Czech Republic Archives – Page 6 of 27

The National Gallery Prague is “online”. The largest Czech gallery does its best to remain open digitally even at the time of the coronavirus pandemic. The NGP adapts to the situation presenting its current activities for the public mostly on social media.

Virtual tours, live broadcasts of exhibitions or online workshops – this is only a brief account of what the National Gallery Prague has prepared. Its online activities will cover the recently opened exhibitions and display collections that are mostly hidden from the public.

The NGP prepares a special format called “Do you have a minute?” presenting major artworks from the NGP collections on Instagram. Its curators and other experts also prepare the new projects for Twitter.

“We are in contact with our visitors and fans through social media keeping them informed on the latest news. We seek to offer good-quality works as much as we can in this situation. We do our best to adapt to it and respond expeditiously to the current circumstances remaining ‘open’ for our visitors to make their time under closure at least slightly more pleasant. We also believe that positive contents in the media are more needed now than ever,” says the NGP spokeswoman Eva Sochorová.

Virtual guided tours

Owing to a Komerční Banka donation, the National Gallery Prague can offer the first virtual guided tour presenting the exhibition Echoes of the Venice Biennale: Stanislav Kolíbal taking place in the currently closed Trade Fair Palace. Curator Julia Bailey will show the spectators certain parts of the exhibition seeking to create the impression that the visitor is physically present at the display. The guided tour is now under preparation.

Also under preparation is a documentary about the architecture of Brutalism linked with the exhibition called NO DEMOLITIONS! Forms of Brutalism in Prague. The program will be primarily designed for social media.

Educational programs

A team of experts, who prepare and implement programs for the public, works on online workshops and events designed especially for children.

The program called The Art of (Staying at) Home publishes a new challenge each week to stimulate children to creative activities inspired by a selected artwork. The tasks are playful and designed to be fulfilled easily using available materials. Anyone can participate and only materials and aids usually found at home are used. The first challenge inspired the children to create figures out of soap; they are easy to make and also reflect our day-to-day reality. Experienced educators seek to make the current situation easier for both children and parents by means of these enjoyable tasks.

Online collections

The National Gallery Prague houses rich collections of artworks and enriches them on a regular basis. Its online collections can be found at sbirky.ngprague.cz. The visitors can see the works from the comfort of their homes and study their nuances and details.

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The Prague authorities set up a campground in Troja district on Císařský ostrov (Imperial Island), where homeless people will be able to respect the prescribed quarantine.

“At the moment, the camp will host 20 homeless people with suspected coronavirus, as well as those who test positive for COVID-19 but do not need to be hospitalized, it said,” said Petr Hlubuček, Deputy Mayor for Security.

“Access to the center will be decided based on medical advice”, he added.

In addition to 20 beds, homeless people can find a dining room, showers, and toilets. The capacity of the facility can be increased by up to 40 persons if necessary.

Homeless people are among the most vulnerable to coronavirus, with individuals three times more likely to have a severe respiratory problem, which underlines the need for a rapid response.

Previously, the Prague City Hall was actively looking for different options for resettling homeless people during the quarantine.

Some of them found refuge in dormitories and in the under-tribune premises of Strahov Stadium.

The Prague Crisis Staff has already arranged more than 400 accommodation places in different parts of the city.

“Altogether, we have 480 places available since this week, the majority are in hostels and other accommodation facilities,” said Milena Johnová, Health, and Social Councilor.

There are around 230,830 homeless people living in the Czech Republic, according to a census carried out by the Research Institute for Labour and Social Affairs and published on Thursday.

Most of the homeless concentrate in large cities and towns. About 3,250 of them live in Prague.

Join us on Telegram and follow our Insta Stories to read the latest updates on the coronavirus in the Czech Republic.

Despite an increase in the amount of testing, the graph depicting the increase in transmissions is going down from 11 percent to around 5 percent.

According to the Minister of Health Adam Vojtěch (ANO), this means that the Czech Republic has managed to stop the uncontrolled spread of the COVID-19.

“We managed to stop the uncontrolled spread of COVID-19 and we can prepare for a return to normal life in the coming weeks. We are not in the same situation as Italy, Spain, USA or the United Kingdom. The situation is developing very well,” Vojtech said.

Ladislav Dušek, director of the Institute of Health Information and Statistics (ÚZIS), confirmed the data. “We have increased the testing capacity. It is a clear signal that something is happening in the population and that the spread has stopped.”

The reproductive number (R₀₎of the virus has also decreased, ie the number of people able to infect one person with the disease. It started at 2.64 and now fell to 1.1. The Ministry of Health expects it to decrease to 1.02.

R₀ tells the average number of people who will catch a disease from one contagious person. If a disease has an R₀ of 5, a person who has the disease will transmit it to an average of 5 other people, as long as no one has been vaccinated against it or is already immune to it in their community.

If R₀ is less than 1, each existing infection causes less than one new infection. In this case, the disease will decline and eventually die out.
If R₀equals 1, each existing infection causes one new infection. The disease will stay alive and stable, but there won’t be an outbreak or an epidemic.
If R₀is more than 1, each existing infection causes more than one new infection. The disease will spread between people, and there may be an outbreak or epidemic.

“It does not mean eliminating the virus, but that one person can infect on average one another,” added Dušek. According to him, it is important “to continue to know the behavior of the virus.”

Original projections saw 14,200 infections in the Czech Republic by the end of April, now it has been revised to 10,600.

The Czech Republic had 5,033 confirmed cases of coronavirus infection as of midnight. So far 181 people have recovered from the COVID-19 illness and 91 people have died.

The Deputy Minister of Health Roman Prymula yesterday released an interview for DVTV.

“England and Sweden took a conspicuously different approach to the coronavirus from its international peers, trusting the public to adopt voluntary, softer measures to delay the spread of the virus. It didn’t work properly. But a controlled approach that would not be as restrictive as it is now, may deserve attention.”

“In the beginning, we had to slow down the epidemic with strict measures. But now we have to decide whether to continue this method or to “relax” these measures – even if the epidemic goes slightly up,” Prymula said.

“It is not possible to hold tough measures indefinitely. If the growth rate of cases continues to be linear in the coming days, the bans are expected to be lifted,” he added.

“When a group at-risk is managed, the rest of the population should “meet” this virus in time and prove immune. Czechs should meet with coronavirus. I do not say everyone, but those for whom it will not be worse than the flu. And these are people of lower age, and healthy.”

However, Babiš said he disagreed with Prymula, and the idea to create herd immunity against Covid-19 in the Czech Republic.

Shops and services should return to normality after Easter. Other shops exempted from the closure include consumer electronics, florists, newspapers, magazines and tobacco products, and also pet shops and glasses shops. Banks and post offices are also untouched by the ban.

“Schools may reopen around May 15. Students have to wear face masks, it will be obligatory.”

According to Prymula, the borders will also open soon. “But I need to be clear: after everyone’s return, there is a 14-day quarantine. Travel will only be possible in countries where the risk is quite low, so I imagine we can soon travel to Slovakia – and Poland,” he concludes.

The number of new coronavirus cases may reach up to 17,000 in the Czech Republic by mid-April.

President Milos Zeman has said he will award Roman Prymula the Order of the White Lion on October 28, in recognition of his work in fighting the coronavirus epidemic.

The Czech Republic reported its slowest daily percentage rise in confirmed coronavirus cases on Monday, as the country entered fourth week of restrictions on business and movement.

The country had 4,591 cases as of Sunday midnight, up 2.6% from the previous day, the Health Ministry said on its website. This was the lowest percentage increase since early March when the country had a handful of known infections.

There were 4,710 tests done on Sunday, down from a record 6,889 on Friday but still up by nearly 2,000 from a week ago, when the daily number of detected infections was higher.

Leading Czech political figures consider Thursday’s EU Court of Justice verdict regarding migrant quotas “irrelevant”.

The court concluded that the Czech Republic, Poland, and Hungary failed to fulfill their obligations under EU law after refusing to accept a portion of the 160,000 migrants the EU was looking to distribute among member states following the 2015 migrant crisis.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš considers it essential that the Czech Republic will not be obliged to accept any asylum seekers in the EU, and that the quota system has expired in the meantime. According to him, it is irrelevant that the three Visegrad countries did not win the court case.

“We lost the dispute, but that is not important. What is important is that we do not have to pay something. Usually, the court claims some compensation for the proceedings,” said Babiš.

“The point is that we will not accept any migrants and that the quotas have expired in the meantime, especially thanks to us,” added the prime minister.

Also, according to Interior Minister Jan Hamáček, the ECJ’s ruling is not significant since the situation has changed.

“The court’s decision responds to events that happened a few years ago. I’m taking the verdict into account but without any further consequences,” Hamáček said.

Marian Jurečka, leader of the People’s Party (KDU-ČSL), stressed that the court did not take into account other measures the Czech Republic contributed to help solve the migration crisis. For example, the country was active supporting refugee camps and offered military aid in the fight against ISIS.

“The Czech Republic definitely tried show solidarity and help resolve the situation, while not endangering its own security,” Jurečka added.

Alexandr Vondra, vice chairman of the opposition Civic Democrats (ODS), also commented on the symbolism of the ECJ’s verdict and the absurdity of quotas.

“We have always argued that the quota system for redistributing migrants is wrong. The EU also withdrew from it, which is something the ECJ’s rulings cannot change. With the verdict, the EU just wants to save face, but I see no way how to put the ruling into practice,” Vondra said

The coronavirus and subsequent lockdowns have left virtually no industry untouched. Among the many affected is the short-term-rental industry, much of which is powered by Airbnb and the similar platforms that followed its lead.

According to Euromonitor, the number of tourists who spent at least one night in Prague last year was over 9.1 million, more than in Amsterdam (8.8 million) or Barcelona (7 million).

As a result, real estate prices and rentals have risen steeply in recent years, in all parts of the city. In the wider center from Smíchov through Karlín to Libeň or from Vršovice through Holešovice to Dejvice, this increase was partly due to renting apartments via Airbnb and similar services, which reduced the supply of long-term flats despite growing demand.

Within less than a hundred meters, you could easily find fifty Airbnb flats. However, the coronavirus pandemic completely changed the situation.

According to bezrealitky.cz, in March the number of apartments for rent in the Czech Republic increased by 16 percent. In Prague by 41 percent.

“To imagine, there are currently about 30 apartments that were used by Airbnb on Bezrealitky every day. If we took the growth for the whole month, we are on the growth by half compared to the previous one,” said Hendrik Meyer, CEO at BezRealitky.

Airbnb is dead right now

Airbnb is in crisis and, according to Reuters, the company has suspended all its marketing activities to save $800 million this year, and the founders will not pay any wages for six months.

In his message, Brian Chesky, co-founder, and director of Airbnb praised the company’s property manager partners and acknowledged that Airbnb needed to do a better job communicating with them. Despite what the company did with earlier reservations, Airbnb will stand by and enforce host’s cancellation policies for any bookings made after March 14, he said.

“The last few weeks have been a bit of a wakeup call for us. We know we need to be closer to you,” Chesky said. “We’re going to build things in partnership with you. We really are partners — or at least I want us to be.”

The company set aside $250 million to reimburse property managers for 25% of the revenue they lost due to bookings cancelled as a result of the pandemic. It set aside another $10 million for so-called Superhosts — highly rated managers of popular properties — to help them pay their rent or mortgages.

Airbnb founder: Joe Gebbia, Nathan Blecharczyk and Brian Chesky

“The expectations of Airbnb apartment owners are exaggerated”

Meanwhile, real estate prices are also falling in the rental market in Prague, which is, according to Meyer, a short-term effect related to coronavirus on the economy in general and not just Airbnb.

“The number of apartments to be withdrawn from Airbnb will increase. The main wave will not come until it is clear that the summer season will be without mass tourism,” added Meyer.

“In May and June, another 5-6 thousand apartments could be poured into the rental market.”

“Many Airbnb apartment owners have already decided to offer so-called mid-term rentals, for example, for a period of 2 to 3 months. They are often well below the market price of long-term leases, which logically scatters the dynamics of the market,” says the CEO of UlovDomov.cz.

According to Březina, however, most apartment owners are still waiting and hoping for the summer tourist season. If there is none in May and June, another 5 to 6 thousand apartments could be poured into the Prague rental market. However, those interested in rental housing should be very cautious in the coming period, especially if they come across suspiciously advantageous offers of apartments in the city center.

“We recommend them to conclude a contract for at least a year, ideally for two, and carefully study the terms and conditions – especially the articles related to the possibility of termination of the contract by the apartment owner. Although owners are temporarily forced to seek an alternative, it is more than likely that they will want to return to the original model and higher prices as soon as possible,” says Březina.

The fall in prices will not be sharp

Therefore, if the borders remain closed, rents will drop first in the central part of Prague and the decline will gradually arrive in other districts.

However, the decline, according to Meyer, will not be so sharp. Rents can reach the level of the beginning of last year, i.e. be six percent lower.

In the long run, however, residential housing prices are unlikely to fall. The willingness to buy will support central banks by lowering interest rates; buying real estate can still be interesting for investors seeking security against the economic downturn during the crisis.

“So, prices cannot be expected to fall – on the contrary, growth will continue, perhaps only at a more moderate pace. And the market is still not stopping for sales. In Prague, for example, we now see a 17% increase in sales over the previous month. The whole situation probably accelerated the already negotiated real estate sales,” adds Meyer.

Czech officials said on Wednesday they plan to test 5,000 people without coronavirus symptoms to get an idea of the real incidence of the disease within the EU member’s population.

“We are considering a representative sample of about 5,000 people, probably in Prague, to get an idea of how many symptomless people have actually had the disease,” Deputy Health Minister Roman Prymula told state television.

The test will be based on antibody response so as to also detect the virus in healthy individuals. Speaking separately to state radio, Prymula said he also wanted to test the citizens of an eastern region that was under complete lockdown for two weeks, adding that this testing could already begin this week.

“We have already supplied 22,000 testing kits. We want to know how many people actually got infected,” Prymula said. There are 3,508 confirmed cases of the virus, including 61 cured patients and 39 deaths.

Prymula said he expects 8,000-13,000 confirmed cases around mid-April as testing speeds up.

On Tuesday, the number of coronavirus cases increased by 307, a 10 percent increase that also coincided with the highest number of tests carried out in one day, with over 6,200 tests administered.

Minister of Health Adam Vojtěch considers the increase in the number of tests very positive.

“The Czech Republic is above average in terms of the number of tests,” he said, adding that testing is currently one of the government’s priorities.

BB Centrum in Prague 4 has been decorating with an unusual car since yesterday.

The work is a legendary Porsche 911 by the Czech artist and sculptor David Černý.

His eight-meter long installation is made up of eleven movable segments, and its opalescent color refers to the beetles living in nature.

Why a car?

“The location near Prague’s highway and my ambivalent relationship to the car on one side, and on the other my fond for the iconic Porsche 911 since I was a child,” explains Černý.

In the past 30 years, Černý has become the most prolific Czech sculptor. His work ranges from the monumental, like the giant stainless-steel kinetic sculpture of Kafka’s head in the centre of Prague, to the subtle, like the enigmatic and barely noticeable “Embryo” installed as part of the downspout outside the Theatre on the Balustrade, where Havel premiered his early plays in the 1960s.

Černý’s Quo Vadis (Trabant), installed in the garden of the German embassy, is a reminder of the mass exodus of East Germans to the west before the Wall was breached on 9 November 1989.

His rendition of St Wenceslas – mounted on a dead horse suspended upside-down from the ceiling of the Lucerna Palace – was inspired by a period of political depression in the late 1990s.

His works radiate self-deprecating humour that seems intrinsic to the Czech nature, though it seldom finds expression in its public art.

The new coronavirus has brought Czech life to a near standstill, closing businesses, canceling large gatherings, and keeping people at home. All of those people must surely be wondering: When will things return to normal?

The answer is simple, if not exactly satisfying: when enough of the population—possibly 60 or 80 percent of people—is resistant to COVID-19 to stifle the disease’s spread from person to person. That is the end goal, although no one knows exactly how long it will take to get there.

Meanwhile, the Czech government decided that when restaurants and bars will open again its doors to the public, visitors have to maintain a social distance. This was announced on Tuesday by Deputy Minister of Health Roman Prymula.

According to him, at the moment no one can tell the exact date for lifting restrictions on restaurants. However, he suggested that the end of April could be a very realistic deadline.

Everyone – for some more time, probably one month – will be required to keep a distance of at least 1.5 meters between themselves and other people.

Degrees of normalcy will likely be won back in before summer. Czechs might get restaurants but no music festivals, offices but no crowded public spaces, bars with spaced-out seating.

What’s happening in China

Officials are relaxing restrictions very slowly and methodically. Many restaurants at first reopened with shortened hours and for a limited number of customers; now, doors are open to all.

Primary and secondary schools in several provinces have reopened, but only in communities free of the disease, and schools must check students’ temperatures and watch for symptoms. Universities, where students from around the country mix, remain closed, with classes taught online.

Events that draw crowds are still banned or discouraged. Live music venues and gyms in many cities remain closed. There are temperature checks at subway entrances and factory gates.

A number of local governments had allowed cinemas to reopen, but last week the national government decided it was too early and closed all theaters for the time being. People keep their distance in public and at work. Millions continue to work from home.

The number of people who recovered from COVID-19 has risen to 25 in the Czech Republic, while the number of deaths grew to 23.

This was announced today at a press conference after the government meeting by the Health Minister Adam Vojtech (ANO). According to Vojtěch, all the dead people were suffering from other diseases.

The increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in the Czech Republic is still slowing down; today, at 18:30, there have been 125 cases bringing the total to 2942.

On Sunday, the daily increase was 160 cases, on Saturday 262 and on Friday even 373. If the number of new cases won’t increase significantly, today’s daily increase could be the lowest since last Monday.

However, the number of tests for COVID-19 has been decreasing in recent days, as well. While on Friday 5247 tests have been made, on Saturday the number of tests decreased to 4300 and on Sunday to 2800.

On Saturday, the Ministry of Health reported two deaths from COVID-19, on Sunday five.

The highest number of confirmed cases is in Prague: 791. Prague also has the highest number of cases per capita, with almost 60 people with COVID-19 per 100,000 inhabitants.

The second-largest share of infected people is in the Olomouc Region, where there are currently over 43 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, while the third-largest is Karlovy Vary Region with 34 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

Bike rental company Rekola has extended the opportunity to use its service for free in six Czech cities thanks to the support of Hello bank!

Until April 2nd and for the first 15 minutes, you can use Rekola bikes for free.

“We are pleased to offer free alternative transport around the city during these trying times. If we follow the recommended hygiene rules, then rented bicycles will become a suitable means of transportation in the coming spring season, ”said Gabriela Pitgartova from Hello bank!

In addition to Prague, Rekola operates in Brno, Ceske Budejovice, Olomouc, Frydek-Mistek and Mladá Boleslav.

“Rekola and the Prague Transport Company have always been good friends and allies, and friends should help each other during a crisis. Since it is necessary to minimize contact with people during an epidemic, the bike is currently the ideal means of transportation,” says Vít Ježek, founder of Rekola.

Bicycle renters regularly sanitize the contact surfaces of vehicles. “As a rule, it is enough to observe basic hygiene habits and, above all, wash your hands regularly. We also recommend wearing gloves,” the company said.

About Rekola

Rekola is bicycle sharing system and it started in Prague in 2013 as a small project of Vít Ježek. As of 2020, it is operating in six Czech cities and in a Finnish city Vaasa.

The company is operating more than 2000 bikes, most of them are located in Prague. Daily ridership in 2018 was 4,700 people.

The bikes can be unlocked through an official app or SMS. User unlocks the bikes manually through the code which is given from the app or SMS.

How does it work?

Download an app, sign up and choose your subscription plan.
Locate the nearest bike on the map.
Find the bike and read the 6-digit number written on the frame.
In the app, press the large Rekola button and enter the 6-digit number. The app will give you a code for the lock.
Unlock the bike, and enjoy a full hour of riding.
When you are finished, return the bike anywhere within the zone. Lock the bike in a bicycle stand or to any fixed point.

The Czech flag today celebrates 100 years.

The red-white-blue flag was created as the state symbol of the Czechoslovak Republic, established in 1918. After its split in 1993, the Czech Republic kept the original flag, while Slovakia chose another one.

The designer is generally accepted to have been Jaroslav Kursa, an employee at the Interior Ministry’s archives and the most active member of a Ministry commission set up to create the new flag.

The flag was officially approved by the National Assembly of Czechoslovakia on 30 March 1920 and since then, it has been in continuous use, with the exception of the German occupation of Czechoslovakia during World War II.

Additionally, during a short period following the Velvet Revolution, between 1990 and 1992, the Czech part of the Czechoslovak federated state adopted the previous red and white flag.

The first two colours Kursa picked were white and red – the traditional colors of Bohemia, representing the sky and the bloodshed for the freedom of the country. But because this flag would have been almost identical with the Polish flag and had the same colors as the Austrian flag Kursa added a blue wedge on the right-hand side.

Blue is the traditional colour of Slovakia, but it is also present in the French and American flags and was thus meant to represent their role in helping to achieve the country’s independence.

The triangle was used because it resembled the Greek summa and stood for the unity of Bohemia and Slovakia.

Although promises had been made that neither state would use the symbols of former Czechoslovakia, the Czech Republic readopted the Czechoslovak flag of 1920 as its own.

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