prague Archives – Page 19 of 28

“Street artists” wearing enormous animal costumes will no longer be able to perform in the center of Prague. In addition to inflatable bears, bubble artists will also be eliminated from the city streets of Prague.

The amendment to the Decree was approved by the councilors yesterday.

These attractions are governed by regulations on street art or busking, but officials have now decided that they do not qualify for that category.

The ban will be active in Old Town Square, Velkopřevorské náměstí, náměstí Míru, as well as Nerudova Street and Spálená street between Purkyňova and Národní Třída.

Performers also must not stand where they would block the passage of pedestrians or stand in the entrance to buildings or the metro.

“The giant mascots are not really street art, and the amendment about busking takes this into account. Kitschy characters do not belong in Old Town,” said the Prague Mayor Zdeněk Hřib when the issue first came up.

Prague 1 Mayor Pavel Čižinský previously said the decree should be changed so that busking is “something that is at least a little artistic, not a stupid attraction that only pollutes the public space.”

This is a crazy special treat. Hamerský sklípek used to be known under the name of “Fajna ďura” which is actually a Northern Moravian language (not used so much in Prague) and the name of this place means literally “nice den”. And moreover, this place looks somehow like a South Moravian wine cellar. And it is a nice den.

At this place, I like not only sitting by the pond and looking at the islands and ducks and herons and coots and all the green or white, as you can enjoy this place both in summer and in winter, I also like the way you get here a lot.

I feel amazed by the surroundings of this quiet place as there is a tram terminal station in an industrial area about 500m from here in one direction, and a big train yard and a sports area in other directions, and you still have no idea and you feel like you are in the middle of nowhere. (Unless you look a bit to the right where the prefab houses are visible behind the cute little church.)

Hamerský sklípek is actually a wine cellar (which is the meaning of the Czech word “sklípek”) with quite a nice selection of white, red and rosé wines, beers from two craft breweries, some soft drinks of course and a basic offer of food. Don’t expect anything fancy though.

The inside space can take up to about 30 people but there’s no need to stay inside. And they are organizing special events, just check their FB page.

Author: Janina Michlová. You can find the original article here

Spotted by Locals Prague is a blog (and iPhone & Android app) by locals who live & love their city.

Brownfields belong to the major urban problems in Czechia. These derelict areas are characterized by decayed, abandoned buildings and sometimes by contaminated land.

Now Prague authorities are aiming to give these areas a new lease of life in an attempt to ease an acute housing shortage, create jobs and attract investment in projects.

Brownfields are located in places with already existing public transport and are connected to other infrastructure. For the city, support for private construction on brownfields is the best solution to the current housing crisis, according to Central Group.

Unused “brownfield” sites in the center cover an estimated 940 hectares, the equivalent of 1,000 soccer fields. Proposed projects include converting an abandoned milk factory into shops and apartments, and turning part of a derelict train station into office and residential space.

They include Smichov City, which last year received planning approval, and Rohansky ostrov, where the developer hopes to get planning within six months. And then: Skanska Property’s Malešice site where its former factory site will soon undergo construction to turn it into a neighborhood for 2,500 people. Another brownfield site in Malešice, near the Depo Hostivar metro station, is also moving forward.

Czech developer Central Group has acquired a brownfield site in Prague’s Zličín district and plans to use it to build a new neighborhood with up to 6,000 apartments and tram service.

Penta is planning to build up to 500 apartments on the currently unused four-hectare brownfield of the Nákladové nádraží Žižkov. The new urban district will have a high-quality architecture, greenery and civic amenities.

Prague’s Sekyra Group is about to start construction at a 21-hectare site where it will turn part of a train station located on one of Prague’s largest brownfield sites into office, retail and residential space.

However, it is not easy to conduct extensive construction work in a historic, UNESCO-protected city center. Navigating a lengthy permitting process, complicated by the fact each of Prague’s 57 districts wield their own power, has slowed progress for local investors and largely blocked foreign investors so far.

Within the European Mobility Days, the Car Free Day will take place on Saturday 21 September in four Prague locations. In the City centre on Mariánské náměstí in Prague 1 and in the districts of Kbely, Dolní Měcholupy, and Újezd. The motto of this year is “Walk with us”!

The European Mobility Week 2019 program in Prague offers a range of events and accompanying activities. On Monday, September 16, there was the Day without Road Death – EDWARD. The purpose of the event was to make road users think about their traffic behaviour.

On Tuesday there was a discussion on Micromobility as a transport solution in cities. Wednesday offered Traffic Education Day for Children. Thursday belonged to the discussion The Threat of MAMATAXI – aimed at parents who drive their kids to and from school. On Friday, September 20, the second year of the Educational Day without Barriers at the European House in Jungmannova Street was organized.

This EUROPEAN MOBILITY WEEK puts the spotlight on safe walking and cycling and the benefits it can have for our health and environment. Active transport modes such as walking and cycling are emission-free.

The motto of the European Mobility Week highlights walking this year and pedestrians are slowly taking back Prague streets. Mariánské square, once a parking lot, will become on Saturday 21 September a car-free zone with plans to turn it into a cultural hotspot. This day the Mariánské square will be enlivened with live music, theatre performances, dances and workshops for children.

Intended to highlight alternative methods of transportation throughout major European cities, European Mobility Week has been held since 2002.

International Car Free Day, or World Car Free Day, has been developed for decades but gained traction in the 2000s and now coincides with European Mobility Week. Last year, Prague celebrated its first official Car Free Day.

Prague has been discussing how to improve public transport to the airport for many years. Passengers who do not drive their own vehicles can now use buses of line 119, or taxi.

There has been much talk about the construction of the railroad track right up to the terminals or the extension of the metro, but overall everything is overtaken by another means of transport. The City of Prague announced that the 119 buses will be replaced the large-capacity electric buses in 2023.

They should relieve the current onslaught as they offer much greater capacity, as well as relieve the environment.

“The priority for us is still the fast-track to the airport, which is an investment of the Railway Infrastructure Administration and we are working intensively on it. However, due to the size of the building, this is the first solution for 2028. We decided to make it easier for passengers as soon as possible,” said Deputy Mayor of Transport Adam Scheinherr.

The result should be the electrification of route 119, for which Prague plans to purchase a total of 20 large-capacity three-cell battery-electric buses. “They will be 25 meters in length, which will greatly improve passenger comfort, make transportation easier by avoiding the adding of more bus connections while reducing exhaust emissions to zero,” adds Scheinherr.

The electrified line will, therefore, be built on the route from Nádraží Veleslavín to Václav Havel Airport, however, the trolleys that will be powered by the electric buses will not be all the way. Partial trolleybuses should be deployed, which can run part of the route without trolley lines only on batteries.

The total investment in electrification is expected to cost almost 900 million crowns, with the most going to battery buses.

In addition, Prague wants to take advantage of the synergies within the tram power network when constructing the electrified line. Although electric buses should not only be a temporary solution before the railway line is built at the airport, it will also find use elsewhere.

The infrastructure will also be used to extend the tram line from Divoká Šárka to Dědina, and Prague plans to deploy electric buses on the overloaded 112 line.

Within the next phase, the new trolleybuses are intended to relieve passengers primarily from the airport (because the line 119 today runs every 3-5 minutes, and the total number of connections in one direction is up to 250 daily, which at times it is overloaded). Since it makes no sense to further shorten the interval, Prague decided to invest in larger electric buses.

A 27-year-old woman with a transplanted womb gave birth in Prague’s Motol hospital in August and her child is thus the first baby born that way in the Czech Republic.

The woman had undergone a womb transplant in 2017. The boy was born by Caesarean section on August 29.

“This is the first such case in the Czech Republic when we were able to hold the pregnancy in a womb transplant patient all the way up to birth,” the hospital’s spokeswoman Pavlina Dankova said.

He was delivered by Caesarean section in the 35th week of the pregnancy of the mother, who is 27 years old.

Doctors said the mother would keep the transplanted womb in case she wishes to have a second child.

This year, the Czech Republic has taken 24th place in the 2019 Social Progress Index.

The country climbed two places compared to last year, even though it received fewer points than in 2018.

The index is annually prepared by the Social Progress Imperative NGO and Deloitte based on data about the level of social and economic development and the state of the environment. Of the 149 countries which were included in the comparison, Norway came on top while the Central African Republic was last.

The Czech Republic achieved the best results in economic indicators and basic human needs, specifically nutrition and basic medical care, water and sanitation, shelter, and personal safety.

In contrast, tolerance and inclusion has taken a downward turn in the Czech Republic, ranking it among countries the likes of Botswana. A high score was also achieved by the Czech Republic in respect of access to basic knowledge.

“Even the richest countries have weaknesses they have to address. We should be concerned that personal rights indicators are falling. Even in the US”, said Deloitte President Josef Kotrba. “If we compare the four Visegrad countries in the area of personal rights, the Czech Republic is far ahead of Slovakia, Poland, and Hungary,” he added.

The Czech Republic is launching a competition for towns and municipalities to test 5G technologies, following a national strategy approved in May.

“5G technologies are crucial to the development of local governments,” commented the Czech deputy prime minister and minister of industry and trade, Karel Havlíček. “As a result, municipalities will be able to work more closely with companies and universities on new systems such as smart transportation, security and digital applications for citizens. All in the spirit of making the Czech Republic a country of the future.”

One of the main goals of the auction is to promote increased competition within the Czech market and to attract new market entrant(s). It is hoped that this will help to reduce the current high costs of mobile services in the Czech Republic. To this end, block allocation of the 2×10 MHz spectrum in the 700 MHz frequency band will be reserved exclusively for new operators.

The competition will show both municipalities and citizens how new technologies can help to improve the quality of life.

“Our aim is to promote the competitiveness of regions using smart approaches while avoiding regional disparities,” added Minister for Regional Development Klára Dostálová.

The Czech Telecommunication Office plans to kick-off an auction of 5G-suitable frequencies in early November, seeking to attract bids from a new fourth mobile network operator to tackle the long-standing problem of high mobile rates in the country.

Within three years of the auction, the current operators will have to cover 95% of all municipalities that presently lack high-speed internet coverage.

As part of its ongoing plans to introduce fifth-generation technology, O2 Czech Republic has activated in June its 5G network, running in a live environment, covering the city of Koline in the Central Bohemian Region (55km east of Prague).

On Saturday, September 28, you can visit the Lobkovický palác, usually closed to tourists, for free.

From 14:00 to 19:00, guests will be able to explore the interior of the Baroque palace, built in 1702.

The event will commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution and is called the “Path to Freedom”. The German embassy organizes an exhibition and talks with witnesses of those events.

A detailed program can be found here.

Lobkowicz Palace is one of the most important High-Baroque buildings in Prague. It was projected by famous Baroque architect Giovanni Battista Alliprandi and there is a large decorative garden behind it.

It has been a seat of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Prague since 1973. It became an important place in 1989: thousands of citizens of the former GDR could move to the FRG from this palace at the time.

The palace was planned with two facades: those of street side and the more impressive garden front. The Lobkowicz family acquired the palace in 1753, and it was given its Late-baroque appearance by Ignác Johann Palliardi in 1769. The garden (partly open to the public), which stretch the Petín Hill, was restyled in the manner of English “natural” landscaping in 1793 by J. Skalník, who had been responsible for the landscaping of Marienbad Spa.

In the palace gardens, you’ll find a sculpture by David Cerný of a golden Trabant that pay tribute to the thousands of East Germans who slipped into West Germany via the German Embassy in Prague, leaving behind their East German cars.

From September, 27 till October, 20 The New Russian Film Festival will be held in the Czech Republic and represent the best examples of Russian cinema.

The program includes more than 30 new Russian films in different genres, as well as meetings with people making Russian cinema diverse and interesting.

In Prague, The New Russian Film Festival will start on the 27th of September and last until the 6th of October, 2019. Citizens of Brno, Ostrava, Zlín, and Pilsen will be able to see the movies from the 10 to the 20 of October 2019.

Official Festival website

The opening film and special guests

The guests of the Festival will have an opportunity to walk the red carpet with movie stars, make the most spectacular selfies, attend the premiere of the announced film and enjoy the banquet dishes from famous chefs at the opening ceremony of the Festival at Cinema City – Slovanský dům in Prague.

The opening ceremony will be visited by the head of Mosfilm, film director and actor Karen Shakhnazarov, director Pavel Lungin, actor and director Alexander Galibin, actors Natalia Vdovina and Anton Momot. The soviet basketball player Ivan Edeshko, known in history for the “golden pass”, thanks to which the soviet team scored a winning point in the final of the Munich Olympics in 1972 will also take part at the ceremony.

II Festival New Russian Film will be opened with the psychological drama Two, filmed in the Sayan Taiga. The movie was awarded by Kinotavr in 2018 but has not been presented to the public yet. From meeting to infidelity, from love to betrayal, from despair to the hope for salvation – the characters are going to have to do this the hard way, but the final will be unexpected, even for themselves, perhaps. The lead actor, Anton Momot, will present the film to the audience.

The opening ceremony will be finished with a gala night after-party, where famous ethnic singer from Yakutia Olena Wutai will perform. It will be her first show in Prague.

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