, Strabag, and Firesta Fisher. According to the plan, the construction of the bridge will begin in August 2022.
The value of the contract under the tender is over one billion crowns. Prague City should receive half of this amount from European funds.
“The idea of building the bridge arose in 2009 when it was placed into the urban plan of the capital. The bridge will serve pedestrians, cyclists, and trams. Most importantly the latter, because, for now, trams crossing the river in that part of the city have to make a wide detour and cross over the Palacký bridge [further up north],” said Deputy Mayor for Transport Adam Scheinherr.
The project includes the design of a new Dvorecký most tram stop. The Prague 4 side of the bridge is planned next to Žluté lázně by Jeremenkova Street. The Prague 5 side will be near the Lihovar tram stop.
“Another interesting aspect about the bridge is that it was designed in the neo-cubist style. The Czech Republic has an established history when it comes to cubist architecture.”
The bridge will be 388 meters long and 16 meters wide.
The City Council also approved a footbridge at Štvanice ostrov to join Holešovice and Karlín. The footbridge will replace the ferry, which now connects the bank of the Vltava River at Pražská tržnice and Rohanské nábřeží.
Czech President Milos Zeman said Tuesday that he is ready to veto, if it’s approved by parliament, proposed legislation that would give same-sex couples in the country the right to hold civil weddings.
The bill drafted by lawmakers from across the political spectrum was submitted to the Czech Parliament’s lower house Tuesday, but no date has been set for the beginning of its debate.
It is strongly opposed by the Christian Democrats, a member of the governing five-party coalition, and by the opposition Freedom and Direct Democracy, an anti-migrant and anti-Muslim populist party.
“I’d like to announce that if I really receive such a law to sign I will veto it,” Zeman said Tuesday after meeting his Hungarian counterpart Katalin Novak.
Zeman noted that the Czech state already enables civil unions for same-sex couples, “But a family is a union between a man and a woman. Full stop.”
The Czech president is known for derogatory comments about the LGBTQ community.
A majority of all lawmakers in the lower house can override the presidential veto. The Czech presidency is a largely ceremonial post.
Parliament already started to debate similar legislation in 2018 but didn’t take a vote on it before last year’s general election and it had to be submitted again.
Same-sex marriage is now legal in some 30 countries worldwide, including most of Western Europe.
In the Czech Republic, Parliament approved in 2006 a law allowing same-sex partners to live in an officially registered partnership and have rights to inheritance and health care similar to those enjoyed by heterosexual married couples.
Such arrangements offer some of the protections of marriage, but many LGBTQ activists consider them a demeaning second-tier status.
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The Czech Constitutional Court rejected the appeal of German tourist Benjamin Wittig who got a one-year suspended sentence, a 100,000-crown fine and a five-year expulsion from Czechia for spray painting the 14th-century Charles Bridge in Prague in 2019, the court database writes today.
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Same-sex people will be able to conclude marriage as of next year under the amendment to the Civil Code the Czech Chamber of Deputies received today. The legislation was signed by one deputy from five deputy groups. Under the amendment, same-sex people are to have the same rights in marriage as man and woman. As a result, registered partnership homosexuals may conclude now would virtually vanish.
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The Prague Metropolitan Court will start dealing with the supposed subsidy fraud in the Capi hnizdo (Stork Nest) affair in which former prime minister Andrej Babis and his aide Jana Nagyova are prosecuted on September 12. Judge Jiri Sott dismissed the request for a preliminary hearing, servers Novinky.cz and SeznamZpravy wrote.
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The Opposition ANO of former prime minister Andrej Babis would win general election in Czechia in May with 28.5 percent of the vote, followed by the Civic Democrats (ODS) with 16.5 percent and Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) with 11.5 percent, according to the Median election model released today.
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Booster vaccines against Covid-19 will be covered by health insurance for everyone at least during the period of this autumn, Health Minister Vlastimil Válek told the Czech News Agency on Tuesday.