Ivo and Jakub Slavka love being called “Dad” and “Daddy” by their two young foster children, but their bigger dream is of being recognised as fathers by the Czech Republic. The Slavkas – Jakub took Ivo’s surname when they became civil partners in 2012 – had to go court to become joint foster parents. And they cannot adopt their children or get married as neither right is given to gay couples in the Czech Republic. “We would like to be married, not to be registered,” said Ivo, a 54-year-old civil servant originally from Slovakia, comparing the civil partnership process to registering a car. “We would like to adopt our children … They know about their families, but they call us fathers,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a video call from the capital, Prague. With elections due in October, the chances of the Czech Republic becoming the first formerly communist European country to grant marriage equality are slim, even though a bill passed a first reading in parliament in April. The Czech Republic is one of Europe’s most secular societies and religious groups have a relatively weak voice, unlike in neighbouring Poland and Slovakia. But the issue has split...
The Wroclaw bishops and archbishops gradually created a monumental Baroque chateau from the medieval castle and used it as a summer residence. In honour of their patron, John the Baptist, they renamed it Jánský Vrch. The chateau on the rocky hill above the town close to the border with Poland was the center of erudition and culture in the most northern tip of Silesia for many years. It stands out for unusual technological peculiarities: a water main was already here at the turn of the 18th and the 19th centuries and in 1906–1932 gas chandeliers and lamps were used in the interiors and in the main courtyard. Of particular interest in the chateau is the interior décor with magnificent furnishings as well as an art collection covering the Renaissance up to Biedermeier. The unique exhibition of pipes and smoking utensils presents not only European but also American, African and Oriental examples. This is the largest exhibition of its kind in the Czech Republic and consists of approximately 1200 items from the 18th to the 20th century. The chateau has also been the local centre for music culture since the year 1769 when the composer Karel Ditters of Dittersdorf lived here...
Orlando Bloom was spotted throwing himself into a gruelling run with his dog Buddy in Prague. The Lord Of The Rings actor, 44, looked buff in his running ensemble comprising bright green shorts and knee-high socks, as he took a break from filming the Carnival Row series, alongside Cara Delevingne in the Czech Republic. Orlando was working hard on staying in his superstar shape as he zipped down the street for the run while in the company of his pup. Carnival Row has become the most lucrative inward investment project for the Czech Republic. Helena Bezděk Fraňková, director of the Czech Film Fund, said: “Carnival Row represents the most amount that foreign filmmakers have ever spent in the Czech Republic and has earned a significant incentive for both seasons filmed. “Around 900 people worked on the production, of which only about 10% were foreign crew members. Of this number, 400 were craftspeople employed in the construction of the complicated sets that went up at Barrandov Studios. The first and second seasons spent a total of three years at Czech locations, and pre-production began as far back as 2017,” added the head of the Czech Film Commission, Pavlína Žipková. “What would be prohibitively...
Are you longing for a travel adventure? Pack your bags, get your travel documents ready, head to the airport well ahead of time, and buy a last-minute trip at the airport. The Čedok Travel Agency together with Czech Airlines Handling has launched the sale of their full tour package portfolio and other additional services directly at Václav Havel Airport Prague. Passengers will mainly appreciate the brand-new BUY & FLY product. Now, it is the time when is possible to come to the airport with your bags packed and choose a destination a few hours before departure. “By opening new Čedok BUY & FLY at Prague Airport, we have expanded our sales network and added this unique location where clients can choose from among the full selection of Čedok tours, including holiday packages by air, coach or own transport, as well as excursion tours,” says Eva Nemeckova, Spokesperson for Cedok. “Passengers can even buy last-minute offers immediately before departure at the best price.” The service will also offer trips to exotic destinations that will be operated by direct long-haul Luke Air aircraft to be based out of Prague beginning in autumn. As prices of package tours can actually continue to decrease almost until...
Prague has many iconic sights that become great souvenirs for the city’s visitors. Recently, new items designed and made by local artists were added as official city merchandise- crystal glasses, comics, jewelry made of rose glass, and so on. According to Klára Malá, a spokeswoman for Prague City Tourism (PCT), the Czech capital wants to support artists, be a more sustainable city, and actively promote tourism. Potential buyers can look at and get new souvenirs online or at the Petřín Lookout Tower. “We have decided to enter the market with authentic, personal souvenirs that have a story and do not just take up space,” said PCT board member Jana Adamcová. She added that sustainability is also one of the main objectives of the new tourism strategy in the metropolis. Prague is now newly represented by crystal glasses decorated with gilded symbols of Prague towers, which were created in a limited edition under the direction of the designer Rony Plesl by the workers of the Rückl glassworks. For youngsters, they launched comic book tales of art on the underground by Magnesia Litera award winner Ondřej Horák and illustrator David Kalika (Kakalík), as well as a cartoon guide to the Prague conservation...
The low-cost airline Ryanair will not accept tickets and boarding passes that have been sold through the Czech aggregator Kiwi.com. The Irish company Ryanair has long criticized the Czech portal for reselling tickets, which the air carrier forbids. “Threatening customers not to board on board with our boarding pass is a petty and immoral practice,” said Kiwi.com airline spokeswoman Nina Černá. “As of August 18, no passengers who have purchased their tickets through Kiwi.com will be allowed to board Ryanair aircraft,” the company said. “Ryanair is urging customers to buy tickets through the company’s official website and to avoid using third parties, such as Kiwi.com, who have no right to sell Ryanair tickets,” the company said in a statement. The Irish airline bases its approach on European regulation, which requires passengers to complete check-in directly at Ryanair, due to safety and regulatory procedures. “We discovered these fake boarding passes when a smaller number of passengers booked through Kiwi.com arrived last week without an official Ryanair boarding pass,” said Ryanair Marketing Director Dara Brady. “If you make a reservation through Kiwi.com, we recommend that you contact Kiwi.com and obtain the necessary information from them so that you can complete the check-in process according...
The summer season and music festivals are synonymous with the live music fan. Large-scale festivals throughout the Czech Republic routinely pack in thousands of revelers every summer. This year, just like 2020, was marked by a wave of cancellations. At its core a music festival is dependent on attendees forking out money to see acts from all over the world. Once that’s removed there can be no festival. The past two years are perfect examples. This is the third and final installment – focusing on large music festivals – examining COVID’s impact on live music in the Czech Republic. The first installment examining club culture is here, while the second part on live indoor concerts is located here. Prague Morning had the opportunity to speak with Jiří Sedlák, head of press and media for Colours of Ostrava, on a diverse array of topics including the realization that festivals were cancelled for a second straight year, government aid, and the continuous search for the “new normal” that will finally allow the return of music festivals, among other issues. This is the second straight year virtually all festivals were once again cancelled. At what point did you realize this year was not...
The occupancy level in Prague’s hotels was just 10 per cent during the first six months of this year, with revenue remaining far below the average of the pre-coronavirus years. Contrary to initial expectations, their owners are not selling them – definitely not on a mass scale. Investors’ interest in buying remains strong – more than one-third of them are “very” or “highly” interested in Prague according to Cushman & Wakefield’s current Hotel Investor Beat survey. Investors obviously trust Prague’s hospitality market and perceive its current situation as temporary. “I see the principal cause in the restrictions imposed on hotels and travel in the Czech Republic, and also in the trend in the number of infected people. Every increase in this number translated to a decrease in hotel occupancy and booking rates. Once the restrictions were lifted last July and August, occupancy grew immediately and Prague quickly outperformed other European destinations,” says Bořivoj Vokřínek, Partner, Strategic Advisory, Head of Hospitality Research EMEA, Cushman & Wakefield Accordingly, we can expect the figures for July and August 2021 to also be more positive than those for the first half of this year. Prague has a better position for the recovery of tourism...
One of the things I really enjoy in Prague is the countless little ways the city is connected. There are numerous shortcuts locals use to get around efficiently; passages in the center, and especially here in Nusle – staircases and walkways. I would like to share one of my favorites, which connects the Vinohrady and Vyšehrad quarters. It’s a beautiful walk, especially during the golden hour, just before the sun starts to set and the last bits of warm light paint the building like the strokes of a paintbrush rosy and orangey colors. Take the Horská street from the Albertov tram station and walk up between the university buildings till you get to the staircase with a red handrail. Walk up the stairs and enjoy the skyline view at the top. My favorite time to come is just before the bells start to ring (the Vyšehrad bells ring every hour). If you come before 6 p.m., you can visit Ztracenka park, one of the most magical hidden gardens in the city in my opinion. To get there, watch for a gate on the left side of the top part of the staircase. If you take a right (approximately at the...
Cities across the continent want to mold visits into shapes less onerous for residents, and perhaps more lucrative for business. Optimally, a virtuous circle can be created where loud partiers are supplanted by museum-goers with more money to spend—or so the thinking goes. Call it curated tourism. “We met with representatives from Amsterdam, Barcelona and Florence during the pandemic, and all of us were thinking the same thing,” said Hana Třeštíková, Prague’s councilor of tourism. “Before Covid, over-tourism had become almost unbearable, and Covid gave a pause to try and make some changes in what our cities represent, how we promote ourselves and how we must focus on quality of visits—not quantity.” Not so long ago, these cities marketed themselves to everyone. But Amsterdam’s widely available cannabis and legal prostitution, Barcelona’s urban beaches and Prague’s famous beer halls increasingly attracted tourists who brought what Geerte Udo, director of amsterdam&partners, diplomatically called “negative effects.” In recent years, Prague’s tourist problem started to resemble Amsterdam’s, Třeštíková said. The Czech capital was getting 8 million visitors a year, almost doubling between 2012 and 2019. And like Amsterdam, most headed to the same neighborhoods, she said. In Prague’s case, they clog the Old Town Square and Charles Bridge. “The city...
The willingness of Czechs to get vaccinated against Covid-19 is approaching its limit, at least according to the latest surveys. The declining interest is also visible in the statistics of the Ministry of Health, which show that administrations of first doses have been declining rapidly in recent weeks. There is still less interest among younger people, but while the government is aiming a campaign at them, there are still hundreds of thousands of people unvaccinated among high-risk groups. According to data from the Ministry of Health, over 64 percent of adults have already received the first dose of vaccination, and another almost 4 percent are waiting for their turn. In the last wave from the end of July, similar numbers occur in the long-term “Life during a Pandemic” survey, according to which the same percentage of the adult population already has at least one dose, leaving only 6 percent of people willing to get vaccinated. Beyond the willing and the unwilling, 10 percent remain undecided. The last survey from CVVM comes up with similar numbers. Almost a quarter of people do not want to be vaccinated, while 7 percent remain hesitant. However, the CVVM interviewed people over the age of...
At the last minute, we are expanding this year’s program. We are also looking for the last festival location. We have also announced a competition for university students called the Neon Award. If you have someone nearby, or it’s you, sign in, tell your friends. Signal Festival will take place from October 14 to 17. We are also working on something completely new, which we will talk about a lot during September. Signal AR is a new permanent project to which we at Signal devote a lot of time and care. This is our new experiment. We will soon introduce you to several art installations in augmented reality. And what about the festival theme? What will this year’s Signal be about? The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has issued a new report on the state of our planet. It unequivocally states that human activity is causing climate change. It is high time to wake up. We’ve been guessing this in Signal for some time. This is another factor that shows that the choice of the Plan C theme for this year is more than timeless. As has been said several times, in 2020 we wanted to open a debate in public space through art about the state...
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