Restoration experts have been set an unusual task – to dismantle four towering pyramids made up of centuries-old bones from more than 40,000 human bodies, clean them up and then reconstruct them as before. The restoration project is aimed at preserving the bones at the Sedlec ossuary church in Kutna Hora. The project also aims to restore and strengthen the church building which houses the bones and skulls. The site also boasts a chandelier, a coat of arms and various other decorations made from every bone in the human body. “Many people find it weird today and come to see this as some dark spectacle, a house of horrors,” said Radka Krejci, in charge of operations at the local parish. “But we do not want it to be perceived like that, it is a place of reverence, a burial place.” The bones came from a cemetery adjacent to a monastery founded by the Cistercian order in 1142. The burial ground was enlarged during a plague epidemic in the 14th century. In 1318, about 30,000 people were buried here and more joined them in the 15th century during religious wars between Roman Catholics and the Hussites. The present appearance of the bone structures dates...
Jerry Agudogo was born in Accra, Ghana. He wanted to be a doctor for a long. So when he got a newspaper with an ad promoting a government scholarship to study in Czechoslovakia in 1984, he did not hesitate. His father was an appraiser and his mother was a midwife at a hospital where he now works. He always wanted to be a doctor. When he was due to go to a medical school in the capital, there was a coup in the country and the school was to be closed. “But there was an opportunity to apply for a scholarship,” he recalls in perfect Slovak. It was written in 1984 and he was given the opportunity to study newspapers in Czechoslovakia. From his own inquisition he knew about Charles University in Prague, so he was very pleased to go to Prague, only to discover at the airport in Ruzyne that he was going to study in Slovakia. First, he underwent a nine-month language course in the Slovak town of Senec, along with a number of other foreign students. In the medicine circle in Bratislava, he was the only foreigner, who studied in Slovak and the textbooks were often in...
While discovering the city I always recommend not to just stay in the city centre. If you don’t, you will soon find out that the best bits of Prague are hidden a bit further out, somewhere else. Ouky Douky is a great proof of that. If you are a book enthusiast, it will definitely be love at first sight. Ouky Douky is a cafe, bar and as a great bonus – antique book shop. You can get lost between the shelves and find your new favourite book. They offer books from really old ones to newer ones and some of the titles are really interesting. Plus, some of them cost just a few crowns! While enjoying your book or coffee, don’t forget to look up and notice some interesting artwork and up-to-date exhibitions. The menu consists of toasts, soups, salads, and cakes, and they have a wide selection of tasty breakfast meals for reasonable prices. While during the day it lives its classic cafe life, in the evening the spot turns into a relaxed bar, just perfect for hanging out with friends over a glass of wine or beer. It doesn’t matter if you are a morning or an evening person,...
The venue of the sixth annual of the Future Gate Sci-Fi Festival will be the Lucerna Palace in Prague. The festival will later travel to Brno, Pilsen, and Šumperk. Just like the previous year, organizers hand-picked a collection of timeless classics, brand new flicks and insightful documentaries. This year, they prepared a marathon-viewing of the first season of the Red Dwarf show with special guest Norman Lovett. They also prepared an accompanying programme – exhibitions, speeches, games and creative workshops. You can try upcycling – creating new stuff from scrap – or watch drone footage of the Czech landscape. This year’s theme is ‘The World is not a toy’, or the influence of humankind has on our planet not only in the ecological sense. Science fiction is connected to the theme of Apocalypse from the beginning and destruction on the big screen is actually fun, isn’t it? It would be nice for you to think about how the end of the world is spilling from fiction to reality, but it would be even nicer if you’d have fun. The Prague leg of the festival will open on Wednesday, March 27, with new Hungarian film Lajko: Gypsy in Space, a black comedy that suggests the...
In 1897, the redevelopment of the Jewish Town also affected the house situated on the corner of Kaprova Street and Maiselova Street. In this house was born on July 3rd, 1883 the major writer Franz Kafka. He actually lived here with his parents only for a short time, until 1885, when the Kafka family moved to the house on Wenceslas Square. His former home is due to open to the public in May following a 165.5 million crown reconstruction project that began in August 2017. It will host exhibition spaces, residential units, a museum and a cafè. Franz was born July 3, 1883, to Hermann and Julie Kafka. In 1897 the house was damaged by a fire, and the entryway is the only original part. The Josefov neighborhood has other two locations where Kafka lived. The first was Zum Schiff (“at the ship”) at Pařížská 36. The house was demolished in 1945 but is noteworthy because it played a role in The Metamorphosis: the novella was written here and the arrangement of the rooms in the story matched the building’s layout. His story “The Judgement” came to light here as well, in the night of Sept. 22–23, 1912. A hotel is...
In mid-August 1945, hundreds of young Jews, survivors of the Nazi Holocaust, posed for three remarkable photographs in front of Jan Hus memorial. Those standing in front of the memorial were to become known as “The Boys”: the photographs of them were taken just before they boarded Royal Air Force transport planes and a new life in Britain. Ten Stirling Aircraft of the RAF’s 196 Squadron flew on August 14 from Prague to Crosby on Eden, near the Lake District, with the first batch of children and their adult escorts. This May, under the auspices of the 45 Aid Society, some of those in the original pictures — and scores of their children, grand-children and great-grandchildren — will once again gather in Prague, to recreate the historic pictures. After the war ended, Britain agreed to take in 1,000 orphaned child survivors of the concentration camps. Only 732 could be found — mainly Polish, Hungarian and Czech children — some of whom were liberated from the Czech camp, Theresienstadt. The young Jews, ranging in age from toddlers to teenagers, were flown to special hostels set up across the UK for rehabilitation and recovery. The group set up the 45 Aid Society in 1963...
Czechoslovakia, as well as other Central European countries, had a large Jewish community before the Second World War. Many of its Jewish citizens perished in concentration camps and survivors had to face up to the horrors of what they had been through. According to the 1930 census, 356,830 persons in the Czechoslovak Republic identified themselves as Jews by religion: 117,551 in Bohemia and Moravia, 136,737 in Slovakia, and 102,542 in Subcarpathian Rus. After the breakup of Czechoslovakia, approximately 118,310 persons defined as Jews lived in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. During the Holocaust, the Germans and their collaborators killed approximately 263,000 Jews who had resided in the territory of the Czechoslovak Republic in 1938. Deportations from the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia In November 1941, RSHA chief Reinhard Heydrich ordered the creation of a camp-ghetto at Theresienstadt, 60 km north of Prague. Between 1941 and late 1944, the German authorities deported 73,603 Jews from Prague, Brno, Ostrava, Olomouc, and other towns of the Protectorate to Theresienstadt. Most stayed only briefly in Theresienstadt, which served as a transit camp for Protectorate Jews. SS and police personnel deported the vast majority to killing sites in the Baltic States and transit camp-ghettos in District Lublin...
The National Gallery in Prague celebrates 223rd anniversary of its establishment on February 2–3. On these days, admission to all permanent exhibitions of the National Gallery in Prague is free. 1) The Convent of St. Agnes of Bohemia Not many people know about this hidden gem. Housed within one of the city’s oldest gothic buildings, this gallery offers a well-thought-out tour of medieval and early renaissance Czech art. 2) The Kinsky Palace The Kinsky Palace, located on Old Town Square, is one of the National Gallery’s most visited attractions. It is home to a permanent exhibition called “The Art of Asia”. It contains paintings, graphic art, ceramics, bronze ware, pottery and metalwork from Japan, China, Korea, Tibet, South and Southeast Asia. 3) The Trade Fair Palace This huge building currently contains 5 temporary and 2 permanent exhibitions and is a must visit for connoisseurs of modern art. You can take a stroll through the development of Czech art from the mid 19th century to modern day. You can also explore the international art scene of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. This collection contains work by Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Cezanne and Pablo Picasso amongst others. Other National Gallery Locations, where you will find free exhibitions this weekend are: The Sternberg Palace Hradčanské náměstí 15, Prague 1...
Kino Světozor‘s ‘Catch-Up Tuesday’ and English language film blog Movie Barf, by popular demand, are going to present a second English friendly screening of the new Alfonso Cuarón film ROMA in the big screening hall. ROMA chronicles a year in the life of Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio), a quiet young maid for a wealthy family in Mexico City in the 1970s, who falls pregnant after an unfortunate affair. Her journey only becomes more complicated when it becomes caught up in the violence of Mexico’s politics. Based on a true story and directed by Mexican auteur Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity, Children of Men), the critically acclaimed ROMA has already won multiple awards for its stunning portrayal of the life and the political turbulence in Mexico at that time, and its masterful use of black and white and captivating cinematography. The film recently won two Golden Globes and is also set to sweep the Oscars. ROMA is undeniably one of the best films of 2018. The screening will have both Czech and English subtitles. Catch-Up Tuesday presents contemporary foreign films with English subtitles every Tuesday in Kino Světozor. Author: red
Are you a culture enthusiast? Or just looking to try something new? Here are a few of our recommended exhibitions this year in the Czech Republic: Galerie Rudolfinum Exhibiting at the prestigious Rudolfinum Gallery here in Prague. You can enjoy the audio-visual project of American artist, cinematographer, and filmmaker Arthur Jafa up until March. The artistic display reflects on the history, culture, and contributions of African-Americans in the US. It is incredibly moving. The installation is presented part of his European tour; after London in 2017, the exhibition was held at the Julia Stoschek Collection in Berlin in summer 2018, currently, in Prague, it will continue to Moderna Museet Stockholm in early April. Veletržní palac National Gallery in Veletrzni Palace will offer a photo exhibition from March art group ASA 400, whose members include Tomki German, Elizabeth Jungrová and Antonin Kratochvil whose photography focuses on the present and realism. Pražákuv Palac (Brno) Vladimir Boudnik was a graphic artist, photographer and a key figure in Czech post-war art, and a representative of the “explosionism” movement. Vladimir Boudnik has never had a ‘good’ show. Mostly he exhibited his works in the factory where he worked, where the audience were his co-workers. Pražákuv...
The Canadian of Czech origin survived the Theresienstadt and Auschwitz concentration camps during World War II. After moving to North America in 1951, he lectured from time to time about what he had witnessed. The 90-year-old passed away from heart failure, according to a relative, former Czech Minister of Culture Daniel Herman. George Brady was born in Nove Mesto, a small town in the former Czechoslovakia, in 1928. His family, reportedly the only Jewish family in town, had a comfortable middle-class life until Nazi Germany invaded the country in 1939. Brady’s parents were deported early in the war and reportedly died at Auschwitz. Aged 13, George and his younger sister were first sent to live with a Catholic uncle elsewhere in Czechoslovakia but in 1944 were sent to Auschwitz. Assigned to the labor force in Auschwitz, George survived the camp. But his sister, Hana, died in a gas chamber there at age 13. He then returned to his uncle’s home, finished his schooling, and fled communist Czechoslovakia in 1951. After becoming a Canadian citizen, he set up a plumbing company in Toronto. In 2016, Brady made headlines when Czech President Milos Zeman refused to award him a medal on National Day....
January 19th 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of student Jan Palach’s death after self-immolation to protest about the invasion of Czechoslovakia by by Warsaw Pact troops. About half-past one, Jan Palach doused himself in petrol and set himself on fire near the fountain at the National Museum in Wenceslas Square in Prague. After several minutes, those passing managed to extinguish the living torch. The seriously burnt student was taken to the Faculty Hospital in Vinohrady, but the injuries were so serious that he had no hope of surviving. He left a letter at the site explaining the motives of his terrible act: “As our nation is living in a desperate situation, and its reconciliation with fate has reached its utmost stage, we have decided that in this way we will express our protest and shake the conscience of the nation …ˮ He died three days later, on 19 January 1969. The funeral of the young man at Prague’s Olšany Cemetery on 25 January 1969 was a mass protest against the ongoing allied occupation. Tens of thousands of people attended, but no government representatives came. Sadly, Jan Palach was not the only such victim. On 20 January 1969, a young worker named Josef Hlavatý did the same in...
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