Protesters have tried to break into the National Museum in Prague to tear down the Ukrainian flag from its facade, which was hung up as a sign of Czech solidarity with Kiev, Czech Television reported. On Saturday, Czech media reported that thousands of people took to the streets of Prague demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Petr Fiala amid rising costs of living. Czech Television said that about 10,000 people gathered in the Czech capital, while several dozen marched to the National Museum building in an attempt to get the Ukrainian flag down. Police prevented the demonstrators from entering the museum and 18 protesters were detained. A police spokesperson told Czech Television that two law enforcement officers were injured. Interior Minister Vít Rakušan (STAN) described the violent speeches at the end of the demonstration as unacceptable. “I expect the organisers to distance themselves from these acts of violence. It gives the impression that the entire demonstration against poverty was just a cover for pro-Russian provocation, and we certainly cannot be tolerant of such manifestations.” “We have gathered here today to take a stand against this poverty,” Jindrich Rajchl, a lawyer leading the non-parliamentary PRO party, told the crowd in central...
New flights will be introduced to Seville, Gdansk, Rimini in Italy, and the Greek island of Skiathos by the low-cost airline Ryanair. In the summer of 2023, the frequency of weekly flights to and from Prague operated by the Irish airline will increase to 285, 22 percent more than last summer. Ryanair’s management expects to carry around 2.3 million passengers during these flights. In addition to the new flights, the airline will increase the frequency of existing flights to 15 additional destinations. “We are delighted that Ryanair is able to continue to expand the range of destinations and the number of weekly flights during the summer schedule. Together we are contributing to the renewal of air traffic,” says Jaroslav Filip, Director of Air Commerce at Prague Airport. The new destinations will be served twice a week. The first aircraft will start taking off to Gdansk on 29 March and will fly every Wednesday and Saturday. Flights to Rimini will also start in March, specifically on 26 March, with departures every Wednesday and Sunday. Flights to Skiathos will start on 2 June and are scheduled for Fridays and Tuesdays, according to the flight schedule. It will be possible to fly to...
The Oscar-winning director Agnieszka Holland received the biggest production grant of 22 million CZK for her new project Franz in the latest session of the Czech Film Fund. The results were announced on 8 March 2023. Inspired by Franz Kafka’s life and work, the film produced by German Xfilms and Polish Metro Films will also involve production companies. A total of 24 feature film projects applied and seven projects were selected, including new films by Jitka Rudolfová, Šimon Holý, Vojtěch Strakatý and Adam Martinec. Šárka Cimbalová is set to produce the feature. “‘Franz will be a dazzling kaleidoscopic mosaic of a film that dramatizes the famous writer’s life and imagination in a series of standalone vignettes that span Kafka’s life from his birth in pre-war Prague, up to his tragic death in Austria in 1924 and into scenes from the future he envisioned,” the trio said in a statement. Holland has previously been nominated for an Oscar for best foreign language film for In Darkness and last year her feature Charlatan, about Czechoslovak healer Jan Mikolášek, was shortlisted in the same category. “Kafka was a man of great sensitivity and ill-suited to his time,” Holland said in a statement. “We have a...
by Eryn Taylor-Freeme – Anglo-American University The exhibition “Well Hidden Photographs” at Leica Gallery includes never-before-seen photographs in an unassuming compilation of one of the best, but often overlooked, Czech humanitarian documentary photographers. Aulehla captures scenes of everyday life spanning the 1950s-1980s, primarily in Krnov but also in Olomouc, Ostrava, Brno and Prague, that are shot with a purity that is lightly poetic- a refreshing change in a modern art world obsessed with saturated motifs. He was born in Olomouc in 1931 to a housemaid who later gave him up for adoption. He apprenticed as a bricklayer before being hired by a construction company and later concluded his education at an industrial construction school in Brno. He took up photography as a hobby after he was gifted his first camera at 16 by his grandmother and only abandoned it in 1989 to move into his passion of design. Aulehla was not the only documentary photographer to focus on daily life in the Communist era, as it was a popular topic for Czech and Slovak artists, including Jan Lukas, Erich Einhorn and Karol Kálay. Themes in photojournalism transitioned from the heroic content from the period of social realism to the calm...
Czech headline inflation eased to 16.7% year-on-year in February, reinforcing the view that surging price growth is moving past a peak as the central bank seeks to maintain stable interest rates. Inflation around central Europe has surged in the past year, more than elsewhere in Europe, as food prices have jumped alongside energy costs. Central banks in the region started battling price pressures in 2021, sooner than other European Union policymakers, and have thus ended hiking cycles even as global central banks like the ECB and U.S. Federal Reserve continue to tighten. Central Bank Policy The Czech central bank has held steady on policy since mid-2022 despite criticism it needs to do more to secure inflation returning to its 2% target. Inflation slowed in February, after hitting 17.5% in January amid repricing actions at the start of the year. Analysts in a Reuters poll had expected the headline rate at 16.6% in February. On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.6%. Signs Of Discounts Inflation “only symbolically neared the inflation target,” Banka Creditas chief economist Petr Dufek said, adding the first signs of discounts on goods were starting to appear. “Weaker demand, which is seen in falling household consumption and retail sales, should increasingly limit the scope...
Retired general Petr Pavel, who was sworn in as the Czech Republic’s new president on Thursday, is a war hero with a pro-Western drive and a passion for motorcycles. Pavel won the January presidential election by defeating billionaire former prime minister Andrej Babis in the run-off. “In a victory of values, there are no winners and no losers. We are one community and we have to stick together,” Pavel said after winning. “I can’t ignore the fact that people here increasingly feel chaos, disorder and uncertainty,” Pavel said on his campaign website. “We need to change this. We need to play by the rules, which will be valid for everyone alike.” In the run-up to the inauguration, Pavel proved to be an active president-elect. He attended a security conference in Munich in February and travelled to Czech regions where he had lost to Babis, meeting voters including the poverty-stricken Roma minority. He also repeatedly voiced support for Ukraine and to Taiwan. Though he rarely smiles in public, Pavel described himself as a “very merry person” in a recent interview with AFP. “I just don’t show that during official events. But everyone who knows me will tell you that good jokes...
The Prague Rocks festival, organized by Live Nation, is back this year with a promising line-up to kick off your musical summer! Prague Rocks vol. 1 on June 2nd will feature headliners Motley Crüe & Def Leppard, supported by the biggest Czech rock band Kabát. Prague Rocks vol. 2 starts on June 21st with headliners Gwen Stefani & Maroon 5. Ticket prices start at CZK 1490. The festival starts off by welcoming globally known artists Mötley Crüe and Def Leppard, who will participate in the festival as part of their world tour on July 2nd. The two iconic bands are collaborating with their co-headline The World Tour. “After finally getting back on the road and having a monumental summer tour in the US & Canada this year, we’re beyond thrilled to be bringing this massive stadium tour to major cities all over the world, and kicking off Europe in Sheffield where it all started for us 45 years ago. We’re looking forward to seeing you out there, somewhere soon!” said Joe Elliott of Def Leppard. The Prague Rocks Festival continues on June 21st with more well-known artists from music mainstream. Gwen Stefani and Maroon 5 will be joined by Rag’n’Bone...
“Some like it Czech” project is thrilled to finally introduce to the international audience the iconic movie The Firemen’s Ball, directed by a genius of cinema – Miloš Forman. “We decided to open Forman’s archive with a comical satire which will reveal a lot about the nature of Czech people. So, on the 15th of March, we will show you everything you wanted to know about Czechs but were afraid to ask,” add the founders of the project. Made in 1967, The Firemen’s Ball is the third feature film by Miloš Forman, one of the leading representatives of the so-called New Wave of Czechoslovak cinema. He is also known for his work on other notable films such as “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” with Jack Nicholson and “Amadeus.” The film was made in a Czechoslovak-Italian co-production with the participation of the famous Italian producer Carlo Ponti. Yes, the same one who worked with stars like Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni on some of the most Italian classics. So any fellow Italians who wish to attend… Sì? The plot of The Firemen’s Ball (watch the trailer) revolves around a group of volunteer firefighters. The film takes place at the annual...
As someone who has been keeping an eye on the real estate market in the Czech Republic, I wasn’t as surprised as some to see a significant drop in apartment prices last year. This trend was particularly noticeable in older buildings, while the number of sales only decreased slightly for new constructions. However, the latest data from Valuo.cz, which analyses sales prices based on the land registry and advertisements, revealed that even high-priced areas around Prague’s metro stations are also experiencing price reductions, which to me wasn’t something I necessarily expected. When looking at properties around metro stations, Valuo compares renovated apartments in personal ownership with an area of eighty square meters located within a radius of one kilometre from the station, except for Letňany, where the radius is extended to 1.5 kilometres given the relative lower amount of properties close to the metro. Based on Valuo’s current analysis, it appears apartments near metro stations have become cheaper for the first time in the last six years. The average price has dropped for almost all stations compared to last year. The most significant decreases were seen at Bořislavka on line A (by 24%) and Národní trýda on line B (by 20%)....
The Czech cyber security watchdog warned on Wednesday against using TikTok, joining a growing number of Western agencies alleging the Chinese-owned social media app poses a security risk. The NUKIB agency recommended that TikTok should not be installed on phones whose users access critical and other significant infrastructure. “The Agency is concerned about potential security threat stemming from the use of TikTok primarily due to the amount of user data that is collected by the app as well as the way the data is handled.” NUKIB said. “Such large-scale data collection is concerning due to the legal and political environment of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), given that ByteDance, the developer and administrator of TikTok, falls under the legal jurisdiction of the PRC.” NUKIB also recommended politicians and officials to avoid using TikTok, and said the wider public should consider whether to use the app as well, especially for sharing content. TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment. ByteDance has said previously that concerns about the app are fuelled by misinformation, and has denied using it for spying. Beijing has also repeatedly denied having any intention to use the app for espionage. Several countries have taken...
The average mortgage rate in Czechia fell to 6.27 percent in March from 6.37 percent in February, according to market tracker Fincentre Hypoindex. Experts say the reduction in rates is the result of competition between banks as a new building season approaches. A planned movie about Prague writer Franz Kafka has received the most in an annual allocation of state funding by the Czech Film Fund. Franz by Oscar-winning Polish director Agniezska Holland is getting CZK 22 million of the total of almost CZK 61 million to be distributed, a spokesperson said on Wednesday. Unemployment in Czechia remained at 3.9 percent in February, according to data released by the Czech Labour Office on Wednesday. The country’s labour offices registered over 282,500 job seekers last month, some 550 fewer than in the previous month The Czech National Cyber and Information Security Agency (NUKIB) today issued a warning over the installation and use of the Chinese application TikTok. The agency described the app as a security threat and said the public should think twice before using it due to its data collection. A horse, which reportedly belongs to the Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, has been stolen from a...
Since the end of last year, visitors to the Švandovo Theatre have had the opportunity to immerse themselves in the world of traditional and modern pantomime again after a long time, as Radim Vizváry’s award-winning production Solo has returned. The work, for which this leading representative of non-verbal theatre won the Thalia Award a few years ago, has lost none of its appeal, as the first sold-out performances indicate. He performs on the Smíchov stage approximately once a month, with the next performances on 18 March and 25 May. The production with the simple title Solo is not only a showcase of Radim Vizváry’s interpretive mastery. It also introduces the audience to various forms of pantomime from the beginnings of the genre to the present day. “I created Solo as a walk from romantic pantomime to today, as a kind of encyclopedia of styles, but not with the intention of instructing the audience. I’m trying to show them the richness of pantomime and convey my own love of it. Hopefully, thanks to this production, they can get an idea of what pantomime can encompass today and offer, how far it has moved on from the old picture of a mime...
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