The Czech Senate commemorated the 85th anniversary of the signing of the Munich Agreement on Friday, with Senate President Miloš Vystrčil and his predecessors Petr Pithart and Přemysl Sobotka giving speeches. When Germany, France, Britain and Italy signed the Munich Agreement in the early hours of September 30, 1938, the Nazis took over Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland, where mostly ethnic Germans lived along the Czech borders. The treaty also enabled Germany to take over Czechoslovakia, which they did officially on March 15, 1939. Notably, Czechoslovakia was not represented at the conference that decided that country’s fate. The agreement is viewed in hindsight as a failed attempt to avoid war with Nazi Germany. The Sudeten Germans speak out After World War I, borders had been drawn within the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, and these borders had triggered resentment and local conflicts. The German minority in post-World War I Czechoslovakia had yearned to become independent, not satisfied with its status in Czechoslovakia between the wars. When Germany annexed the Sudetenland, the majority of the 3.5 million Germans living there were ecstatic. By 1935 Konrad Henlein, a Sudeten German himself had built his pro-Nazi Sudetenland German Party (SDP) into the second largest political party in Czechoslovakia. Much...
The three-aisle basilica which was built using the plans of the architect Josef Mocker features two 60 metre-high towers with an opulent staircase. It is a typical North German Neo-Gothic church and it has been 130 years since its consecration on 8th October. The church was consecrated roughly five years after its construction work started. Its foundation stone was laid down on 25 November 1888. The building came into existence fairly quickly and was financed by the Vinohrady town itself. Its importance increased after the visit of the emperor Franz Joseph I and the Viennese administration office decided to contribute to its construction as well. The Association for Church of St. Ludmila at Královské Vinohrady also provided a great support throughout. The paintings and ornaments on the walls are by Johann Jobst. The interior and exterior artwork was made by famous artists of the times such as sculptors Josef Václav Myslbek, František Hergessel, and Antonín Procházka, or painters František Ženíšek and Adolf Liebscher. Events The 130th anniversary is associated with a series of celebratory events jointly organized by the Prague 2 Municipal District, the Roman Catholic parish of St. Ludmila’s Church, and the Friends of St. Ludmila’s Basilica in Prague....
The eleventh edition of Signal Festival will present the largest-ever gallery zone at seven Prague venues, prepared by a new curatorial team led by audiovisual artist Pavel Mrkus. The unique installations will focus primarily on exploring the boundaries of audiovisual and digital art using new technologies such as AR, 3D scanning technology or original sound and light systems. During the four days of the festival, it will feature unique works by Mexican-Canadian multimedia artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Polish creative studio Ksawery Komputery and Spanish audiovisual collective Playmodes, among others. This year, Signal will once again build on its successful collaborations with Laterna Magika and Kunsthalle Praha and celebrate its centenary together with Czech Radio. Visitors can explore the full programme of the gallery zone with a Signal Plus ticket, while Signal VIP allows them to visit the gallery privately, without queuing or waiting. The Signal Festival will kick off on 12th October and run until Sunday 15th October. The largest gallery zone in the festival’s history 4 days of the festival, 20 installations, 7 of them in the gallery zone. This will be the 11th Signal Festival, which will present the largest gallery zone in its history. This year’s programme will...
For this Halloween, “The Prague Horrortheater” company will stage one of their most successful and acclaimed plays as an English language Premiere: Master of the Trapdoors – The Story of the Phantom of the Opera, a One-Man-Show that completely leaves out the occurrences of the novel itself. Instead, they begin with an unusual premise: The Phantom of the Opera dies. Practical info: Master of the Trapdoors – 20. and 21. October (with more performances to follow), 20:00 at New Visions Theater, Na Celné 508/3 Tickets here Erik, the man behind the mask, tells the audience in his last hours of an eventful life – his time with traveling gypsies, the pirates of Southeast Asia and assassins in India, as a magician in Russia, an architect at the court of the Shah of Persia, serving the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and also recounting the Franco-Prussian War, the Paris Commune and the retreat into his own morbid refuge deep in the cellars of the Paris Opera. So it’s not quite the story someone how only knows the more kitschy adaptations would be familiar with. And they will go a step further to once again defy audiences expectations, as the Actor playing Erik,...
The Czech government has approved a plan to buy 24 F-35 fighter jets, Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on Wednesday, as the army seeks to boost its capabilities and work more easily alongside NATO allies. Fiala said the first aircraft would be ready in 2029 and the rest by 2035. “It is an effective solution,” Fiala said. “[The jet] is a system that has a longer perspective than other types of aircraft.” Fiala added that the purchase of the Czech military sends “a message to our allies that we take the defense of our country seriously and that they can rely on us.” Defence Minister Jana Cernochova said the state will pay 150 billion crowns by 2034, which includes 44 billion for base upgrades in the Czech Republic along with fuel, staff training and taxes. The chief of the general staff, Lt. Gen. Karel Rehka, said that the new jets would ensure “that in the case of need, we’ll manage to effectively defend ourselves against aggression, together with our allies.” It will be the biggest defence contract ever signed by Czechia. In June, the U.S. State Department approved the sale of F-35 jets, munitions and related equipment to the Czech...
At the Signal Festival, every year we try to present the best of the domestic and international art scene and support all the promising artists. As a part of the 11th Signal Festival, you can look forward to seven leading representatives of the contemporary international new media scene. The international program of Signal Festival 2023 is supported by the PPF Foundation, which is committed to greater involvement of Czech culture in the international context and believes that it is important to enrich our art scene with inspiration from the world. Who can you look forward to? Mexican artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer will be the biggest foreign star of the 11th edition. His interactive work Thermal Drift, which will be on display at Lyčkovo Square, takes the body temperature of visitors through thermal cameras and converts it into a dynamic large-format projection. In addition to being the observers of the installation, the viewers also become the creators of their own portraits. Prague will also host the Norwegian-Portuguese studio Entangled Others projecting microorganisms generated by artificial intelligence in videos called Sediment Nodes in Karlín. The Gallery Zone will also present the Spanish audiovisual studio Playmodes, with the largest installation of this year’s edition, reaching 25 meters in length and over 12 meters in width,...
Fixed fares quoted in advance, 24/7 service availability, and a fleet of (at the maximum) up to five-year-old mainly upper middle-class cars – such are the commitments of the new taxi service provider at Václav Havel Airport Prague, Uber, that has launched its operations today and already served its first customers. Uber won the concession procedure entered by two bidders. The launch of the winner’s activities was originally scheduled in the spring. However, the unsuccessful tenderer filed an appeal with the Office for the Protection of Economic Competition of the Czech Republic, which made it impossible for the airport to finalise the tender process, temporarily blocking it. At the beginning of September, the Antimonopoly Office confirmed that Prague Airport had set the parameters of the concession procedure in accordance with the law, just as it performed the selection of the winning bidder, which became Uber. Based on the contractual conditions, the service provider is obliged to: Quote the final price before each ride, which will be calculated by their software. The resulting fare must not exceed the agreed price, even when changing the route or waiting in a traffic jam. Ensure 24/7 service availability. Operate a fleet of (at the...
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser will announce temporary checks on Germany’s borders with Poland and the Czech Republic in an attempt to curb an influx of asylum seekers. Faeser plans to announce “temporary controls at selected border crossings” on Wednesday, according to the official. The checks, the official added, will begin “within the next days.” German leaders have come under increasing pressure to crack down on asylum seekers entering the country, many of whom are now crossing over the borders of Poland and the Czech Republic. Some 204,000 people requested asylum in Germany within the first eight months of 2023, 77 percent more than the same period last year. Fiala: Czechia prepared to protect EU borders but rejects redistribution of refugees Czechia is prepared to help protect the EU’s external borders, but rejects the mandatory redistribution of refugees between EU countries, Prime Minister Petr Fiala said after a half-hour meeting with the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, during her visit to Prague on Tuesday. He dubbed mandatory redistribution “inhumane and dysfunctional”, adding that reducing the number of economic refugees by protecting the borders is a better solution than trying to deal with the subsequent problems that arise from mass migration.
Prague and the Omani capital, Muscat, are set to establish a direct air route. Starting from October 31, 2023, this route will once again be served by SalamAir, as officially announced by Prague’s Vaclav Havel Airport press service. The carrier’s airplanes will operate between these two cities twice a week, specifically on Tuesdays and Fridays, with a travel time of approximately 6 hours and 20 minutes. Tickets for these flights are already available for purchase, starting from around 8,000kc for a one-way journey. Furthermore, Muscat holds the potential to pique the interest of Czech tourists, serving as a convenient connecting hub. Direct flights from Muscat connect to popular destinations such as Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and various other resort hotspots. Things To Do In Muscat Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque – Regarded as the main and most important mosque in Oman, the Grand Mosque is a magnificent place to see in Muscat. The outside marble and sandstone is beautiful, and the inside, with a giant hand woven Persian carpet and chandelier is impressive. Visiting the Grand Mosque is one of the highlights of any Muscat travel guide. Royal Opera House Muscat – Another icon of art, culture, and architecture in Muscat is...
The Czech Republic will continue to prioritise supporting Ukraine against Russian aggression by helping it finance its weapons despite its obvious difficulties in consolidating its public finances. Already, for the last increase in contributions in June, the Czech Republic could barely find the funds, leading to scepticism in Czech foreign policy circles about the country’s ability to cope with the massive financing of foreign instruments. In addition to the net financial commitment to the EPF, there is also the problem of the need to consolidate Czech public finances, which is currently the subject of political debate in the lower house of parliament. The government of Petr Fiala (ODS) is currently defending its consolidation package to the public and the opposition while at the same time preparing the state budget for 2024. Neither of these fiscal measures has been well received by the public. In this situation, the government also wants to continue funding military supplies to Ukraine, which is not easy. The solution lies in the promise to reimburse some of these supplies from the EPC in the coming years, but the concrete options are unclear. In addition to the net financial commitment to the EPF, there is also the...
A small brewery has worked with Czech scientists to make the country’s first ‘Celtic beer’ in order to recreate the taste of an ancient alcoholic brew. The beer, called TauriALE, was created through the laboratory analysis of pollen taken from an early Celtic burial site in Moravia. Scientists from Charles University in Prague and Palacký University in Olomouc had made excavations at an archaeological site dating back to the early Iron Age, and were able to extract pollen. The Brno Botanical Institute then analysed the pollen and revealed traces of millet and herbs, which were commonly used by Celts to brew beer. Zuzana Golec-Mírová told the publication that prehistoric beer had ingredients for taste and preservations, and there was meadowsweet, sage, mugwort and other ingredients to make the sour bitter taste of beer. She said that the discovery of clover though was “unexpected” as that wasn’t usually in beer, but the scientists believe that it was found in honey, which could have been used to sweeten the beer. Golec-Mírová also said that the ingredients for brewing were placed into graves as burial gifts which was “quite usual” to equip the dead with such products, and to “have something to eat...
Lovers of sports and a healthy lifestyle should get their hands on the calendar. RunCzech has opened registrations for next year’s most prestigious running events. The 2024 season will traditionally kick off with the world-famous Prague Half Marathon (April 6) and Prague International Marathon (May 5). “We were very pleased to hear the words of praise from people from the World and European Athletics, professional runners, enthusiasts and fans. They let us know loud and clear that they enjoyed our runs and they look forward to next year,” said Carlo Capalbo, President of the RunCzech Organising Committee, whose races have been awarded with the World Athletics Elite Label Race. Beautiful cities, spectacular and fast routes, professional organisation and an unforgettable atmosphere. These are the reasons why RunCzech races are loved everywhere in the world. This year, tens of thousands of runners of all ages and performance categories have already participated in the races across the Czech Republic. And the Mattoni Liberec Nature Run is yet to take place on September 30th. Indeed, the Prague Half Marathon and the Prague International Marathon were the most popular races. They have also been highly acknowledged by the Czech President Petr Pavel who has...
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