Residents and visitors of Prague can enjoy a special week-long discount at several museums and galleries in the city center. From July 15 to July 21, these cultural institutions will offer a 20% discount on admission as part of the “Cultural Mile” initiative by the city’s authorities. The project’s aim is to elevate the prestige of fine art in Prague and attract more visitors to its art institutions. This initiative provides a perfect opportunity to explore Prague’s rich cultural heritage at a reduced cost. Participating museums and galleries include: Clam-Gallas Palace One of Prague’s masterpieces of Baroque architecture and a superb example of Baroque living and the aristocratic lifestyle of the time. Ludwig van Beethoven and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart both performed here, for instance. Museum of Decorative Arts The building is a work of art in its own right. It was financed by Czech patrons and industrialists and its lavish embellishments showcase the best that arts and crafts in the Czech lands of the 19th century had to offer. You will be endlessly amazed, as are we Prague residents. By the way, the museum building offers a beautiful view of one of the oldest Jewish cemeteries in the world. Prague...
On September 22, as part of World Rivers Day, the Vltava River and its surroundings will host the first annual multi-genre festival “Know the Vltava,” the largest of its kind in Europe. Spanning from the Podolská waterworks to the Old Wastewater Treatment Plant in Bubeneč, the event will feature tours, artistic performances, workshops, and special programs for children along the embankment. This event will bring together over three dozen participants, showcasing the river’s significance in various contexts—from its crucial role in the city’s infrastructure and environmental impact to its cultural and sporting influences. Currently, 35 companies, organizations, and cultural institutions are involved in the preparations, with more than eighty activities planned. Organized by the municipal organization Kreativní Praha, in cooperation with the Prague Institute of Planning and Development (IPR Prague), the festival will offer most activities free of charge. The central theme of the festival is education about the river and its conservation. Visitors will have the chance to explore normally inaccessible areas, such as the recently revealed supply tunnel system of the historic National Theater, leading from the golden chapel to the Vltava River, and the Old Wastewater Treatment Plant in Bubeneč. The century-old lock in Smíchov will also be open for detailed guided...
Czechia has offered to take in and treat child cancer patients displaced by Russia’s deadly missile strike that destroyed part of Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital in Kyiv on Monday. This assistance was discussed by the presidents of both countries, Volodymyr Zelensky and Petr Pavel, at the ongoing NATO summit in Washington. At least 42 people were killed in the massive Russian daytime barrage in multiple Ukrainian cities. The Okhmatdyt children’s hospital, including its childhood cancer ward, was hit during the onslaught. Pictures on social media showed parents comforting bloodied children and rescuers digging bodies from amidst the building’s rubble. Transporting patients to the Czech Republic is logistically expensive and is usually chosen when adequate care cannot be provided locally. For example, an 18-month-old girl from Lviv, who suffered extensive burns in March 2022, was treated in Prague and eventually discharged home. Initially, Czech representatives also offered Ukraine financial humanitarian aid to repair the destroyed hospital and provide medicines. The Czech Ministry of Health stated they are currently waiting for their counterparts in Kyiv to send a list of needed materials, medicines, and other medical supplies. The Russian strike came before NATO leaders gathered in Washington, DC for a summit this...
People in the Czech Republic prefer US President Joe Biden more than they did Donald Trump when the former Republican president’s term was coming to an end in 2020, a poll showed. With just months before the November US election, 41% of people in Czechia had a positive view of Biden, according to the STEM/MARK opinion survey published on Tuesday. That compared to 26% of Czechs who saw Trump in a favorable light just over four years ago, the poll showed. Controversy in the campaign battle between Biden, 81, and Trump, 78, has intensified following the June 27 US presidential debate in Atlanta, where Trump made dozens of false statements and Biden sometimes struggled to articulate his thoughts. For Czechs, who are staunch allies of their fellow NATO member the US, the performance of both candidates was alarming. “Trump is crazy, but Biden is too old to even form a sentence,” said Jan Oliverius, 36, in downtown Prague. While Biden’s end-term popularity is higher than Trump’s for Czechs, his appeal has dropped since he took power in 2021, when 55% of Czechs approved of his victory, the poll showed. US opinion surveys show Trump is leading Biden ahead of the...
The Czech unemployment level was 3.6% in June, which was the same level as in May. There were 272,684 persons registered with the country’s Labour Office, which was 1,638 less than in May. In year-on-year terms, the unemployment level was up by 0.2 percentage points, or by 22,892 job applicants. Head of the Labour Office Daniel Kristof commented on the developments in the first half of 2024. He highlighted “three clear super-trends” which are the dropping interest in “low qualified work” and “growth of interest in requalification”. “The third significant trend is the growing number of people which the Labour Office returns to the labour market,” Kristof commented. The unemployment level has dropped month-on-month in 12 of the 14 regions in the country and in 52 of the 77 districts. The district of Most in the north of the country along the German border has the highest unemployment rate in the country at 8.4%, replacing the district Karvina in the northeast after the large coal mine CSA shut down and laid off a large part of the staff. At the end of June 123,813 Ukrainians sheltered in Czechia under the temporary protection scheme, introduced following the February 2022 Russian invasion...
co-written by Catherine Cox. The head of baggage handling at Prague’s airport resigned after hundreds of travelers reported lost luggage, and employees declared a strike alert on Tuesday, threatening to snarl arrivals during the busy summer tourist season. Tomas Svoboda stepped down from his position as chairman of the board of the airport baggage handling company at Vaclav Havel Airport Prague, airport spokeswoman Klara Diviskova said in a statement. He’ll be replaced by Jiri Jarkovsky, who said he’ll focus on rectifying the crisis that resulted from the abnormally high airport traffic carrying summer visitors to many popular European cities. “I believe that we will be able to prevent the situations that have occurred in recent days at the Prague airport,” Jarkovsky said, according to the CTK news agency. Meanwhile, the Land and Air Trade union said on Monday that they would hold a strike on a date that they will announce later. The union represents 400 of the 2,700 workers at the airport. The union said its workers will walk out because of insufficient staffing, poor management, and low pay, among other reasons, according to a statement. Passenger arrivals surge during the summer, and Prague Airport expects about 3.5 million...
Israeli startup Similarweb, which already has development centres in Tel Aviv and Kiev, is expanding to Prague. The company is starting with 25 employees and plans to grow to 100 developers. CEO and co-founder Or Offer began his entrepreneurial journey in a family jewellery business in Jerusalem. Seeking more than the family trade, Offer aimed to transform the small shop into a well-known brand. When he searched for information on jewelry designer David Yurman for inspiration, he discovered a lack of online tools to find similar jewelry stores. This led him and his friends to develop a browser plugin that analyzed browsing history to recommend similar sites. The plugin quickly became popular, with tens of millions of downloads. That was in 2007. Today, Similarweb offers much more. Its web intelligence platform helps businesses make data-driven decisions, analyzing everything from basic traffic data to online user behavior. Its clients include Google, eBay, Adidas, Zalando, and Booking.com. Similarweb chose Prague for its new development centre due to the city’s wealth of talent, culture of innovation, and problem-solving ethos. “We are opening this centre in Prague primarily because of the talented professionals here. Given our focus on big data and AI, we also...
Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said on Tuesday he had summoned Russia’s ambassador in Prague following an attack on a children’s hospital in Ukraine’s capital, saying those who carried out the strike were the “dregs of humanity”. Ukrainian authorities say Russia struck the main children’s hospital in Kyiv with a cruise missile and fired missiles at other cities on Monday, killing at least 41 civilians across the country. Russia denied it had attacked a Kyiv children’s hospital and said, without providing evidence, that Ukrainian anti-missile fire was to blame for Monday’s strike. “I have decided to summon the Russian ambassador,” Lipavsky said on social media platform X. “Murderers who attack children in hospitals are the dregs of humanity. He has been instructed to deliver the message in Moscow.” The Russian ambassador met a Czech deputy minister while Lipavsky was on a trip to Washington for a NATO summit. Writing on the Telegram messaging app, Zelenskiy said more than 100 buildings had been damaged, including the children’s hospital and a maternity centre in Kyiv, children’s nurseries and a business centre and homes. “The Russian terrorists must answer for this,” he wrote. “Being concerned does not stop terror. Condolences are not a...
An unauthorized modification of the fifth-floor terrace in Prague’s Máj building has caused a stir. The terrace was expanded to include children’s play elements without approval from the building authority. This expansion reduced parking space, violating regulations, according to an official statement obtained by our newspaper. The legal action is being taken against Máj Národní, a subsidiary of Amadeus Real Estate. The developer claims the issue arose from a mistake by the outdoor playground supplier. “It appears the supplier incorrectly assumed that installing mobile play elements did not require approval, as it typically wouldn’t. However, given the building’s status as a cultural monument, the standard procedure should have been followed. We unfortunately discovered this only after the fact,” said Martin Klán, a member of the Amadeus Real Estate board. “He apparently misjudged the installation of the mobile play equipment on the terrace as a non-structural alteration, which is not normally subject to the permitting process,” added Klán. “We are already working to rectify this formal error and are discussing the adjustment with all the authorities concerned and the building authority,” he assured. As a result, the building authority initiated proceedings to remove the structure in late June. The developer requested...
US fast-food giant Wendy’s announced on Tuesday its ambitious plans to open hundreds of restaurants across Europe in the next decade. The expansion will begin in the Czech Republic and include Spain, Portugal, France, the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Romania, and Poland. Currently, Wendy’s operates only in the UK outside the United States, starting from 2021. Michael Clarke, Wendy’s Managing Director for Europe, described the Czech Republic as an ideal base for the chain’s European expansion. He cited the strong domestic market, geographical location, and the country’s fast-food tradition as key factors. This is why the Czech Republic is part of the first wave of the expansion. “We were encouraged by the positive response to a recent event at the US Embassy in Prague, where we received initial franchise applications,” Clarke said. “We welcome more applicants who want to partner with us and operate Wendy’s restaurants in the Czech Republic.” Wendy’s plans to operate up to 50 restaurants in Britain by the end of the year, with a long-term goal of 400. Although the Czech Republic is in the first wave, negotiations are moving fastest in Ireland and Romania. The company has signed contracts with franchisees in these countries...
People begging for money with a litter of kittens sleeping in their lap or a forlorn-looking dog lying on the ground beside them are a common sight in Prague streets, but could soon become a thing of the past if a proposed change to the law is accepted. People have been fooled by this trick, resulting in more and more animals being kept on the streets in harsh weather conditions, which harms their health and well-being. This problem is growing, especially in larger cities, and often involves foreigners, particularly Romanian gangs. “These people get animals and force them to stay in the hot city center for days without being able to move properly,” explains Pavel Buršík from OBRAZ (Obránci zvířat). Fortunately, these practices might soon end, as Prague City is preparing changes to the rules that restrict begging. If everything goes as planned, begging with an animal and public performances involving animals will be banned throughout the capital. Councilors will vote on the proposals, and municipal districts can comment on them until tomorrow. According to Jiří Pospíšil, the deputy mayor of Prague who initiated the changes, the new rules could take effect next year. He noted that the proposals had...
Tesla is expanding in the Czech Republic. On July 15, the American carmaker will open a second full-fledged dealership in Brno’s Židenice, on the premises of Nová Zbrojovka. This adds to their existing store in Čestlice near Prague and a pop-up sales center in Ostrava’s Karolina shopping center. The new Brno dealership spans a thousand square meters and includes a service center and a delivery center. Cars will be delivered from the factory near Berlin or from Shanghai in China. Customers can test drive the full range of Tesla models (Model S, Model X, Model 3, and Model Y) and book test drives online or on-site. Opening a second store in the Czech Republic confirms the strength of the local market. The country boasts one of the densest networks of Tesla fast-charging stations in Eastern Europe, with 56 Supercharger stations. Tesla leads the Czech EV sales ranking with 1,713 vehicles delivered in the first half of the year, followed by Skoda (434 Enyaqs), Volvo (332 EVs), and Hyundai (311 cars). The launch of a subsidy program for companies in March spurred growth in EV sales, increasing the share of EVs in total sales from 2.6% to 3.5% year-on-year. “EVs are...
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