Mikuláš, known around the world as St. Nicholas Day, is celebrated on the 5th of December and signifies the start of Christmas for Czech people. Going back to the 14th Century, the legend of Mikulas tells that children are to be rewarded for being good and sent to the devil for being bad. It is a charming tradition that brings together people young and old in a festive frenzy of costumes, delicious sweet treats, and festive performances. It is a time of gift-giving, celebration, community, and charity. Children are rewarded if they have been good but if not, they will go into the Devil’s sack! During this time, the streets will be filled with Christmas joy and incredible costumes. So where are the best places to catch the Christmas cheer? Mikuláš Rides Through Prague There will be a Saturday night steam train ride around Prague for all the children that cannot wait until Christmas day. The train will be adorned with decorations and will depart from Prague’s Smíchov railway station at 8:56 am, 12:56 pm, and at 4:56 pm. It will take a scenic route through the Prokop Valley to Hostivice and back to the station via Prague’s Semmering. Not...
Most of the city’s vehicles are passenger cars. They account for 970,755 of the city’s fleet. If we include trucks, we get to a figure of 1,200,000 vehicles. In just the short period of ten years between 1990 and 2000, the number of cars in Prague doubled. “The car is space-consuming, especially with the growing demand for larger SUVs. Every parked car requires a 12.5 m² parking space. That’s a lot when you consider that 20 parking spaces can be the built-up area of a small apartment building,” states on Twitter the Prague Mayor Zdeněk Hřib. “Besides, you have to remember that one space in a modern parking house costs around CZK 1 million to build,” he added. Konečně se po volbách můžeme bavit o dopravě věcně na základě faktů, ne ideologie. Pojďme na to: V Praze je teď přes 970 000 osobních aut, což se blíží počtu obyvatel hlavního města. Navíc pokud bychom započítali i nákladní vozidla, dostaneme se na číslo 1 200 000 aut. (1/9) 🧵 pic.twitter.com/v4oPgEACud — Zdeněk Hřib (@ZdenekHrib) December 2, 2022 Number of passenger cars in the Czech Republic The number of cars on Czech roads exceeded 5.7 million last year, according to data released by...
While we can’t wait for Christmas, what about doing something nice for someone else? On December 7th, you can take part in a charity event at Roxy. The aim is to give Christmas gifts to children from orphanages. The concert My Kind of Santa is organized in cooperation with the Organization for Refugee Aid (OPU), featuring Czech rapper Rest and Martin Matys, We Are Domi and The Silver Spoons. Since his first singles as Balkonovka, Rest has established a unique position among the leading Czech rappers during his ten years on the scene. He will be accompanied on the stag by his label mate Ty Nikdy Martin Matys. The line-up of the evening will also be completed by the Czech-Norwegian group We Are Domi led by Dominika Hašková, who represented the Czech Republic at Eurovision this year, and the indie-rock band The Silver Spoons. After a series of successful singles this year, the band has released their anticipated debut Come and Get It. How does it work? Entrance to the concert is free, but visitors are required to bring a toy, which will then be given to the Kralupy nad Vltavou orphanage and to refugee children in the Czech Republic....
In addition to Christmas trams, a festively decorated garbage truck will delight pedestrians on the streets of Prague for the first time this season. The Mercedes-Benz-1830-GL Christmas truck, decorated with a garland and glowing snowflakes, will operate daily until January 3, 2022. It was assigned to operate an 80-kilometer route through Nové Město, Malá Strana and Hradčany. The evening shift starts at 19:00. Citizens will be able to see a Christmas garbage truck on the streets of Národní třída, Náměstí republiky, Jindřišská, Smetanovo nábřeží, Karmelitská, na Kampě, as well as on Čechův most. The crew consists of a driver and three garbage collectors. “We did not consider special Christmas uniforms. The crew will have standard work clothes,” says Radim Mana, a spokesman for Pražské služby.
Shortly after 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, November 27, the famed lamplighter of Prague lit up the gas lanterns on Charles Bridge Jan Žákovec, the lamplighter, left Křížovnické náměstí and crosses one side of the bridge and then returns on the other side of the bridge. The gas lighting in Prague lights up automatically, but during the Advent period several lanterns are always lit by a lantern lighter. The romantic gas light also illuminates the entire historic Royal Route, a busy tourist route from the Powder Gate to Hradčanské Square. Both Prague citizens and visitors can admire the almost-forgotten beauty and charm of gas lamps. You can meet the lamplighter every day at dusk (around 16:05 to 16:15) until 23 December. Žákovec is vice president of the Lamplighters’ Guild and head of the Gasworks Museum. At 205 cm, he is the tallest lamplighter in the world. The number of lamplighters can be counted on the fingers of one hand because today, the lamps light up automatically. “I know the lamplighters in Poland in Wroclaw, Brest in Belarus and in London … there are very few of us,” admits Žákovec with a smile. “In 2002 they turned on the first nine lamps...
The main theme of the 18th Filmasia entitled Making Waves – Navigators of Hong Kong Cinema is to celebrate the last 25 years of Hong Kong cinema. The selection of films is primarily intended to show the diversity and power of the new generation of filmmakers, but also more recent works of already established ones. The diverse nature of young Hong Kong is introduced in the New Talents section which will present four utterly different new features: Intimate drama Mama’s Affair by the talented Kearen Pang, New Year’s crazy comedy Chili Laugh Story by Coba Cheung, Jun Li’s socio-critical drama Drifting and queer coming-of-age film The First Girl I Loved. The Contemporary Films section will introduce new works of established filmmakers like Johnnie To, Yuen Woo-ping or Cheang Pou-soi, and, above all, Mabel Cheung. Two of her films will be screened: the documentary To My Nineteen-Year-Old Self features the stories of young women in contemporary Hong Kong, and with An Autumn’s Tale the organizers want to revisit one of her most influential films from the late 1980s dealing with migration. Here you can find the full program. Opening Film Chilli Laugh Story directed by Coba Cheng will open the FILMASIA. The screening will take place on December 1, at...
With the ongoing Ukraine war, tensions in Europe are on the rise. This is both due to an influx of war related-refugees to Central European cities, and discontent over the related rising cost of energy. As bombs fall on Ukraine, European nations are waking up to the sorry state of their own civil defence. Currently, in Kyiv, emergency workers are preparing 425 shelters for use during a nuclear war. In Prague, leftover Cold War-era bunkers are currently kept in a state of readiness to protect the population from nuclear war. Prague’s nuclear bunkers In 2019, it was estimated that there were 768 permanent shelters in Prague, with a total capacity for about 150,000 people. Municipal authorities are obliged by law to provide shelters, and Prague’s nuclear bunkers take on many forms. Blast and fallout shelters are built into hillsides, found in various tunnels, located in deep sections of the subway, and installed in reinforced basements of buildings. The Czech Fire and Rescue Service (FRS) admitted that “most” of the permanent pressure-resistant shelters are not in a condition for immediate use, and wouldn’t be prepared for such until a state of danger or war is officially declared. Currently, the FRS said, it would be possible to provide...
We like interesting adverts and most brands come up with the best ones during the period before Christmas. Samsung is no exception to this rule and they enticed us with a glimpse of Christmas in Prague. The spot, titled ‘Quick Share the Holidays’, promotes a feature to quickly transfer files including images, and movies to other nearby Samsung devices in a wireless manner. Even better, you can sync up to five Samsung devices at once to share content. You can also set the visibility of Quick Share to only your contacts, everyone, or even nobody. As Apple did years ago, Samsung chose Prague for this year’s Christmas spot, specifically Římská street in Vinohrady (the block between Anny Letenská and Italská). This was not the first time Samsung had filmed in Prague. This June, the Czech branch released a short film by director Matyáš Fára parodying horror movies, which was shot exclusively on the top-of-the-line Samsung Galaxy S 22 Ultra. Part of it was filmed, for example, in the surroundings of the Vítkov Hill memorial. Sharing is also the theme of this year’s Apple Christmas ad. Specifically, audio sharing via AirPods or Beats headphones. The American company, however, chose a more...
Next year, for the first time in history, a World Championship race will take place in the Czech Republic. The Central European Rally will start in Prague with the premiere of this new event scheduled for the 26th to 29th of October 2023. The twelfth edition of the series will be jointly organised by the national sporting authorities of Germany, the Czech Republic and Austria. The Autoclub of the Czech Republic (AČR) and the series promoter officially confirmed the event on their official website today. Jan Štovíček, President of the Autoklub of The Czech Republic and member of the FIA World Motorsport Council: “The FIA World Rally Championship in the Czech Republic is a dream of our fans of many generations. And together with our friends from our partner federations in Germany and Austria, we have succeeded in fulfilling it. “Rallying is one of the most popular disciplines of motorsport in our country, many Czech fans are passionate about the World Championship and now they can see it for the first time at home! Due to the deep tradition of the Czech automotive industry, we can also look at the World Rally Championship with pride in fulfilling the legacy of...
Prague City Tourism has launched a live stream from Old Town Square, where tents are currently being assembled for the traditional Christmas market. The webcam will run until January 6, 2023, so everyone can take a peek at the market and get in the holiday spirit. The event is broadcast live from the Old Town Hall observation tower on YouTube. The Christmas Market at Staromak opens on Saturday, 26 November, and runs until 6 January (daily from 10:00 to 22:00, individual fast-food tents until 00:00). This year’s tree is a 25-meter tall and 58-year-old spruce that has made its way to the Czech capital from a small North Bohemian village of Kytlice. The tree is decorated with red Christmas balls and light stars of various sizes. There are 88,490 LED bulbs on the tree. The tree lights will be on daily from 16:00 to midnight. A light animation will take place daily at 16:30, 17:30, 18:30, 19:30, 20:30, and 21:30. During the animation, one of the melodies will play: Elizabethan Serenade sung by Karel Gott, or an orchestral version of All I want for Christmas Is You. The music will be played through loudspeakers installed under the tree. In total, there will be 79 stalls with various...
Ukraine is on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe this winter after weeks of intense Russian attacks on the country’s energy infrastructure. Up to ten million citizens live without electricity, while it has already begun to snow in several areas, with temperatures in some regions dropping to -10ºC. The European Parliament, together with Eurocities, a network of major European cities, has proposed to donate electricity generators to help Ukraine cope this winter. On the morning of Friday, 25 November, the Prague City Council approved the sending of a batch of humanitarian aid to Ukraine. It will contain medical supplies, heaters and electric generators. “We are sending an aid package to the victims of the genocide of the Ukrainian people carried out by Russia: 626 heaters (o400 for Kyiv and 226 for Mykolaiv), 18 generators (10 for Kyiv and 8 for Mykolaiv), and also medical supplies for 22 million crowns for the Public Health Centre of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine”, the mayor of Prague wrote on his social media. The risk of a total blackout is very high’ The chief of staff of the Ukrainian president’s office, Andriy Yermak, who participated in the press conference online, said that “the speed...
After all, this is one energy resource that is literally inexhaustible and domestically produced. The City of Prague has plans to develop a new residential district for 25,000 people on a hundred-hectare brownfield in Bubny-Zátory. This time around though, urban planning is taking into account current crises, such as fossil fuel dependency and energy security, to offer an innovative solution – using treated sewage surplus heat to keep homes warm in winter. For this purpose, a new energy centre will be built next to the wastewater treatment plant on Císařský island and near the planned district. The idea behind it is simple, install 12 heat pumps and channel the heat where it can be of benefit – 200,000 households. Don’t let heat go to waste, let waste go for heating “The (energy centre) project has been in the making for about two years. It uses the heat of wastewater that is treated on Císařsky island. Every second, three cubic meters of treated wastewater leave the treatment plant, which even in the coldest months has a temperature higher than ten degrees. We have a huge opportunity to use this water to obtain heat for up to a third of Prague. It has been working successfully for decades in Denmark...
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