The planetarium in Prague is currently equipped with the digital projection system SkySkan, which was acquired in 2009 with 4K image quality.
This projection system had an estimated life of about 10,000 hours of operation and reached its limit in 2019. This year, there was a serious failure of the projectors’ optical elements.
The repair was demanding due to the unavailability of parts since projectors of this type are no longer produced. The repair managed to extend the life of the projector by approximately 2 to 3 years, and the end of life was further delayed by limited operation during the pandemic.
The Prague Planetarium still projects on the original dome built in 1958, which is not perfectly spherical, which may cause deformation of the projected image.
“We want to inspire children and arouse their interest in new technologies, science, and research. These areas have a great future and are already an important part of the economy. Therefore, at the same time as modernizing the planetarium, we are working on the preparation of the Science Park, which would focus on space, other aspects of modern science and technology and which we would like to place in the nearby Výstaviště complex, ” said Pavel Vyhnánek, Deputy Mayor of Finance and Budget.
“The planetarium will be closed for a necessary period of time due to the replacement of the projection system, as a number of construction work must be carried out, including the replacement of air conditioning. We estimate a total of six months work. We will use this time to create new programs so Prague will have at the same time the best projection system in the world,” adds Jakub Rozehnal, director of the Observatory and Planetarium of Prague.
“The City of Prague unanimously voted to allocate funds in the amount of CZK 250,000,000 for the purchase and implementation of a completely revolutionary projection system, which so far has equipped only two (i.e. smaller) planetariums in Japan. It is an “LED – dome” technology that creates an image using tens of millions of LEDs. This allows you to project with contrast and quality that are unattainable with conventional projection systems”, said Hana Trestikova, Prague Councillor for Culture and Tourism.
Visitors can taste African, American, Asian or European specialties. The Festival of International Cuisine takes place at Karlínské náměstí.
The Karlín International Cuisine Festival is a celebration of the many cultures and diversity represented across the world. Through live music, cultural displays, international food and drinks, a kids’ zone, and craft and merchandise vendors, visitors are able to explore a mosaic of different countries.
“We have representatives of four continents. You can taste something from each continent, and of course, there are also different stands selling authentic products, spices, and drinks,” said Veronika Brabcová, market organizer.
“The festival showcases the rich cultures and diverse communities that contribute to our vibrant city,” added Brabcová.
Organizers will also set up creative workshops and a stand for henna body paint. Live music will be provided by the Lovesong Orchestra, DJ Hlava, and DJ Senor Victor.
Find more information here
Circus Brothers
Expect an unforgettable experience at the festival from the music group Circus Brothers. They play the so-called disco-balkan with incredible energy, which combines the Balkan brass band, disco beat, cheap pop and dirty house.
Lovesong Orchestra
The Lovesong Orchestra is based on the rich tradition of Czech entertainment music. They reportedly learned from the Balkans how to play the brass band while in Spain they learned how to perform in front of thousands of people.
Two little boys in a yellow children’s sports car were driving along Brno’s Old Highway at the weekend. The unusual yet dangerous scene was reported to police on line 156 by a driver who spotted the toy car.
The car, which attracted attention for its brand and colour, as well as its size and passengers, raced along the Old Highway on Saturday afternoon.
Spotting the yellow Lamborghini with two small boys on board, an adult driver driving in the same direction pulled over and stopped the electric car.
It took only a moment for a city police unit to arrive on the four-lane road in Bystrc. The officers parked the regular-size police car to protect the children from traffic and asked the two young adventurers what they were doing on the busy road.
The boys were in the early years of primary school. One of them started crying at first, but soon they were both talking to the officers without a second thought. The police let the children demonstrate how to open the hood and inspected the two stored batteries.
The boys boasted that the car could reach up to 300 kilometres per hour and suggested they back up to the housing estate. They said they had accidentally taken a wrong turn.
The officers waited with the children while state police officers contacted their parents, who were brought to the scene. A city police patrol took the children and their parents safely from the highway via the nearest exit.
St. Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle, the seat of Czech kings, holds a priceless treasure: the Bohemian crown jewels which were used in the coronations of the country’s monarchs.
The crown jewels, including a crown, orb, and scepter, are kept in a vault in St Vitus’ Cathedral. The chamber has seven locks, and seven significant Czech figures including President Miloš Zeman hold the keys.
The other key holders are the prime minister, the Prague archbishop, the chairman of the House of Deputies, the chairman of the Senate, the dean of the Metropolitan Chapter of St. Vitus’ Cathedral and the mayor of Prague.
“For four years, this state treasure has been hidden from public view. And that’s a shame. As one of the seven keymen, I, therefore, propose the display of jewels. Our protocol department is already trying to arrange a possible meeting with the Castle,” said Prague Mayor Zdeněk Hřib.
The crown jewels were originally held at Karlštejn Castle. Since 1791 they have been kept in St Vitus’ Cathedral at Prague Castle.
The crown was made for the coronation of Charles IV in 1347 and is the fourth-oldest in Europe.
The crown is made from 22-carat gold with 19 sapphires, 30 emeralds, 44 spinels, 20 pearls, one ruby, one rubellite and one aquamarine. At the top of the crown is the cross, which allegedly has a thorn from Christ’s crown of thorns.
The scepter is 18-carat gold, with four sapphires, five spinels and 62 pearls with a large spinel mounted on top of the scepter. The orb is made from 18-carat gold with eight sapphires, six spinels, and 31 pearls. It is decorated with scenes from the Old Testament.
Chci lidem zpřístupnit korunovační klenoty! 👑
Už 4 roky je tento největší státní poklad ukrytý zraku veřejnosti. A to je škoda. Jako jeden ze sedmi klíčníků proto navrhuji vystavení klenotů. Naše oddělení protokolu už se snaží s Hradem domluvit na možné schůzce. pic.twitter.com/334m1syrkD— Zdeněk Hřib (@ZdenekHrib) June 6, 2022
St. Wenceslas Crown
The St. Wenceslas Crown – wrought of extremely pure gold (21 -22 carat), decorated with precious stones and pearls – is the oldest item of the Crown Jewels. It weighs almost two and a half kilos and, including the cross, reaches a height of 19 cm. Likewise, its diameter is 19 cm and each of the four parts of the headband measures 14.5 cm.
Charles IV had it made for his coronation in 1347 and forthwith he dedicated it to the first patron saint of the country, St. Wenceslas, and bequeathed it as a state crown for the coronation of future Czech kings, his successors to the Czech throne. However, perhaps to the end of his days (1378) he continually had the Crown altered and set with additional rare precious stones he managed to acquire. And so the crown developed into its final contemporary image.
Royal Apple
The Apple wrought of fine gold (18 carat), weighs 780 grams and measures 22 cm in height. It consists of two flattened hemispheres linked by a decorative circular band and crowned with a fairly large cross.
The circle under the cross bears the inscription DOMINE IN VIRTUTE TUA LETABITUR REX ET SUPER SALUTARE TUAM EXULTABIT (O Lord, in Thy strength the king will be glad and in Thy salvation how greatly he will rejoice). The richly ornamented decorations feature predominantly precious stones and pearls, while the slight little figures of six sphinxes on the base of the cross form a charming detail.
Coronation Cloak
The Coronation Cloak, which has been preserved at Prague Castle, is made of luxurious silk material, called gold lily. A pattern of the cloth is made of a silk thread wound around a flat golden wire (purl). The design of the cloak itself is semi-circular, without sleeves, prolonged at the back to form a train. It is 312 cm wide and measures in length 236 cm from the neckline to the end of the train.
If your day doesn’t start until you’re up to speed on the latest headlines, then let us introduce you to our new morning fix.
-
The board of the Czech National Bank is likely to raise the base interest rate by 0.75 percentage points or more at its meeting later this month, the outgoing governor of the central bank Jiří Rusnok said in an interview for Aktuálně.cz.
.
-
Russian President Vladimir Putin should be prosecuted by an international tribunal for the atrocities committed in Ukraine, Czech President Miloš Zeman said in an interview for Radio Free Europe.
-
The average wage in the Czech Republic fell by an average of 3.7 % in real terms in the first quarter of this year due to inflation, the Czech News Agency reported citing data from economic analysts.
-
The Czech Post has started testing extended working hours for parcel deliverers in Prague. They will deliver parcels 12 hours a day instead of the current eight. The delivery will thus last until approximately 20:00.
-
The Sudeten German Association has launched a new app Sudeten.net designed to help Sudeten Germans search for their ancestors, but also to re-establish old contacts and find people who still speak some of the old Sudeten German dialects.
Even though the number of Ukrainian refugees registering with Czech immigration police or requesting temporary protection is falling, some regions are overburdened.
The number of temporary protection visas issued by the Czech Republic to Ukrainian refugees keeps dropping as Czechia issued 340 on Saturday, 142 fewer than a week ago.
In total, Czechia has issued 364,431 since Russia invaded Ukraine at the end of February, the interior ministry tweeted on Sunday.
However, some refugees are already leaving Czechia as about 300,000 are currently staying in the country, Interior Minister Vit Rakušan (STAN) told the media last week.
Rakušan estimates that of the approximately 50,000 refugees who have already left the Czech Republic, around half have returned to Ukraine, and half have continued to other countries, mostly Germany.
So far, 280,927 refugees from Ukraine have registered with the Czech immigration police, 1,044 on Saturday alone. The duty to report to the immigration police does not apply to minors under 15, who make up about 30% of the incoming refugees.
Regional refugee assistance centres have been operating all over the country, offering aid with registration, accommodation, personal documents, job mediation and insurance to Ukrainians.
Prague Mayor Zdeněk Hřib (Pirates) announced on Wednesday (1 June) that the big regional centre in the capital would close as of 15 June because Prague was overburdened.
The city has had to resort to building tent cities where refugees have poor living conditions. The city’s mayor is demanding a system of relocation of refugees to the less overloaded regions of the country.
The Czech Republic will cope with the situation even if the Prague centre closes, Rakušan said. Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS) is to debate the issue with Hřib on 17 June.
In an interview with Seznam Zprávy last week, the government’s newly appointed Human Rights Commissioner, Klára Šimáčková Laurenčíková, stressed that in the coming months, it will be necessary to distribute the refugees evenly throughout the Czech Republic to places where they can find work, schools and accommodation.
The Czech Design Week design and art festival will take place at the Mánes Gallery from 2 to 4 September 2022.
The festival will display the most interesting works by Czech and international designers with an emphasis on authenticity and personal approach.
Come and see the best of interior and industrial design, glass, ceramics, fashion, jewelry, graphics and visual creation. There will also be a daily accompanying educational and music program.
Within three days from 2 to 4 September, Czech Design Week will offer a wide selection of contemporary Czech and foreign works by various designers, students, brands and studios across all fields of design: from interior and industrial design, glass, ceramics, fashion and jewelry to graphics and visual creation.
The installation format will also complement the daily accompanying program at the festival in the form of lectures, panel discussions,
music performances and now also fashion shows.
This year’s festival will be prepared by Idea & Maker studio, run by the Czech duo Johana and and her husband Maxim Kroft, whose digital
art extends to the world of the NFT.
Applications for Czech Design Week 2022 are open to anyone who is not afraid to show their work and go through curatorial supervision.
If your day doesn’t start until you’re up to speed on the latest headlines, then let us introduce you to our new morning fix.
-
Former PM Andrej Babiš currently has the highest support of all candidates in the race for the 2023 presidential elections, according to the outcome of a May poll conducted by the Median agency. Babiš received 28.5% support, followed by General Petr Pavel with 19.5% and trade union leader Josef Středula with 7.5%.
.
-
The Czech Republic, during its forthcoming EU presidency, will promote the acceptance of Ukraine for a candidate for EU entry, said Czech Senate deputy chairman Jiri Ruzicka. “We will explain to other EU states why the granting of the EU candidate status to Ukraine is also important in connection with the current Russian invasion”, Ruzicka said.
-
Czechs’ awareness of sustainable development goals (SDGs) increased from 52 percent last year to 62 percent now, according to a poll conducted by the Ipsos agency for Association of Social Responsibility. The SDGs include eradication of extreme poverty, fight against inequality and climate protection.
-
The presence of two new Omicron subvariants, designated BA.4 and BA.5, have been confirmed in the Czech Republic by the State Health Institute.
-
The Sudeten German Association has launched a new app Sudeten.net designed to help Sudeten Germans search for their ancestors, but also to re-establish old contacts and find people who still speak some of the old Sudeten German dialects.
The Ministry of Finance has presented its first economic forecast, having also taken into account the war in Ukraine. It has thus significantly worsened its estimate of the Czech economy’s growth this year to 1.2 percent from 3.1 percent in January.
At the same time, in comparison to the January estimates, the office expects higher average inflation for this year at 12.3 %. So far this year, it has predicted a price rise of 8.5 percent.
Economic growth this year is expected to be driven by government and private sector investment and consumption.
At the same time, however, household consumption will be enfeebled by a significant increase in the cost of living, especially energy prices, and the CNB’s (Czech National Bank) tightening monetary policy.
For next year, the government body expects economic growth to accelerate to 3.6 percent and the average inflation rate to fall to 4.4 percent.
However, the ministry said the estimates are currently very uncertain, mainly because of the impact of the war in Ukraine.
“On the one hand, the influx of refugees from Ukraine could ease labor market deficiency and weaken upward pressure on wages growth, but potentially unsuccessful integration could pose a significant social problem in the future,” the ministry said. Year-on-year inflation is expected to be in double digits for the rest of the year, peaking above 13 percent in the second quarter.”
Annual inflation should approach the CNB’s two percent inflation target only at the end of next year,” the ministry said.
Czech economy grew by 4.8 percent in the first quarter of 2022
The Czech economy grew year-on-year by 4.8 percent during the first quarter of 2022, according to an estimate released by the Czech Statistics Agency. Compared to the previous quarter, GDP grew by 0.9 percent.
The estimate shows that the Czech economy grew slightly more than had originally been forecast by economists as the previous agency forecast lay at 4.6 percent growth in the first quarter.
FlixBus proves once again that it is an essential segment in the development of Croatia’s tourist offer with the addition of three destinations.
On May 30, began the operations between Prague and Rijeka began. Buses run five times a week. Ticket price – from CZK 749.
On June 1, the carrier launched a connection to Pula (Istrian peninsula), five times a week.
From June 2, you can also reach Split on a daily basis. Tickets start from CZK 999.
˝FlixBus, as a strong European brand, thanks to its wide network, high frequency and affordable and quality service during all these years, has established itself as an important segment in the development of Croatia’s tourist offer. And in these challenging times for all of us, we strive to respond positively to the needs of our passengers for travel and to update our offer while respecting all safety measures constantly,” said Ante Grbesa, director of FlixBus CEE South region.
Until this year, the increase in the number of tourists arriving from abroad by FlixBus buses, from season to season, has grown by up to 80% to certain destinations.
The FlixBus green bus network extends to 29 European countries and connects 2,000 destinations with 350,000 daily lines.
In 2021, FlixBus introduced new European lines in addition to the existing ones, so it is now possible to reach Dalmatian cities via Split directly from Brussels and Hanover, while Zadar is connected with Berlin and Maastricht.
It is also possible to travel to Zagreb from Antwerp and Amsterdam, and from Amsterdam, it will also be possible to travel directly from Slavonski Brod, which also connects with Frankfurt. The county will be connected with Antwerp and Bonn.
The Czech sculptor Jaroslav Róna will create a new memorial from the cut Jewish gravestones, which have been part of the paving on Wenceslas Square in Prague for decades.
The Jewish community in Prague is launching a crowdfunding campaign to build the memorial, stated in a press release Petra Schwarz Koutská of the Jewish community.
The memorial will be placed close to the Jewish cemetery not too far from the Žižkov TV Tower in Mahlerovy sady.
For many years, the Jewish community in Prague drew attention to the origin of the paving in the lower part of Wenceslas Square.
In 2020, dozens of paving stones made from Jewish headstones have been found during redevelopment work, confirming speculation that the former communist regime raided synagogues and graveyards for building materials.
The names of the dead are unidentifiable because the headstones have been broken to form cobblestones. One person appears to have died in 1877, when Prague was part of the Habsburg empire, while the most recent death is shown to have happened in the 1970s, during the height of communism.
The stones appear to have been taken from different cemeteries.
Thanks to a memorandum signed by Prague and the Technical Administration of Roads, the paving stones returned to the Jewish community.
The new memorial will have the shape of a horizontal circular lens of 200 gravestones with remnants of Hebrew and Czech inscriptions. The total budget is estimated at 750,000 crowns, and will be unveiled on September 7.
“We also ask those of you who care that the stones, as witnesses of past injustices, will experience lost piety. We therefore ask you to contribute to the reverential correction of past crimes, “says the chairman of the Jewish community in Prague and the campaign organizer František Bányai. He wants to raise 150,000 crowns, which should allow the surroundings of the new monument .
The seventh annual Praha žije hudbou festival brings live music to the streets and squares across the city on June 3 and 4.
Praha Žije Hudbou is a street art festival whose aim is to present street art to the public and support the idea of busking. Dozens of places in Prague will transform into stages, on which will perform popular Czech musicians, theatre ensembles, acrobats and others.
The program of the event includes approx. 500 concerts and performances in Prague.
The stars of this year include Aneta Langerová, Lenka Dusilová, Mucha, James Harries, Scott & Lila, Prago Union, Hellwana… and many others!
Busking
Busking does not include just music acts, but is any street performance, from music to magic, theatre to dance. Passers-by usually toss a voluntary contribution into their favourite performer’s hat. Even though the artists at the festival do not charge for the public to watch and listen to their performances, they will surely appreciate your support!
Festival venues
5 stages for music acts, 1 stage for theatre and over 40 busker points will be created in Kasarna Karlin, Kampa, Jungmannovo Square, Můstek, Stalin and other locations.
In fact, you can simply walk all the way through Prague from Dejvice to Jungmannovo Square while enjoying free programs and deciding which buskers to support by throwing change into their hats.
Find more information here