Radio Prague International - Topic «History»: Recent Episodes
Radio Prague International
Eighty years ago, U.S. pilot William L. Kiggins was killed during a combat mission over Brno, becoming the only American soldier to die in the Moravian capital during World War II. On Wednesday, the American Ambassador to the Czech Republic, Bijan Sabet received the skeletal remains found at the crash site a few years ago, believed to belong to the pilot.
Archaeologists from the Moravian city of Brno have reported an unprecedented discovery. During a rescue excavation in the broader city center, they unearthed the bones of at least three mammoths, alongside remains from other animals. They also discovered tools from prehistoric people who hunted these animals approximately 15,000 years ago.
Czechia approaches the anniversary of the Velvet Revolution and end of Communism in 1989. To commemotrate the historic milestone, Freedom Week kicks off in Prague.
Thirty-five years ago, the canonization of Agnes of Bohemia marked a turning point for Czechoslovakia, symbolizing hope and the promise of change as the Velvet Revolution loomed on the horizon. On November 12, 1989—just five days before the revolution began—10,000 Czechoslovak pilgrims filled St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City to witness the canonization of the Czech patroness by Pope John Paul II.
November 8th is the anniversary of the Battle of White Mountain (Bitva na Bílé hoře), fought in 1620 just outside Prague, which brought disaster for the ruling Czech aristocracy and drastically altered the face of the Czech lands.
November 11th is Armistice Day, the international commemoration of the end of the First World War, which offers us today an opportunity to remember and honour those who have given their lives in combat. In the United Kingdom, the day is accompanied by Remembrance Sunday, and its distinctly British acts of remembrance will be taking place in Prague too. Danny Bate spoke to Colonel Jonathan Kitson, defence attaché at the British Embassy, about the nature of his position, and his role in November’s events of military commemoration.
This October marks 80 years since the Battle of the Dukla Pass, a fierce World War II clash on the Polish-Slovak border, where Nazi Germany and Soviet forces fought for control of the Dukla Pass. Nearly 2,000 Czechoslovak soldiers, fighting alongside the Soviets, died in the battle, but over 600 of them remain unlisted on any memorial.
Beneath Brno, the “10-Z Bunker” reminds visitors of Czechia’s complex history. Built during the Second World War to shield against bombings, the partially completed bunker provided refuge. Today, the 10-Z Bunker is open to the public as a historical site and hostel, offering guided tours through preserved technical areas, video stories, and artifacts like prison doors inscribed with messages from condemned inmates.
On October 28th, Czechia celebrates 106 years since the declaration of Czechoslovakia as an independent state. Historian and political scientist Jan Adamec walked us through the history of the new country's heads of state, from its first to its last.
Archaeologists at the Comenius Museum in Přerov have revealed to the public an ancient sword from the Bronze Age, found by accident in a field close to the city. The sword was a star exhibit at the museum’s recent exhibition about metal detecting.
Archaeologists from the Olomouc Archaeological Centre have announced a unique discovery. While conducting a rescue excavation along the future route of the D35 motorway, they unearthed the largest Early Bronze Age burial site of the so-called Nitra culture unearthed to date in Central Moravia.
In the German state of Brandenburg, a mighty circular fortress, a replica of a Slavic castle from the ninth or tenth century, has been acquired by a Czech owner. Care of the historical attraction has passed into the hands of David Chmelík, who emigrated from Czechoslovakia in the 1990s.
To mark the 600th anniversary of the death of the famous Czech warrior Jan Žižka of Trocnov, an international scientific team led by Brazilian 3D expert Cícer Moraes has created a digital model of his face. As a basis, experts used the so-called Čáslav calva, part of a skull considered to be an authentic relic of the Hussite warlord.
A new STEM analysis reveals that nearly half of Czechs view the current democratic regime as better than the pre-1989 communist system.
A unique songbook marking the upcoming anniversary of the Velvet Revolution has just been released in Czechia. Initiated by the NGO Díky, že můžem or Thanks, that we can, it contains 17 tracks that capture the spirit of their time, from underground and protest songs to communist-era mainstream hits.
The Regional Court in Hradec Králové has rehabilitated parish priest Josef Toufar who was arrested and tortured to death by the communist secret police in the hardline 1950s for allegedly faking a miracle.
Czechia has given the world many notable figures. However, no Czech has garnered as much respect worldwide in recent history as Prague-born Václav Havel.
This past weekend, Czechs and Slovaks remembered the Carpatho-Dukla Operation – one of the most successful resistance assaults during the Second World War from Czechs and Slovaks. The battle was among the most bloody in the Eastern Front and in the history of Slovakia, initiated by the Czechoslovak government’s appeal to Soviets for help.
On 26 September 1879, 145 years ago, the village of Royal Vinohrady (Královské Vinohrady) was promoted to a town. It grew and developed at a pace unprecedented in its time. Vinohrady soon became the second-largest city in the Czech Kingdom. With the creation of Greater Prague in 1922, it became part of the city, with the name Prague XII. New exhibition celebrates its history in Peace Square.
A Plzeň building partly designed by the modernist architect Adolf Loos, in which the surrender of the German garrison occurred on May 6th 1945, is set to be renovated and repurposed. The dilapidated building is set to become a new museum all about the events of that fateful year in Plzeň.
Her life story is a story of courage and survival. Jaroslava Skleničková was just 16 when she was sent to the Ravensbrück concentration camp by the Nazis with her mother and older sister. Her father was executed, along with the other men from Lidice. Despite this terrible experience, which haunted her for the rest of her life, she found the strength to live a fulfilled life, marry, have children and help anyone in need. She died on September 27 at the age of 98, surrounded by her family.
September 30 marks eighty-six years since the signing of the Munich Agreement in 1938, by which Czechoslovakia was compelled to surrender the large region of the Sudetenland to Nazi Germany. To commemorate the event, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs shared official documents and private correspondence from the week leading up to the infamous agreement.
35 years ago tomorrow, one of the most significant events of the end of the Cold War took place in the garden of the West German Embassy in Prague. The German Foreign Minister at the time, Hans-Dietrich Genscher, stepped onto the balcony of the Lobkowicz Palace and announced to around four thousand East German refugees that they were allowed to travel west to the Federal Republic of Germany.
Father Adolf Kajpr spent 13 years of his life in concentration camps and prisons. He was persecuted by both the Nazis and the Communists for his journalism and opposition to the regimes. He dedicated his life to faith, the Church, and civil truth. He did not live to see the presidential amnesty in 1960 and died in Leopoldov prison.
The manufactory was the second porcelain factory established in the Czech lands. By the late 19th century, Thun porcelain had achieved international success. Unfortunately, this year, operations in Klášterec nad Ohří have come to an end.
Vyšehrad has been a key site for archaeological research in Prague for over a century. A new exhibition reveals its importance in the history of Czechia.
One of the winners of this year’s Most Beautiful Czech Books of the Year Award is Birds of Prague 1800-2020, published by the Czech Ornithological Society and Revolver Revue. It follows up on the work of the pioneering Czechoslovak ornithologist Veleslav Wahl, who was executed in 1951 by the Communist regime for alleged treason. The impressive volume contains not only the original book from 1944. It also includes Wahl’s biography and maps the development of bird communities in the city over the last decades. I discussed the book with Petr Voříšek from the Czech Ornithological Society, who initiated its creation.
The Crown of St. Wenceslas made for the coronation of Charles IV has a magic attraction. It is rarely put on display and people cue up for hours to see it. Few people know that there is a replica of it at Barrandov film studios that anyone can borrow.
Today marks the centenary of the birth of Rudolf Vrba, a Czechoslovak and Jewish biochemist, who escaped from the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1942 together with fellow prisoner Alfréd Wetzler. Together they published the Vrba–Wetzler report. This eyewitness description is credited with waking the world up to the full horrors happening at Auschwitz.
Beaver tail, bear paws or squirrel meat - these are just some of the ingredients from historic recipes currently on display at the Olomouc Research Library . The exhibition presenting unique cookbooks from the Middle Ages until the 1930s will run in the Moravian city until November.
On September 9th 1754, the Baroque column of the Holy Trinity was consecrated by the bishop of Olomouc, Cardinal Ferdinand Julius Troyer, in the presence of the imperial-royal couple Maria Theresa and Francis I of Lorraine. Today, this UNESCO-status monument is a magnet for tourists from all over the world.
Built to protect Czechoslovakia against Nazi Germany and later repurposed as a nuclear shelter by the Communist regime, Fort Hanička served neither purpose. Today it is a museum that attracts thousands of military enthusiasts.
September 1, 1924, saw the launch of Radio Brno – the first radio station to launch broadcasts outside of Prague. This was just two years after the launch of the BBC and a year after Radiojournal (Czech Radio) started broadcasting in the Czech capital.
The serial production of the new Škoda 100 model began in Mladá Boleslav on August 25, 1969. Unlike its predecessor, the Škoda 1000 MB, which was considered one of the best vehicles in its class, the new model was not that visually attractive and was outdated from the start.
David Bradbury is a former director general of the British Library. In 1968, the foreign language student found himself in Czechoslovakia right after the Soviet-led invasion. Despite the unusual times, he formed lifelong friendships with a number of Czechs, and an ongoing affinity for the country. I caught up with David during a recent visit to Prague and began by asking how he ended up in the Czech capital in September 1968.
The first days of the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia were closely tied to the Czechoslovak Radio building in front of which bloody clashes took place and at least 15 civilians were killed. The newly released film Waves, inspired by the true story of a group of journalists from the radio’s foreign service section, focuses on these traumatic events and the preceding Prague Spring period.
On August 21, 1968 Soviet-led Warsaw Pact troops invaded Czechoslovakia, crushing the Prague Spring and ushering in a long period of political and moral decline. More than 130 people died during the invasion and thousands fled the country in the years that followed. The late Czech filmmakers Jiří Menzel and Miloš Forman share their personal memories of that fateful night, reflecting on the shock, fear, and surreal experiences.
Venus of Dolní Věstonice, a Stone-Age ceramic sculpture of a female figure considered one of the oldest pieces of art in the world, was made from fragments of rocks and tiny fossils, not mammoth bones as previously believed. The discovery was made by experts from the Moravian Museum in Brno using micro-CT scanning. I discussed the findings, which have been published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, with the head of the research team Petr Neruda:
World Photography Day is observed annually on August 19th to celebrate the art of photography and its roots globally. On this day in 1902 the first amateur photography club was founded in Prague.
The Cistercian monastery in Vyšší Brod is the final resting place of the Rožmberk clan, one of the richest and mightiest noble families in Bohemia. Thanks to cutting-edge technology experts have been able to view its interior and even produce replicas of the twin wedding rings of Petr Vok and his wife Kateřina.
Anton Raphael Mengs, one of the most prominent artists in 18th century Europe was born in Ústí nad Labem. We take a closer look at his connection to this region.
Archaeologists have uncovered a Neolithic settlement in Dobren, near Kutná Hora. This site, inhabited by the region's earliest farmers during the early Stone Age, provides insight into life in the Czech lands seven thousand years ago.
The previously inaccessible underground of Prague Castle has been unveiled with the release of a new archaeological app. This application allows visitors to view the remains of buildings dating from the 9th and 10th centuries up to the 15th century, located beneath reinforced concrete structures spanning several thousand square meters.
On August 2, 1924, Czechoslovak Radio (then broadcasting under the name Radiojournal) attempted its first live sports report of a highly anticipated boxing match between Harry Knight (Rocky) representing the US and František Růžička (Frank Rose) of Czechoslovakia.
Prague's fortification walls served as security barriers since the Middle Ages. Today, they are a testimony to the historical importance of the city.
Czech archaeologists have discovered a Neolithic settlement near the central Bohemian town of Kutná Hora. Built approximately 7,000 years ago, it has been exceptionally well-preserved, including the floor plans of four long houses. I discussed the details of the discovery with Daniel Pilař from the Czech Academy of Sciences’ Department of Prehistorical Archaeology.
The American war veteran George Thompson, who helped liberate Plzeň in May 1945 with the 16th Armored Division, has died at the age of 99. He was the last of the surviving American veterans who liberated the city and returned repeatedly for the annual Liberation Festival. The West Bohemian capital held a memorial in his honour on Monday .
Seventy years after the execution of Rudolf Slánský, a prominent Communist Party member convicted in an infamous 1952 show trial, a court in Prague has rehabilitated his wife and son in memoriam. The court found that they had been illegally deprived of their personal freedom by the communist regime.
The work of ancient Egyptian scribes left specific traces on their skeletons, suggests a new study by Czech scientists. It shows that certain degenerative changes to the spine and joints were much more common in scribes than in other men.
Archaeologists from the Museum in Roudnice nad Labem have announced a rare discovery. While surveying a site in the small town of Budyně nad Ohří they came across a number of bronze artefacts, including pieces of jewellery, dating back over 3500 years.
The staged trial of Heliodor Pika is one of the most infamous political trials in communist Czechoslovakia, along with that of Milada Horáková. He was sentenced to death on the basis of fabricated evidence.
The discovery was made in the garden in Přímětice near Znojmo, where Diviš worked as a parish priest and conducted scientific experiments. The main function of the "weather machine" was to permanently balance the tension between the sky and the ground and avert the discharge itself.
A newly restored Jawa 750, which appeared at the start of the legendary 1930s race Thousand Miles of Czechoslovakia, was recently unveiled at the National Technical Museum in Prague. This Thursday, the fiery red sports car will take part in the race again, 90 years after its first appearance.
The ceremony was attended by Emperor Franz Joseph I and his wife Elisabeth, also known as Sissi. The imperial couple also made a significant contribution to a public fundraiser for the construction of one of the largest church buildings of its time.
Czechs are paying tribute to the photographer Bohumil Dobrovolský, who died on Wednesday at the age of 89. He is best known for his photographs documenting the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968.
The 80th anniversary of D-Day, otherwise known as "Operation Overlord," will remember the Allied soldiers who stormed the beaches of Normandy on 6 June, 1944. Czech President Petr Pavel will attend, along with 25 other world leaders, 43,000 officers, and more than a million visitors.
Have you ever wondered what a Baroque pharmacy looked like? The answer lies in a monastery called Zlatá Koruna, in southern Bohemia, which recently re-created such a pharmacy from authentic items dating back to the 18th century.
A new exhibition highlighting the Celtic history of South Bohemia is currently underway in the South Bohemian Museum in České Budějovice. It presents the latest archaeological findings, but also sheds light on the everyday life of people living in the region during the Iron Age.
If you’ve taken the metro to Prague’s Anděl station, you may have noticed a bronze sculpture that reads ‘Moskva-Praha’. Constructed in 1985, it was meant to symbolize friendship between Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union. After the fall of the regime, it remained, stirring debate amongst the public. Recently, Prague City Hall decided to add a plaque explaining the contentious history of the sculpture, instead of tearing it down. To learn more about this, I spoke with Cold War historian Jan Adamec.
Ferdinand Porsche was a Liberec-born genius engineer, who designed the first-ever hybrid car. He also contributed to the development of Volkswagen Beetle, which remained in production for 65 years.
Thursday marks exactly 50 years since the opening of the first section of the Prague metro, running between Kačerov and Florenc on the C line. Today there are 61 stations and three lines. But did you know that there is also a secret metro station, known as Klárov? Classified as confidential, it was one of the best-kept secrets of the Communist era.
The second funeral of poet Karel Hynek Mácha, whose remains were exhumed from the occupied Sudetenland 85 years ago and taken to Prague for a second ceremonial burial, ended up turning into one of the biggest anti-Nazi protests in the early years of the occupation.
One of the final two Czechoslovak RAF veterans still alive today celebrated his 100th birthday on Thursday. Jiří Pavel Kafka, also one of the “Winton children”, marked his centenary in the hangar of Prague’s Kbely military airport in the company of family and army representatives.
In today's episode of our series In Franz Kafka’s Footsteps we are back in Prague to visit places where the famous writer lived, worked and wrote, and also where he spent his free time.
Roma representatives, top officials and cultural figures attended the opening of a memorial to Romany and Sinti victims of the Holocaust in Lety, south Bohemia on Tuesday. Due to communist neglect, the site of a former concentration camp originally served as a pig farm and it took close to three decades for the state to buy out the property and erect a dignified memorial in its place.
The innovation of film with sound first made it to Czechoslovakia 95 years ago. The first sound film to be screened in the country was not a feature film, however, but an advert for a factory in Ustí nad Labem. It had its premiere in the same city, four months before the first sound film was shown in Prague.
A new monument honouring the courage of those who fought in the May 1945 Prague Uprising has been selected in a public competition and will be erected in the Bubeneč district. It will replace a statue of the Soviet Army commander Ivan Konev, which was removed in 2020.
The name Vlasta Kálalová Di Lotti might not mean very much to you – even many Czechs have not heard of her. But the woman with the exotic-sounding name was decidedly one of the most fascinating figures of the First Republic and had an incredible life story that deserves to be more widely known. Not only a female surgeon at a time when this was extremely uncommon, she was also intrepid and pioneering, setting up a clinic in Iraq in the 1920s, and was said to have been fluent in over a dozen languages.
On April 9, 1624 Ferdinand II issued a patent allowing only the Catholic religion in Bohemia. A few days later he banned royal towns from accepting non-Catholic burghers and also forbade non-Catholics to practice their trade in such towns.
Thursday is the 55th anniversary of a famous moment in the country’s modern history. On March 28, 1969 a Czechoslovak ice hockey win over the USSR – less than a year after the Soviet invasion – sparked celebrations that turned into riots in Prague and other parts of the country.
The discovery of a 7,000-year-old well in Czechia’s Pardubice region six years ago, thought to be the oldest surviving man-made wooden object in the world, thrilled excavators. Now experimental archaeologists from the Všestary Prehistoric Archaeology Park near Hradec Králové are making a copy of the well, using prehistoric tools and methods, that will be displayed alongside the original.
The new book Red Tape: Radio and Politics in Czechoslovakia, 1945-1969 takes a fresh look at radio broadcasting in, and to, the country between the end of the war and the immediate aftermath of the Soviet-led invasion. How “Communist” were staff at Czechoslovak Radio? How did reporters respond to the new freedoms that came with the Prague Spring? And what happened after that relatively liberal period was brutally curtailed? I discussed those questions and more with author Rosamund Johnston, a Vienna-based historian who is also a former colleague at Radio Prague International.
On 26 March 1964, the Czechoslovak government decided to liquidate the old city of Most to make way for new coal mines and apartments to house the miners who would be working there. The demolition of the historic centre of the town lasted 23 years, finally finishing on 1 April 1987.
The new Škoda 1000 MB was unveiled in Mladá Boleslav on March 21, 1964. Designed to be an inexpensive family car, it was Czechoslovakia’s answer to the Ford Model T: the first mass-affordable automobile, making car travel available to more people in the country than ever before.
When they were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and during the First Republic, Czechs were accustomed to driving on the left. That changed with the Nazi occupation in 1939.
The oldest known human settlement in Europe lies in western Ukraine. New findings by an international team of scientists have confirmed the oldest stone tools on the site date roughly 1.4 million years ago. The study , published in Nature, proves that the “first Europeans” entered the continent from the east. I discussed the findings with Roman Garba from the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences , who led the research team.
This month a monument was unveiled in Liberec entitled To Children Who Didn’t Get to Know the World. The memorial is specifically to Roma children who were born and died in WWII camps – and follows years of research by historian Ivan Rous and others.
Archaeologists from the central Moravian city of Přerov have announced a unique discovery. While carrying out excavations in the centre of the town, they came across an ice skate made of animal bone dating back some 1,000 years.
The Brady family, originally from Nové Město na Moravě, has an inspiring story that spans generations and continents. George Brady, immigrated to Toronto, Canada after surviving Auschwitz and fleeing communism. Having promised himself as a prisoner that he would never turn his back on people in need if he survived the war, he assisted expats and helped to educate young people about the Holocaust. On a recent visit home to Toronto, I met with Lara Hana Brady, daughter of George Brady, to find out more about his life story, going right back to his idyllic early childhood in Moravia.
She was the daughter of the founding father of Czechoslovakia, took on the role of First Lady after her mother died, and headed the Czechoslovak Red Cross for 20 years during the First Republic. And yet, surprisingly, Alice Masaryk has never had a Czech street named after her – until now.
The very first Prague nursery was established in 1884 by the Czech philanthropist Marie Riegrová-Palacká, daughter of the famous historian František Palacký. A few years earlier, in 1869, she had established the first Czech kindergarten.
Czech architect Juraj Lasovský has come up with a unique project reviving old military bunkers built in Czechoslovakia before the Second World War. His aim is to turn the concrete structures into liveable spaces that can be used for various purposes.
World War II, Cold War borders and more recently Russia’s full invasion of Ukraine – the “Czech hedgehog” has been common to all of them. The anti-tank obstacle made of metal beams is, as the name suggests, a Czech invention and dates back to the 1930s, when it was intended for border protection.
On Friday evening the Nicholas Winton biopic One Life gets its Czech premiere in Prague, where it is partly set. The film climaxes with Winton’s 1988 appearance on Esther Rantzen’s TV show That’s Life, when the discovery of how the Englishman saved 669 mostly Jewish children from the Holocaust allowed many of those survivors to connect with him for the first time
Palaeontologists have discovered that the jaw of a prehistoric animal, found a few years ago near the town of Valeč in the Karlovy Vary region, belongs to a hitherto unknown species of mammal. The unique find is the oldest evidence of a cat-like animal in Europe.
The names of three Czechoslovak ice hockey players will be used to mark the streets in a new housing development in Prague by real estate company Penta. The players, who were Olympic medal winners in the 1940’s in Czechoslovakia, were jailed without trial by the communist party in 1950.
Palach Week, which occurred 10 months before protests that toppled Czechoslovakia’s Communist regime, began 35 years ago, on January 15, 1989. The demonstrations were brutally suppressed – but still signaled a growing willingness to reject the regime.
A 7,000-year-old well found in Czechia’s Pardubice region six years ago will soon be on display as part of an archaeological exhibition at the Museum of East Bohemia. The wooden well, which has been in the care of restorers for the last few years, is, according to analyses, the oldest wooden man-made object in the world.
Czech and Slovak archaeologists have announced a major discovery. An expedition to the Guatemalan jungle, which took place last summer, discovered the remains of a Mayan city, which is almost three thousand years old. I discussed the discovery, which could shed more light on the rise and fall of one of the world’s oldest civilizations, with one of the members of the team, archaeologist Sara Polak:
The spooky-looking gargoyles of the past that we know from horror films, castle tours and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, weren’t purely decorative. They also served a function – to get rid of wastewater. But 250 years ago, things changed.
The L-610 was the largest transport aircraft constructed in Czechoslovakia. Due to a combination of developmental, economic and political factors, it never went into serial production. Today the plane is a rare museum piece.
One Life, a biopic that shows how Sir Nicholas Winton saved 669 mainly Jewish children from Czechoslovakia on the eve of World War II, recently received its UK premiere. Meanwhile, some of the now elderly people that the Englishman rescued feature in a new photography exhibition in London. I discussed it, and the movie, with Sir Nicholas’s grandson, Laurence Winton.
Czech archaeologists have announced a unique discovery. A team of experts from Brno have unearthed a bronze belt buckle from the early Middle Ages, depicting a snake devouring a frog-like creature. The find could shed more light on people’s spiritual life in the pre-Christian era, of which we know very little.
How should you teach children about the tumultuous events of 1989 in a way that conveys the enormous gravity of what happened without being too heavy-handed? And how much do kids nowadays actually know about it? Is it even still relevant? To find out, I spoke to some Czech teenagers and teachers about their thoughts, knowledge and experiences surrounding November 17.
A dignified memorial to the Holocaust of the Roma and Sinti in Bohemia is finally nearing completion. On Monday survivors, activists and politicians symbolically planted the first trees in a forest in Lety that will symbolize the lost Roma community. The memorial will open to the public on February 3, 2024.
Rapid industrial development and major social changes at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries increased the number of people suffering from mental illnesses. On November 12, 1903, the Provincial Committee of the Kingdom of Bohemia decided to build a hospital for mental patients in Bohnice near Prague which serves patients to this day.
The 1989 Velvet Revolution, ending over four decades of Communist one-party rule, spelled seismic change for Czech society. Words like restitution and lustration became common parlance in the early 1990s, as the transition to democracy was accompanied by a legal reckoning with the past. But how effectively was justice served in that period? How successful was the rehabilitation of political prisoners, many of whom had suffered greatly under the recently departed Communists?
A new documentary explores the story of the Mašín brothers group, three members of which shot their way from Communist Czechoslovakia to the West in 1953. Escape to Berlin, featuring extensive interviews with the now elderly Josef Mašín and his sister Zdena, is written and directed by Jan Novák. I spoke to him ahead of next week’s cinema release of the film.
Czech Egyptologists have made another important discovery in Abusir – the roughly 2,500-year-old tomb of a young royal scribe. Together with other recent archaeological finds in the area, this newly discovered tomb gives researchers a better understanding of the changes that took place in Egypt and the surrounding area in the 5th and 6th centuries BC.
A team of enthusiasts from Oslavany near Brno are building a replica of a Viking boat from the 12th century. The eight-metre boat is called Gislinge, after the Danish village where the original was discovered, and should be launched in the spring of next year.
Hundreds of thousands of Czechs were among the many millions of people, many from Eastern Europe, used by the Nazis as forced labour during World War II. Among them was trained mechanic Miroslav Jeřábek. Many decades later, his UK-born great-grandson Mirek Gosney has just made a documentary exploring Germany’s forced labour programme, Building Hitler’s Empire, which gets its first screening at the Czech Embassy Cinema in London this coming Friday. I spoke to Gosney ahead of the premiere.
The annual event Drumming for Bubny, commemorating the victims of the first Nazi transport of Jews from Prague on October 16, 1941, will take place at the site of the Bubny railway station on Monday evening. Organized by the Memorial of Silence, the drumming is a symbolic protest against public indifference to violence. To learn more about the event, I spoke with the head of the memorial’s press unit, Klára Bobková.
In 1583, Rudolf II, head of the Holy Roman Empire and king of Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia, moved the seat of the Habsburg monarchy from Vienna to Prague turning the city into one of the leading centers of the arts and sciences on the Continent.
Academic articles are usually only read by a vanishingly small number of people, but a paper published in mid-May of this year in the journal Heritage Science has already become one of the world's most-read scientific papers, with 36,000 views. It is the work of an international team of scientists, including some Czechs, who deciphered a text hidden inside a Bronze Age lead tablet in Israel – and found that it contained proto-Hebraic curses.
Exactly 150 years ago, Prague Archbishop Bedřich Schwarzenberg laid the foundation stone for the completion of Prague’s famous St. Vitus Cathedral in neo-Gothic style.
September 28 is St. Wenceslas Day, a state holiday marking the death of the nation's patron saint. Many of the masses celebrated in his memory will take place in churches dedicated to St. Wenceslas.
Czech Egyptologists working between the pyramid fields of Abusir and Saqqara have announced a major discovery. They have located and explored a lost tomb that belonged to an ancient Egyptian official called Ptahshepses, who lived during the 24th and 25th centuries BC.
Czech scientists, together with a small experimental brewer, have come up with the country’s first “Celtic beer”. Called TauriALE, the recreation of the ancient alcoholic beverage was achieved using laboratory analysis of pollen from an early Celtic burial site in Moravia.
The case of Leopold Hilsner, a Jewish vagrant convicted in 1899 for the ritual murder of a Christian girl, may be on the path to re-examination. It is the first time since 1900 that a review of the case has been ordered in an effort to reopen Hilsner’s infamous trial, which sparked a huge wave of anti-Semitism at the time.
The Venus of Petřkovice, a statuette from the late Stone Age period believed to be 23,000 years old is currently being exhibited at the site where it was first discovered in the Ostrava district of Petřkovice 70 years ago. The unique item, which is the only “slender Venus” ever discovered in Europe, will be on display until Sunday.
One of the founding fathers of the nation, a pillar of Czechoslovak diplomacy and statehood, Edvard Beneš was destined to serve his country as president in the most turbulent years of the 20th century.
The Svatá Hora Basilica near Příbram, 60 km south-west of Prague, is one of the most famous Roman Catholic pilgrimage sites in Czechia. The early Baroque complex was built on a site where miracles attributed to the Virgin Mary are said to have occurred.
August 21 marks the 55th anniversary of the invasion of Czechoslovakia by Soviet-led Warsaw Pact troops. The crushing of the Prague Spring dashed people’s hopes of democracy and ushered in a long period of political and moral decline. More than 130 people died during the invasion and thousands fled the country in the years that followed.
As Soviet tanks rolled into Czechoslovakia on the night from 20 to 21 August 1968, Czechoslovak Radio played an important role in keeping people informed of what was happening. The radio building was an immediate focus for the invaders, but remarkably, during the days that followed, radio journalists and engineers managed to carry on broadcasting, firstly from the building itself, and then from other secret locations around the city. One of the prominent voices on the airwaves was Jiří Dienstbier, who many years later reflected on the importance of those uncensored broadcasts at a time when the occupiers were trying to sow confusion in the country. To mark the anniversary of the invasion, we return to Jiří Dienstbier and his memories of that time.
Fifty-five years ago, on the night of August 20-21, 1968, the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia began, marking a definitive end to the hopes that the series of liberalising and democratic reforms that had taken place in the country in the 1960s, known as the Prague Spring, had brought with it.
Prague’s metro A line passes under Prague’s iconic monuments, has a uniform design and vestibules featuring figures of Czech kings. No wonder one its stations, Staroměstská, was ranked by the CNN among the most beautiful metro stops in Europe.
The Czech Republic is one of many countries marking Roma Holocaust Memorial Day on 2 August, the day in 1944 when 2,897 Roma were murdered in Auschwitz. Up to half a million Roma were murdered in total, including over ninety percent of the pre-war Roma and Sinti population of what is now the Czech Republic. To mark the anniversary a new database has been launched by the Institute for Contemporary History of the Czech Academy of Sciences, bringing together testimonies of Czech and Slovak Roma who survived what is known in the Romani language as the Porajmos – the Devouring. David Vaughan spoke to the initiator and head of the project, Kateřina Čapková.
Three Czechs who risked their lives to save nine members of a Jewish family from the Holocaust have been recognised in memoriam as Righteous Among the Nations, the highest Israeli tribute to Gentiles who saved the lives of Jews during the Second World War. On Wednesday their relatives received the award from the Israeli ambassador to Prague.
The Senate met on Wednesday to consider three judges nominated for places on the Constitutional Court. However, the candidacy of Robert Fremr for Czechia’s top court sparked controversy, following recent allegations of impropriety pre-1989.
Along with its world famous sites, Prague Castle also boasts an unparalleled collection of historical fabrics. A new book details the 270 items in the valuable collection, which include pieces of garments from the tomb of Saint Ludmila, the first historically documented duchess of Bohemia.
270 years ago, on 24 July 1753, Empress Maria Theresa issued a set of regulations on healthcare in Bohemia, initiating some significant changes in the health sector, including obstetrics.
The Letov Š-328, Czechoslovakia’s most common single-engine bomber and observation plane in the interwar period, made its first flight 90 years ago, on July 19, 1933.
Some 374 Czechs and 26 Poles were murdered by Nazi soldiers in the village of Český Malín in the Volhynia region of western Ukraine on 13 July, 1943. The reason for the massacre still remains unclear to this day.
50 years ago, the Ještěd Tower, a television transmitter also housing a hotel and restaurant on top of Mount Ještěd near the North Bohemian town of Liberec, opened to the public for the first time.
Whether you are a shoe junkie or a history buff, this is a place that will stop you in your tracks. The Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto is the largest museum in the world entirely dedicated to the culture, traditions and styles of footwear.
July 6th is a public holiday in the Czech Republic marking the 608th anniversary of the burning at stake of reformer priest Jan Hus. Masses are celebrated around the country, among others in Jan Hus’ birthplace Husinec and at Bethlehem chapel in Prague, where the reformer priest preached.
July 5th is a public holiday in the Czech Republic honouring the legacy of Saints Cyril and Methodius who came to Great Moravia in 863 to spread the Christian faith and lay the foundations of literacy with the Glagolitic alphabet.
One of the most valuable medieval monuments at Prague Castle, the glass mosaic of the Last Judgement at Saint Vitus Cathedral, is undergoing a close inspection. Two decades ago, the 650-year-old glass mosaic of the Last Judgement was completely renovated, but some of the glass pieces have now started showing signs of corrosion.
Czechs are marking 73 years since the death of Milada Horáková, a democratic opposition leader who was sentenced and executed in a communist show trial on June 27, 1950. A host of events is taking place around the country in honour of the brave politician and champion of women’s rights.
Although perhaps not as well-known as the nearby Lucerna, the Koruna Palace is an architectural masterpiece. With its unique blend of function and style, the palace has been an important Prague feature for over a century.
Researchers have announced a gruesome find at Prague’s Pankrác jail: the cremated remains of 80-plus communist-era political prisoners. The dead included executed opponents of the regime, though much remains unclear about the victims’ identities.
Hundreds of villages in the European military theatre of World War II became the target of Nazi massacres, where entire populations of inhabitants were systematically murdered and the villages razed to the ground. But perhaps none became more famous than the Czech village of Lidice.
Czechia has a rich history of cinema and that heritage is carefully administered by the National Film Archive in Prague, which is currently celebrating 80 years of existence. I discussed the archive’s establishment during the Nazi occupation, the recent tradition of restoring classic Czech movies, how NFA archivists defied the authorities to save treasures and much more with its director, Michal Bregant.
A replica of a Marian column torn down in 1918 was erected on Prague’s Old Town Square three years ago, in June 2020, after years of often turbulent debate.
70 years ago, on June 1, 1953, the ruling Communist regime announced a major monetary reform which significantly cut the value of the money in circulation. Many people lost most of their savings and became virtually penniless.
On the occasion of Czech Radio’s centenary, we asked our listeners to let us know where they heard our special programme on that day in order to map Radio Prague International’s broadcast reach today. Here are at least some of the many letters and photos which you have sent us. Thank you to all our loyal fans.
Two valuable documentary collections from Czechia have been inscribed on the UNESCO Memory of the World register: the Antonín Dvořák Archive, which contains most of the great Czech composer’s manuscripts and the Moll Map Collection , a set of ancient maps dating from the late 16th century to the 1860s.
The NW Präsident set off with a crew on a 328-kilometre-long journey to Vienna on 21 May 1898. They arrived a day later. The car’s average speed was 22.62 km/h.
When Time Stopped is the title of Ariana Neumann’s first book, about the history of her Jewish family in Prague during the war. Before he emigrated to Venezuela in 1949, her father Hans (or Hanuš) Neumann survived the Holocaust thanks to false papers and the audacity that allowed him to find work in… Berlin. The book is filled with extraordinary personal documents and letters preserved in a few boxes found by the author in Caracas, Prague but also Libčice or Teplice.
A radio receiver used by the first Czechoslovak president Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk or the microphone into which the very first radio announcer spoke. These are just some of the rare exhibits that are currently on display at the National Technical Museum in Prague as part of an exhibition marking the centenary of Czech Radio.
Until recently, it was thought that the oldest full-length radio play preserved in the Czech Radio archives was from after the Second World War. But that changed thanks to a chance discovery of a Czech adaptation for radio of Jack London’s 1906 novel White Fang, which though in a very poor condition, was restored and digitised.
It was exactly a hundred years ago, on 18 May 1923, that listeners in Czechoslovakia were first able to tune in to regular radio broadcasts. Much has changed since then. Today Czech Radio has ten nationwide stations and fourteen regional studios, based in towns and cities around the country. And of course, there is also Radio Prague International, broadcasting in seven languages around the world. Back in 1923 there was just one station, which in those early days broadcast for a few hours every day from a scouts’ tent on the edge of Prague. To mark the anniversary, we take a journey through the radio archives.
One of the last battles to take place in World War Two Europe occurred south-west of Prague around the town of Milín, several days after Germany had officially capitulated. It was unique in that the combat saw units of the Wehrmacht, SS, Soviet Union, United States and Czech partisans all take part in the fighting. A newly opened exhibition documents the events that took place there and the deaths that may have been avoided had the allies taken a different approach.
President Petr Pavel on Sunday took part in an annual memorial in South Bohemia to victims of the Roma and Sinti Holocaust. He was the first Czech head of state at the event in over two and a half decades and his attendance meant it garnered extra attention.
The US-born writer and intellectual Charlotte Garrigue Masaryk, wife of the “father of Czechoslovakia” Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, died on 13 May 1923 at the Lány presidential residence near Prague
A question that never ceases to intrigue Czechs: Could their country have joined the democratic fold of nations if the US army had liberated Prague in 1945?
Czechia was the place where the last shots of World War II were fired in Europe. The generally accepted narrative is that, with most of the country liberated by the Soviet Red Army, the former Czechoslovakia was inevitably headed for the communist Soviet bloc. Vít Smetana from the Prague Institute of Contemporary History dispels some deeply-rooted myths perpetuated by the communists about what happened in the very last days of WWII in Czechoslovakia.
The Czech-American community in Chicago will be marking 150 years since the birth of Anton Cermak, a Czech immigrant who became the mayor of Chicago and was assassinated in 1933, after only two years in office. Two such events are planned for the coming days.
Archaeologists from the Moravian Museum in Brno have announced a unique discovery. During a survey near the city of Ostrava they discovered a stone with an engraving of a mammoth and a horse, which dates back about 15,000 years ago. According to experts, the artefact has immeasurable historical value.
What was life like in the Gulag camps, how many of these camps were there in the Soviet Union, and how could a person end up in one? These are just some of the questions explored by a new educational project designed for primary and secondary school students. It was created by the organisation Gulag.cz and is now being tested in one of Prague’s schools.
Mysterious ritual sites, ancient burial tombs, and rock carvings in an unknown script. These are some of the exciting discoveries made by an international expedition in Oman led by Czech archaeologists, which has found monuments and tools dating back thousands of years.
85 years ago, on April 24, 1938, Konrad Henlein of the Sudeten German Party voiced a list of demands commonly known as the Carlsbad Programme. They opened the way for Hitler’s Third Reich to annex the Sudetenland and rob Czechoslovakia of its vital border defences.
Brian Jakubec was born in South Africa and is a successful IT manager at Lenovo. But his life was shaped by events that took place in far-away Czechoslovakia when his father, still in his teens, joined the Bata shoe empire, where he would one day become a senior official. Fate would have it that, almost a century later, Brian’s work took him to Slovakia and opened a quest of discovery about his Czech roots and the Bata school of work ethics that he himself adopted. Brian joined me in the studio to talk about his journey into the family past.
A portrait of a Jewish woman called Anna Wotzilkova, who was born in South Moravia and died in the Holocaust, has been donated to the newly planned Mehrin Moravian Jewish Museum by her descendants, who now live in the United States. The painting was brought to Brno this week by her granddaughter Ann Altman:
The small town of Vysoké Mýto, in north-east Bohemia, has been named Czech Historical Town of the year for 2022. The award, which comes with a one-million-crown cheque, honours those towns and cities that have excelled in preserving and renewing their cultural and architectural heritage.
Ploština was a small settlement in the Zlín region of Moravia. On April 19, 1945, close to the end of World War II, it was set on fire and many of its inhabitants were massacred by the Nazis for having supported the anti-Nazi resistance. A new monument has now been erected on the site of the tragedy.
For 85 years, a monument in Orlová to the fallen Czech soldiers of the 1919 Polish–Czechoslovak War has been a plain list of names on slabs of stone. But it used to be dominated by a huge statue of a Silesian eagle with soldiers at its feet, which was torn down by Polish troops after the 1938 Munich Agreement. Now a five-metre copy of the statue is being crafted and will soon adorn the monument in the east Moravian town once again.
One of the foremost opponents of the former Czechoslovak communist regime, Dana Němcová, passed away early on Tuesday morning at the age of 89. Despite years of persecution by the secret police, she never let up in her quest for freedom.
The “U Pinkasů” pub, founded by Jakub Pinkas in 1843, was the first Prague pub to serve the bottom-fermented lager Pilsner Urquell on tap. It has remained one of the city’s most popular establishments throughout its more than 180 years of continuous operation.
Passion plays, in which people dramatically re-enact the trial, suffering and death of Jesus Christ at Easter, have a rich tradition in the South Bohemian town of Hořice na Šumave. The settlement was once the site of some of the largest passion plays in Europe. With the tradition having been revived over the past three decades, the town is now set to host a Europe-wide festival for passion reenactors and is even applying for its plays to be listed by UNESCO.
After more than three centuries, a golden carriage made by Johann Anton I. of Eggenberg in 1638 for a diplomatic mission to the Pope, has been restored to its original glory. As of April, the unique carriage will be on display at Český Krumlov Castle.
Seventy years ago, on 2 April 1953, the first Praga V3S multi-purpose, all-terrain truck rolled off the production line in Prague’s Vysočany. The military vehicle was one of Czechoslovakia’s best-known postwar products.
The Madonna from Havraň is a precious medieval wooden statue of Mary sitting on a heavenly throne with baby Jesus resting on her lap, surrounded by three angels, which was recently acquired by the National Gallery in Prague. Experts from the Czech University of Agriculture in Prague are now using a CT scan to find out more about its origin.
Sometimes popularly referred to in Czechia as “Knights of the Sky” (Rytíři nebes), Czech RAF pilots have a glorious reputation in their home country and are still honoured in Britain to this day. Last Saturday saw the passing away of the last of their kind with the death of Emil Boček, just a month after his 100th birthday.
John of Nepomuk, one of the patron saints of the Czech lands, was brutally martyred on March 20, 1393, on the orders of King Wenceslas IV. He was beatified in 1721 and declared a saint eight years later.
On the occasion of the anniversary of the Nazi occupation of Bohemia and Moravia on March 15, 1939, Czech Radio’s archive has decided to publish the digitised recordings of the trial with Karl Hermann Frank. One of the highest ranking Nazis in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, who played a key role in the infamous Lidice massacre, was sentenced to death in 1946.
A group of 66 Czechoslovaks, including women and small children, were abducted and forced to walk 1300 kilometres after being captured in Angola by members of the guerrilla UNITA movement, all the while suffering from diarrhoea, exhaustion and terror.
US journalist Mark Baker spent time in Czechoslovakia in the late 1980s and was long curious whether the Communist state’s secret police kept a file on him. Eventually he did discover that not only was he being monitored in the dying days of the Cold War – the StB also wanted to recruit him as a spy. Baker, who in 2021 published the memoir Čas proměn (Times of Change), has just begun sharing this story – filled with eye-popping details – in a series of blog posts .
General Emil Boček, the last living Czech airman who served in Britain’s RAF during WWII, celebrates his 100th birthday this Saturday. The veteran pilot, decorated with the highest state distinctions, served with the RAF’s 312 and 310 squadrons and participated in over two dozen operational flights.
Twenty-five years ago today the Czech national hockey team won gold at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano Japan. We spoke with all-star goaltender Dominik Hašek who helped lead the Czech team to glory, about how he remembers the game against Russia, what it meant for him and all of Czechia, and how he’s hoping for another gold medal in Czech hockey.
Nusle Bridge, connecting Pankrác plain with Prague’s Karlov, is one of the key transport structures in the city. Over 160,000 cars cross it every day, while 750 metro trains pass through a tunnel inside it.
After more than 80 years, the Czech state has returned art objects that belonged to the family of a wealthy Jewish businessman Johann Bloch, who lost his property during WWII. The four paintings and 10 liturgical vestments were returned to Bloch’s heirs as part of an effort to mitigate the wrongs of the Holocaust.
Thirty years ago, a Czech unit serving in the UNPROFOR mission rescued over fifty French soldiers under siege in what was then still Yugoslavia. It was one of the greatest successes of the newly formed Czech army. The unit was led by Czechia’s president elect Petr Pavel.
Events marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day to honor the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust and millions of other victims of Nazism are being held around Czechia on Friday. A special commemorative event attended by foreign diplomats and members of the Jewish community in Czechia is being held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
It was her skill as an artist that saved Brno-born Dina Gottliebová-Babbittová from death in Auschwitz’s gas chamber. She was protected by the angel of death himself, SS doctor Josef Mengele.
On 16 January 1969, Czech student Jan Palach set himself on fire on Prague’s Wenceslas Square in protest against apathy in the wake of the Soviet occupation of his country. He died three days later. Fifty-four years on, his actions are still relevant, says speaker of the Chamber of Deputies and leader of the TOP 09 party, Markéta Pekarová Adamová.
The Benedictine Monastery was founded 1,030 years ago on January 14, in 993 by the Bishop of Prague, St. Vojtěch, and Prince Boleslav II. Pobožný. It is still in use today.
A proposal put forward by a group of five coalition MPs to make October 12 the official Day of Samizdat was approved by the government this week. Although not a state holiday, the marking of the date as a significant day in the Czech calendar brings recognition to the people who risked and suffered persecution by the Communist state between 1948 and 1989 due to their “illicit” activities.
Despite the Velvet Divorce, relations between Czechia and Slovakia still remain very close. This is perhaps most evident in the Moravian Slovakia region, which lies on the border between the two countries. Radio Prague International visited the area in December and has this report.
The dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993 is poetically known as the Velvet Divorce, carrying with it connotations of a marriage that went sour but ended amicably. This belies the fact that there were – and are still – many real-life Czech-Slovak couples whose relationships lasted, or began, despite the ending of the union between their two countries.
Czechoslovakism, the idea of a unitary political Czechoslovak nation with two ethnic and linguistic branches, was one of the foundational ideas of the First Czechoslovak Republic. It was born of both political pragmatism and 19th century nationalism. However, by the time of the Second World War, the idea was clinically dead and would instead be replaced by a new strive for federalisation.
Soviet-era Russian dissident Viktor Fainberg, one of the eight brave human rights activists who risked their lives to protest against the Soviet-led occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1968, has died at the age of 91. Fainberg was locked up in a psychiatric hospital for five years for his brave action and later emigrated to the West where remained a vocal defender of human rights the world over.
This January marks 30 years since the end of the common Czech and Slovak state. While some of the phenomena that ultimately led to the Czechoslovak split can be identified already in the early and mid-20th century, the separation of the two nations ended up being driven by politicians. Three decades on, Czechs still regret the end of Czechoslovakia more than Slovaks.
On Saturday, December 24, many Czechs will be putting up and decorating Christmas trees – and enjoying the common seasonal dinner of carp and potato salad. But while Czech seasonal traditions are much loved, some are relatively new – and have fascinating regional variations.
The first lung transplantation was performed by the team of Professor Pavel Pafko from the Prague Motol University Hospital on December 22, 1997.
December 7 marks exactly 104 years since the formation of the Prague Castle Guard. The unit tasked with guarding the Czechoslovak and later Czech head of state went through several transformations during its history.
Czech piano manufacturer PETROF is unquestionably one of Czechia’s best known brands. The company, based in the town of Hradec Králové, produced its first piano already in 1864. Today PETROF is the largest manufacturer of acoustic pianos in Europe and their instruments are played by musicians all over the world, among them Billie Eilish or Paul McCartney.
Prague Castle has announced that Bohemia’s crown jewels and the skull of Saint Wenceslas will be displayed to the public in January next year, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Czech Republic. Next year’s exhibition will be all the more special as people will have the chance to view the objects within the spaces of Prague’s Saint Vitus Cathedral for the first time since 1955.
Coca-Cola is one of the world's most recognised brands, but if you are someone who’s spent any length of time in the Czech Republic you will likely have noticed that the Czechs have their own alternative – the similarly-named and similar-looking soft drink Kofola. However, Kofola has quite a distinct taste from Coke, Pepsi, and other cola-flavoured drinks – and for foreigners who are new to the Czech beverage, the flavour can come as a bit of a shock. Despite this, popular Swedish blogger SwedishNomad included Kofola on his beverage bucket list as one of the drinks that everyone has to try at least once before they die, so it does have a following abroad, if a somewhat niche one.
Not even boundless loyalty to the Soviet Union could save Rudolf Slánský, a general secretary of the Communist Party, from the death penalty in a trial that culminated on 27 November 1952.
Archivists at Czech Radio have discovered 1,300 discs of recordings from the 1946 trial with Karl Hermann Frank, who was in charge of the Nazi security forces during the wartime occupation of Bohemia and Moravia. The discs are currently in the process of digitisation, making it possible to play the sounds for the first time in more than 70 years.
On November 21, 1962, the Tatra T3 tram was put into regular service in Prague. It was a very modern tram for its time and would become a successful export product. Today, T3’s can still be seen transporting people in country’s such as Ukraine.
Teams of archaeologists and anthropologists are currently excavating on the site of the former military cemetery in Prague’s Karlín district. The site was in use from the second half of the 1700s to the end of the 19th century and excavators believe that many of the remains belong to men who were casualties of the Napoleonic Wars.
Hand-made Bohemia crystal-glass and glass jewelry have a centuries old tradition that is taken to new heights by cutting-edge technology. Stunning crystal glass lighting installations, art works and glasses grace palaces, luxury hotels, public spaces and private residences worldwide. Bohemia glass artisans pioneered a technique for replicating the look of precious stones, producing cut-glass crystals that closely resembled diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and emeralds sought after the world over.
This year’s November 17th celebrations will mark the 33rd anniversary of the Velvet Revolution. The annual celebrations are always packed with a multitude of events, ranging from cultural festivities to political protests. Here is a rundown of what’s happening:
The newly-restored greenhouse in the garden of the Augustinian abbey in Brno where the father of modern genetics, Gregor Johann Mendel, cross-bred pea plants and thereby discovered the laws of heredity, opened to the public for the first time on Saturday afternoon. The ceremonial opening was planned to coincide with the anniversary celebrations of the bicentenary of Mendel’s birth.
The division of Czechoslovakia into two separate states was a peaceful process without a single shot being fired. However, arguments over the division of assets that belonged to the former state dragged on for 7 years.
It may be a little known fact, but Czechia houses a company that was once the main producer of photographic materials for the Eastern Bloc. The foundations of Foma Bohemia’s success were set up during the First Czechoslovak Republic. Today, the company is a leading manufacturer on the black and white photography market, as well as producing essential equipment for medical and forensics professionals.
A film festival highlighting brave acts of resistance to the Nazi and Communist regimes and the people behind them is currently underway in Prague. Organized by the Museum of 20th Century Memory the festival offers screenings, lectures and debates about the turbulent events of the 20th century.
The final resting place of the Rožmberk clan, one of the richest and mightiest noble families in the land, was veiled in mystery for over 400 years. When researchers lowered a probe into the Rožmberk crypt in the Cistercian Monastery in Vyšší Brod they mapped the remains of the entire clan. What remained a mystery was the gold ring lying on the coffin of Petr Vok –the last male member of the house.
A faithful replica of the Venus of Dolní Věstonice, Czechia’s most famous archaeological find, went on sale on Tuesday at the Moravian Museum in Brno. The current model is much more accurate than any of the previous ones. The prototype for the mould from which the copies were cast was based on CT scans of the original.
Prim watches, which started to be produced more than 70 years ago, are one of the most famous Czech trademarks. For many people in Czechia, who grew up during the Communist regime, the brand is synonymous with wristwatches. Today, Prim watches are produced by two separate companies, which have been fighting over the trademark for more than two decades.
A unique collection of newly discovered photographs depicting everyday life in the Terezín ghetto are currently on display at the Memorial of Silence in Prague. The previously unseen images are on display at the Bubny train station, the place which saw tens of thousands of Czech Jews leave for the ghettoes and Nazi death camps. The exhibition, called simply Album G.T., also presents the stories of the people whose identity has been revealed.
Neela Winkelmann-Heyrovská never had the chance to meet her Nobel-prize winning chemist grandfather – Jaroslav Heyrovský died in 1967 and she was born two years later. But she had to live with his legacy her whole life – which, she says, was both a blessing and a curse. To complicate matters further, she grew up in a mixed-race family in Czechoslovakia, the daughter of a Czech father and Indian mother, at a time when such things were extremely uncommon.
October 28th is Czechoslovak Independence Day, marking the establishment of Czechoslovakia in 1918. Czechs will commemorate the 104th anniversary of the birth of the Czechoslovak Republic with a host of events, including the traditional ceremony at the Vítkov Memorial, remembrance events for the country’s first president and an award giving ceremony at Prague Castle.
This year marks the 80th anniversary of the Lidice tragedy, the Czech village razed to the ground by the Nazis in 1942 as revenge for the assassination of Nazi governor Reinhard Heydrich. 340 people were murdered, including 88 children. For the last 50 years, an international children’s art competition has taken place to commemorate the child victims, and now a special exhibition comprised of some of the best entries from over the years has opened in Paris to mark the anniversary.
Rudolf Jelínek is one of Czechia’s best-known brands of slivovitz (slivovice in Czech). The plum brandy firm was set up in Moravia in the late 19th century and the brand is still going strong today.
In retaliation for the assassination of Heydrich, 262 relatives and helpers of the paratroopers from groups Anthropoid, Silver A, Bivouac, Out Distance, Steel and Intransitive were court-martialled and sentenced to death by the Prague Gestapo 80 years ago.
Ivan Chvatík worked closely with Jan Patočka, helping organise underground seminars for the great Czech philosopher, and since his death has done more than anybody to keep his legacy alive. Chvatík himself came to philosophy after studying nuclear physics and was also involved in the advent of computing in communist Czechoslovakia. Today an active 81-year-old, the head of the Jan Patočka Archive shared some stories from his fascinating life during a recent interview at our studios.
The last trolleybus route in Prague, from Orionka to Strahov Stadium, came to an end on 15 October 1972.
The Czech furniture brand TON is synonymous for its manually bent wood furniture, created with the help of a technology that has been in continuous use for more than 160 years. The company, widely considered to be the founders of modern furniture trade, became known worldwide for its iconic bentwood chair No. 14, which remains popular to this day.
A small farmer in the Opava region in the north-east of Czechia made a unique discovery while working in a field, unearthing a golden belt dating back to the Bronze Age. The ornamented piece, which is exceptionally well-preserved, should go on display at the Bruntál museum at the end of next year.
Škoda Auto boasts one of the oldest unbroken histories among car manufacturers still operating today. It is the fifth-oldest company in the world still producing cars, after Daimler, Opel, Peugeot, and Tatra, another Czech company – meaning that two out of the five oldest car manufacturers still operating today are Czech.
The first pre-school institution -a so-called "model youth nursery" - was founded in 1832 by Jan Svoboda, a teacher at the Prague Emmaus parish school Na Hrádku. Svoboda taught children aged three to six the basics of reading, writing and German and instilled moral principles in his charges through games, rhymes and singing.
A forestry worker in north Bohemia came upon a valuable prehistoric treasure: a massive bracelet and other objects dating back to the Bronze Age.
UK historian Mark Cornwall is an expert on Czech-German relations and the late Habsburg Empire. His book The Devil’s Wall explores the previously little-known story of Heinz Rutha, an associate of Sudeten German leader Konrad Henlein whose sexuality led to criminal charges. Cornwall is currently preparing one book that should be entitled Queer Bohemians and another on treason under Austria-Hungary. We spoke during a recent visit he made to Prague.
The first ever football match in the Czech lands is not very well documented. According to some sources it took place 135 years ago, according to others it was five years later.
Barbara Winton, daughter of the late Sir Nicholas Winton, devoted much of her life to sharing the story of how her father, as a young man aged only 29, helped to organise the transport of 669 mostly Jewish children from Czechoslovakia before the outbreak of World War II, thereby saving them from almost certain death in Nazi concentration camps. Now she herself has passed away, but her father’s legacy still lives on.
Czechoslovakia’s first president, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, died in the early hours of September 14, 1937, exactly 85 years ago. His funeral took place a week later in Prague and was attended by hundreds of thousands of people. Newly digitised recordings from Radio Prague International broadcasts recreate the atmosphere of the time.
Brazilian president Juscelino Kubitschek, who had Czech ancestry, was born on 12 September 1902. He is best known for building a new federal capital, Brasilia.
A new monument, called The Return of the Stones, has been unveiled at the Old Jewish cemetery in Prague’s district of Žižkov. It is made out of fragments of tombstones from derelict Jewish cemeteries that were cut up into cobblestones during the Communist era and used to pave the base of Wenceslas Square.
This week sees the long anticipated premiere of the most expensive Czech film in history. Medieval, or Jan Žižka as the film is being marketed in Czechia, cost around 450 million crowns and stars actors such as Michael Caine, Ben Foster and Til Schweiger. It focuses on the early life of the famous Czech Hussite general, who was known for his innovative tactics. The movie was written, directed and produced by Petr Jákl, a former Czech judo international and stuntman. I caught up with him and began by asking why he felt that the character of Jan Žižka deserved a film.
Archaeologists in Prague are currently uncovering a monumental building from the Stone Age. The so-called roundel, built around 7,000 years ago, is located in the district of Vinoř on the outskirts of the city. Experts are hoping that the research will reveal more information about these mysterious ancient structures.
A memorial dedicated to Czech RAF pilot Josef František, who died on October 8, 1940, while returning from a patrol flight, was unveiled in Surrey in South East England on Sunday.
A team of experts from the Centre of Experimental Archaeology in North Bohemia is constructing a copy of a real Neolithic boat. The vessel will then be used to test out a hypothetical sea trading route from that era between Greece and modern day Turkey. The team says that not just the journey, but the construction process itself, makes it possible to gain a greater understanding of Europe’s Neolithic ancestors.
A huge bell, weighing exactly 9801 kg and 258cm in diameter, was unveiled in Prague on Sunday evening. It is a tribute to the exactly 9,801 bells that were stolen by the Nazis during WWII and melted down to be made into weapons.
A new memorial to Czechs who took part in three resistance periods in the 20th century is set to open this Friday. The monument stands at the home of Josef Mašín, whose family were active in all three.
František Fajtl, a Czech fighter pilot and RAF squadron and wing commander later jailed by the Communists, was born 110 years ago, on 20 August 1912.
The Soviet-led Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia was one of the most important and traumatic events in modern Czech history. The launch of the intervention was delayed several times, but it ultimately took place on the night of August 20–21, 1968. It would end Czechoslovakia’s experiment of “Socialism with a human face” and cause lasting damage to the Czech-Russian relationship. Memories of the invasion were reignited this year, amid Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.
Mount Říp, the hill which is closely tied to the Czech founding myth, may have actually been an important burial site for prehistoric peoples, as archaeological excavations in recent years have uncovered several burial mounds.
Archaeologists made an unusual discovery while excavating the ruins of a medieval house in the town of Nový Jičín in the Moravian-Silesian region – a well preserved kitchen that likely dates back to the early 15th century.
Prague was the most badly affected of all the Czech cities hit by the large-scale natural disaster. Several neighbourhoods were flooded and metro stations, monuments and a part of the zoo all ended up underwater.
On Roma Holocaust Memorial Day on 2 August, Brno’s Museum of Romani Culture is launching an exhibition at the Vítkov National Memorial, focussing on the Nazi persecution and genocide of Roma on the territory of present-day Czechia. Called The Roma Genocide during World War II, it serves as a tragic reminder of a period when almost 90% of Czechia’s pre-war Roma population was murdered, and the consequences this had for the generations that followed.
190 years ago rail transport came to continental Europe with the opening of a line between České Budějovice and Linz; horse-drawn stagecoaches began running regularly between the cities on August 1, 1832.
For the first time, two unique documents about the events surrounding the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich in May 1942 can be seen at the National Museum in Prague. They have been on display since Thursday as part of the special exhibition ‘We Will Never Give Up!’, which is being held as part of the 80th anniversary celebrations of Operation Anthropoid.
The demolition work at a former pig farm at Lety in South Bohemia that was the site of a concentration camp for Romanies during the Second World War was officially launched on Friday. A new memorial to the Holocaust of Romanies and Sinti in the Czech Lands will be built on the site and should partly open to the public already next year.
In spring of this year, Czech archaeologists unearthed an incredible find – the previously undiscovered tomb of an ancient Egyptian dignitary in Abusir, Egypt. The discovery, announced on Friday on the Czech Institute of Egyptology’s Facebook page, allowed the team to garner important information about the turbulent period surrounding the beginning of Persian rule in Egypt.
The Moravian metropolis of Brno is paying tribute to its most famous citizen – the Augustinian monk, mathematician and biologist, widely known as “the father of genetics” – Johann Gregor Mendel, born 200 years ago. The city is celebrating the anniversary with numerous events: a mass at the Basilica of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, the reconstruction of Mendel’s greenhouse at St. Thomas’ Abbey where he conducted his genetic research on pea plants and an international Mendel Genetics Conference at the university that bears his name.
Thirty years ago Slovakia made clear that it wanted to embark on the path of independence for the second time in history.
Lex Schwarzenberg was a special law drafted after World War Two with the sole purpose of stripping one of the most prominent Bohemian aristocratic families of most of their property. Legal experts consider it to be one of the most blatant legal wrongdoings in Czechoslovak history.
The story of Czechoslovak military involvement in World War Two is often told with a focus on a few heroic figures and pivotal events. However, one aspect that has gone largely overlooked in popular memory is the role of women in the fight against Nazism. This despite the fact that over a thousand women served in Czechoslovak Army units on the Eastern Front. Czechoslovak women also took on a variety of tasks in the female branches of the British military.
July 6th is a public holiday in the Czech Republic marking the 607th anniversary of the burning at stake of reformer priest Jan Hus. Masses are celebrated around the country, among others in Jan Hus’ birthplace Husinec and at Bethlehem chapel in Prague, where the reformer priest preached.
July 5th is a public holiday in the Czech Republic honouring the legacy of Saints Cyril and Methodius who came to Great Moravia in 863 to spread the Christian faith and lay the foundations of literacy with the Glagolitic alphabet.
This July marks exactly 25 years since the Czech Republic was hit by the deadliest outbreak of floods in its history. The natural disaster in 1997 impacted almost a third of the country’s territory, and would acquire the nickname – “Flood of the Century”. Fifty people lost their lives as a result and more than ten thousand were left homeless. Damages exceeded 60 billion crowns.
The centre of Chrudim came alive with art at the weekend. Visitors could see the most famous Czech puppets, live music and theatre performances. The celebrations marked 50 years since the birth of the local Museum of Puppets.
A new museum dedicated to Alice Masaryk, the daughter of the first Czechoslovak president Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk and the co-founder of the Czechoslovak branch of the Red Cross, has opened in Lány in Central Bohemia. The institution is located near the presidential retreat in a building commissioned by Alice Masaryk for the local branch of the Red Cross.
Exactly 80 years ago, Nazi forces annihilated the village of Ležáky. A smaller settlement than Lidice, Ležáky have always been in the shadow of the first Bohemian settlement that fell victim to Nazi wrath following the successful killing of acting governor Reinhard Heydrich. But its tragic story is more closely intertwined with the Nazi hunt for the covert Czechoslovak troops that made Operation Anthropoid possible.
Departure of Occupying Forces Day is having its debut this year. June 25 is being officially recognized as a ‘significant day’ in the Czech calendar for the first time this Saturday, marking the anniversary of the signing of the protocol that expelled Soviet troops from the territory of the former Czechoslovakia in 1991.
Archaeologists have discovered an almost intact skeleton of a sixth century warrior during a dig near the town of Pasohlávky in south Moravia. The grave of the young man, who was buried with his spear, two dogs and a horse bridle, belongs to one of the largest Germanic Langobard burial sites in the country.
Previously unknown diaries written by a Lidice woman have been recently discovered by her relatives. Emílie Rohlová, one of the survivors of the Lidice massacre of 1942, started writing them after the war, when she returned from a concentration camp. She addressed them to her eight-year-old daughter, Boženka.
The five-star Grandhotel Pupp in Karlovy Vary is one of the most famous hotels in Europe. In recent years, it has also become a popular backdrop for Hollywood films.
Once the largest river shipping company in Central Europe, Labská JSC was established thanks to the recognition of the Elbe as an international river. Its founders were the then Czechoslovak state as well as several banks. The establishment was approved by parliament on June 13, 1922.
Exactly eight decades ago, on June 10, 1942, the Central Bohemian village of Lidice was annihilated by Nazi forces in retaliation for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich. About 340 men, women and children were murdered, the village flattened. Lidice became one of the best known examples of Nazi Germany’s brutality and its legacy survives in many forms to this day.
The National Museum in Prague has brought some twenty valuable artefacts from Syria to the Czech Republic to be restored by local experts. The objects, dating back to the Bronze Age and Antiquity, will then be displayed in the National Museum’s historic building before returning to their homeland.
Eighty years ago, the Nazis massacred the village of Lidice, hoping to wipe it off the face of the Earth. But it had quite the opposite effect. Various places around the world adopted the name Lidice, so that it would never be forgotten. One of them is the town of Crest Hill near Chicago, which has its own Lidice neighbourhood.
Prague Castle is not only the face of today’s picturesque Czech capital, but also an important archaeological site whose origins stretch back into prehistory. The castle hill and its surroundings still have much to unveil, archaeologists say. In fact, a recent reassessment found that the area of Prague Castle was very different than previously assumed when the Czech state was being formed more than a thousand years ago.
One of the key factors in the successful assassination of senior Nazi Reinhard Heydrich 80 years ago was the support that members of the Sokol patriotic gymnastics movement provided to the Czechoslovak soldiers. Many of them would later pay for it with their lives.
A whole slew of events will be held in Prague on Friday marking the 80th anniversary of the assassination of the Nazi governor of Bohemia and Moravia in 1942. The Slovak president and UK foreign secretary are among the dignitaries taking part.
Operation Anthropoid was the only successful government-organized assassination of a top-ranking Nazi official. On the occasion of its 80th anniversary, we look back at how it unfolded, and hear voices from a cast of colourful characters, including a now 96-year-old Czech woman who worked at the Heydrich family home north of Prague.
The Czech state began to form around the 9th century AD. This process was crucially influenced by the Přemyslids, Bohemia’s ruling dynasty which had control over Czech territory for more than 400 years. But what do we actually know about this period? How can archaeology help us understand it? And what were the key moments in the Přemyslid quest for power?
The successful assassination of high-ranking Nazi Reinhard Heydrich by Czechoslovak soldiers in Prague, code-named Operation Anthropoid, is one of Czechia’s proudest historical moments. This May 27 will be the 80th anniversary of the event, which is being commemorated with a special exhibition in Prague.
The first unique Leksell Gamma Knife to be introduced in the Czech Republic was bought by the Charter 77 foundation 30 years ago.
One of the most important ways in which archaeologists are able to learn about pre-historic cultures and civilisations is by studying the way that they buried their dead. In recent decades this practice has been further improved through the adoption of several methods from the natural sciences. At a large necropolis in Mikulovice, archaeologists are currently using these techniques to gain a better understanding of early Bronze Age Bohemia.
The Bronze Age on the territory of the modern day Czech Republic, a period running from roughly 2,300BC to 800 BC, saw the rise and fall of several distinct cultures. Modern archaeology shows that some of them were far more interconnected with the wider Bronze Age world than previously thought. Meanwhile, the remnants of battles unearthed in Bohemia and Moravia show that the Bronze Age Collapse may have also had echoes in this part of the world. Archaeologists have also found evidence of cannibalism among some of the Bohemian settlers and were even able to recreate the curious millet beer that some of their warriors would have drunk.
Prague councillors have voted in favour of stripping the late Soviet military commander Ivan Konev, who led the Red Army’s liberation of Prague, of his honorary citizenship. Among the reasons for the move is his repressive role within the Communist bloc in the years that followed. Others, who were honoured in the past, have suffered a similar fate.
One of the most famous religious buildings in the Czech Republic is the Roman Catholic Church of the Most Sacred Heart of Our Lord on Prague’s Jiřího z Poděbrad square. Built during the interwar era, it was consecrated in May 1932, and has been listed as a National Cultural Monument since 2010.
Prague 8 has chosen the winner of a public tender for a memorial to Jindřiška Nováková, the 14-year old “girl with the bike” whose family hid the paratroopers that assassinated high-ranking Nazi Reinhard Heydrich. The memorial will be in the shape of a sphere made of multiple circles resembling bike wheels, with the illuminated figure of a girl sitting on top.
The High Court in Prague has decided to reopen the cases of General Jan Syrový and Rudolf Beran, who served as prime ministers during Czechoslovakia’s tumultuous turn from First Republic to occupied Nazi protectorate. The two men were originally sentenced to 20 years in jail for treason, but with the court now acknowledging shady evidence, their families finally have a chance to restore their reputations.
The head of Mšecké Žehrovice is one of the best known surviving pieces of Celtic art not just in the Czech Republic, but in the whole of Europe. Discovered during the Second World War, it took years before its existence was unveiled to the world and several decades of further archaeological excavation to decode its meaning. It now seems that the face depicts a real man who belonged to the most mysterious class of the Celtic world – the Druids.
Almost everyone has heard of the Great Egyptian Pyramids of Giza, the oldest-known of which was built around 2600 BC; most people in the West have heard of England’s Stonehenge, believed to have been constructed somewhere between 3000 BC to 2000 BC; and some may even have heard of Newgrange in Ireland (Sí an Bhrú in Irish), a grand passage tomb built around 3200 BC. But very few people know about Central Europe’s ‘roundels’ – Neolithic circular enclosures, the construction of which between 4600 – 4900 BC makes them far older than all of the more famous prehistoric sites mentioned above. Radio Prague International spoke to archaeologist Jaroslav Řídký about these ancient structures.
The remains of Czechoslovakia’s World War II head of intelligence, General František Moravec, are being ceremonially reburied in his home town of Čáslav this Tuesday. The spy chief died in exile in the United States and was buried for decades in Washington D.C. However, through the efforts of his family, he is now being moved back to his home country amid much pomp and circumstance.
The Mesolithic-Neolithic site of Shaqadud in Sudan is one of the Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences’ flagship sites. First found in the early 1960s by German archaeologist Karl-Heinz Otto, Shaqadud became known as a famous prehistoric archaeological site after a Sudanese-American joint expedition helped publicise it in the early 1980s. The Czech Academy of Science’s Institute of Archaeology started investigating the site in 2021. I spoke with Dr. Ladislav Varadzin, who has been heading the excavation, working in an international team including five Czechs (one of whom is his wife, Lenka Varadzinová). I started by asking him about the aim of the excavation.
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his death, a reliquary of Charles I, the last Emperor of Austria-Hungary and thus also the last King of Bohemia, was ceremonially placed within the Cathedral of Saint Vitus at Prague Castle on Sunday. Charles I is seen by the Church as an exemplary Christian monarch and was beatified by Pope John Paul II. His relic is now part of the country’s most sacred national symbols that make up the so-called Treasure of Saint Wenceslas.
The Žďák Bridge, which spans the banks of the Vltava River, was completed in 1967. At the time it was the largest single-arch steel bridge in the world.
After decades of exile both in life and death, the remains of Czechoslovakia’s wartime intelligence chief, Brigadier General František Moravec are being returned to the Czech Republic next Tuesday. The Czechoslovak legionary-turned-spy was one of the few Czechs to have actively served in all three forms of the 20th century's Czechoslovak resistance movements. His legacy in the Czech security community remains strong until this day.
This year marks the 80th anniversary of the daring assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, the governor of Nazi-occupied Bohemia and Moravia. Operation Anthropoid was one of the most successful acts of anti-Nazi resistance in Europe during the Second World War. However, the Czechoslovak government in exile organized literally dozens of other operations in the territory occupied by the Nazi Third Reich.
A team of experts have started to reconstruct one of the four bone pyramids from the famous 14th century ossuary near the town of Kutná Hora. If everything goes according to plan, the first bell-shaped mound, made of hundreds of thousands of bones and skulls, should return to the ossuary by the end of the year.
The Dresden Barracks, one of the largest buildings in the former Terezín ghetto, are currently in a desolate state. Experts say that the complex needs to be repaired quickly if it is to survive. However, the necessary funds may be harder to secure than was initially thought.
The first McDonald's branch in Prague’s Vodičkova Street, which opened on March 20, 1992, still sells its classic burgers and fries in an almost unchanged interior. However, in response to current trends, vegetarian burgers and salads have also enriched the menu.
Czechs have always had a complicated relationship with Russians. At some points in history, they saw them as their Slavic brothers who could help them gain independence and freedom. But Czech hopes for a mutually respectful relationship were repeatedly dashed by the arrogance and aggression of Russian political leaderships.
Anna Honzáková was the very first Czech female doctor and gynaecologist, as well as being a women’s rights activist and opponent of abortion. She treated women both rich and poor, providing treatment free of charge to those who couldn’t afford to pay.
Images of the final plans for a Holocaust memorial at the Bubny train station show how a project dedicated to remembering the past can play a part in revitalizing a neighbourhood in the future.
Forty years ago, on February 20, 1982, USD 250 million worth of Czechoslovak Republic's gold reserves, which were stolen by the Nazis folowing the occupation of Bohemia and Moravia in 1939, was returned to its rightful owner.
Czech archaeologists have made another major discovery in Egypt. During excavations in Abusir, south of Cairo, they unearthed a cache of embalming materials, consisting of 370 large vessels and a number of smaller artefacts used in the mummification process. It is the largest find of its kind from Ancient Egypt discovered to date.
Michal Krecul, today aged 98, was a Gulag survivor, decorated Czechoslovak WWII soldier and later political prisoner who left for the West in 1968. A new study by a Czech historian finds that he also went unpunished for his part in the killing of 10 Jewish civilians in hiding from the Nazis.
Hlávka Bridge, the first concrete bridge across the Vltava in Prague, was opened 110 years ago.
After analysing dozens of brass objects dating back to antiquity, a team of Czech archaeologists claims that it has proven the existence of extensive diplomatic and trade contact between the Roman Empire and the Germanic tribes that lived in Bohemia during the centuries around the birth of Christ (100 BC to 200 AD). They say that the method could also help shed light on Ancient Rome’s economy. I spoke to one of the leaders of the project, Daniel Bursák from the Archeological Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, and began by asking him why the team chose to focus on brass.
A new project aims to create a new 9,801 kilogramme bell for Prague – to commemorate thousands of Czech church and tower bells stolen and melted down by the Nazis in summer 1942. The cost will be raised via a public collection.
On the occasion of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, on January 27, the Czech Academy of Sciences has launched a new mobile application, created together with the Multicultural Centre Prague and the Terezín Initiative Institute. Called MemoGIS Prague, it enables users to study the history of the Holocaust through an interactive map.
The oldest member of the Czech Scout movement, Eduard Marek, died on Sunday at the age of 104. Marek was imprisoned by both the Nazi and Communist regimes and was active in the Czechoslovak resistance. In later life he also made a mark by becoming one of the oldest people to ever parachute out of an aircraft.
Madeleine Albright became the first female Secretary of State on January 23, 1997. She now holds both the Order of the White Lion and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Czech archaeologists have made an unusual discovery while excavating an early medieval burial ground near Tetín castle in Central Bohemia. Among the human remains buried there was a skull which they believe may have belonged to a woman of African origin.
Humorous puppet shows with a confused “daddy” and a clever street man Hurvajz still entertain new generations. Puppet actor, artist Josef Skupa was at the birth.
The failure of the Second Crusade led to the consolidation of the Hussite movement in the Czech lands. Until 1427, no army dared to invade Bohemia.
This week marks exactly 80 years since the Soviet Union officially granted amnesty to Czechoslovak prisoners who were being held in Gulag labour camps. Thousands of young men escaped from occupied Czechoslovakia into the Soviet Union at the beginning of World War II, only to be accused of false charges and sent to work in the notorious Soviet forced labour system. Those who survived went on to fight alongside the Red Army on the Eastern Front.
Charter 77, the most significant protest petition in Czechoslovakia in the Communist period, was published 45 years ago, on January 6, 1977. The document called on the government to adhere to its international human rights commitments and was initially signed by a couple of hundred people. I spoke to one of them, Petr Pithart.
At the end of the Second World War, American Joe Esquibel lost a silver bracelet when serving as a guard at a prisoner-of-war camp near the west Bohemian town of Mariánské Lázně. Now, more than 76 years later, he got it back thanks to a chance discovery by a local man.
The faces of two 9th century Great Moravian nobles have been newly reconstructed in extraordinary detail. The project is the work of anthropologist Eva Vaníčková and sculptor Ondřej Bílek, who have been using scientific methods to create hyper-realistic facial reconstructions of historical figures for six years now. Their work was recently published in a new bi-lingual Czech-English book, which includes over a dozen faces that the duo has brought back from the past.
During the Cold War, Prague was at the focus of interest of many intelligence agents. Thanks to the Freedom of Information Act, there are now thousands of formerly top-secret documents publicly available in the CIA’s electronic reading room that provide a veritable trove of fascinating historical information on what the Americans knew about Czechoslovakia.
Soft contact lenses were invented by Czech scientist Otto Wichterle around Christmas time in 1961. It was no easy feat. In fact, in the beginning of that year, research into developing contact lenses was cancelled by the Czechoslovak Ministry of Health.
Saturday marks the 10th anniversary of the death of Václav Havel, the former political prisoner who in late 1989 became Czechoslovakia’s first post-Communist president and a symbol of human rights around the world. Among those who worked closely with him before and during the Velvet Revolution, was the journalist and teacher Jan Urban. Indeed, he suggested “forum” and Havel came up with “civic” when a name was sought for the loose opposition group that pushed through the transition to democracy. As is clear in this interview, Urban is also quite critical of Václav Havel’s performance as president, believing he could have achieved far more.
A new two-month exhibition opened up in Prague’s Klementinum this week, which focuses on Saint Ludmila, the grandmother and tutor of the country’s patron saint, who was martyred exactly 1,100 years ago. Visitors are able to explore her life and saintly cult through a variety of literary exhibits, including some of the country’s most important medieval manuscripts. The exhibition is also available online, where visitors are encouraged to try out conducting their own research.
This December marks a quarter-century since the opening up of Communist-era State Security Service archives to victims of surveillance in Czechia. The move made it possible for Czechs to look up whether they were followed by the Communist secret police and who exactly informed on them.
For two decades, the Memory of Nations project has been collecting thousands of testimonies from eye-witnesses who lived through totalitarianism and war. The organisation is now setting up a web of institutes across the Czech Republic, which will offer visitors an immersive, multimedia experience of key moments in the country’s history. This Tuesday, it offered a sneak-peek into its new institute in Pardubice. To find out more about the project and what visitors can look forward to, I spoke to Martin Kroupa, the head of regional development for NGO Post Bellum which runs the Memory of Nations.
Rita Klímová started out as a staunch young communist who helped to build a totalitarian regime in the 1950s. A decade later she was among the most enthusiastic reformers who tried to change the system during the Prague Spring of 1968. After being expelled from the Communist Party, she turned dissident and was one of the key people who helped to jumpstart the democratic reforms of the 1990s.
On November 28, 1931 construction work started on the Barrandov Film Studios which were to become one of the biggest and most modern studio facilities in Europe. Over the years they have been the location of choice for the production of more than 2,500 Czech and international films and offer a network of highly-skilled English-speaking crews, trained to Hollywood standards.
This Saturday marks the centenary of the birth of Alexander Dubček, one of the most charismatic leaders of 20th century Czechoslovakia who led the country during the Prague Spring. A Communist Party loyalist, Dubček is seen today largely as a tragic figure, who caved in to Soviet demands following the 1968 Invasion of Czechoslovakia.
A new book, paying tribute to victims of the Nazi regime who have a Stolperstein (stumbling stone) in their memory placed somewhere in Prague, is being launched on Wednesday. Titled Prague's Stolpersteine - Stumbling Stones - Defiant in Their Memory, it is the work of Prague-based Briton Trevor Sage, who has been looking after the city’s stumbling stones for more than six years.
Following a decade of preparation, a permanent exhibition on the history of ethnic Germans in the Czech lands opened at the City Museum of Ústí nad Labem this week. The exhibition, entitled “Naši Němci” (or “Our Germans” in English), explores relations between Czech and German communities dating back to the Middle Ages.
Fragments of the co-called Maloměřice kettle, a masterpiece of Celtic art, is currently on display at the Dietrichstein Palace in Brno. The kettle, which was probably used as a ritual object in Celtic ceremonies, was found more than 80 years ago on the outskirts of the city at one of the largest excavated Celtic burial sites in Moravia.
History remembers Gustáv Husák, the last communist president of Czechoslovakia, as the face of a spineless regime that ruled during the Normalisation era. He had risen to power in the wake of the Soviet-led invasion that crushed the Prague Spring – a reform movement that Husák had supported. And while a political prisoner himself in the 1950s, he went on to overse the persecution of opposition activists in the 1970s and ‘80s. Ahead of the 30th anniversary of his death, we reflect upon Husák’s remarkable life.
A unique prototype locomotive created in the 1960s set off at the weekend from Plzeň train station for Chomutov, where it was placed in the town’s railway depositary and will join the collection of the National Technical Museum.
The wartime story of Czech Jews is often told in connection to the Terezín concentration camp and Auschwitz, but tens of thousands were also deported to work in Belarus and in the Baltic states.
Archaeologists from the Rakovník Museum have announced a rare discovery from the Migration Period — a gold ring and clasp decorated with Czech garnets and almandines, which probably come from India or Sri Lanka. According to experts, the roughly 1500-year-old find is one of the most unique of its kind in Europe.
In 1977 Václav Havel wrote a lengthy report describing his arrest days after the publication of Charter 77 and subsequent, often intense experiences. The fascinating text was lost for decades but having been discovered is being released on Thursday under the title I Hid It Somewhere. I discussed it with Michael Žantovský, director of the Václav Havel Library, publisher of the new volume.
Without question, the publication of Otto’s Encyclopaedia (Ottův slovník naučný) marked among the most important chapters in Czech publishing history. For its scope and depth, the work is oftgen comparable to the famous Encyclopædia Britannica. Jan Otto was born on November 8, 1841.
For more than 400 years, the grounds beneath the Cistercian monastery in Vyšší Brod remained sealed and shrouded in mystery. Following the burial there in 1611 of Petr Vok of Rožmberk – the last of the famous Bohemian family line – not a soul has ventured into the vault. An expert team has now uncovered the truth behind (some) enduring legends.
Czech scientists have made a unique discovery suggesting that the oldest herbal millet beer could have been brewed in Bohemia. They came across the evidence while studying a 3000-year-old bronze vessel, unearthed in the village of Kladina in 2017.
On October 24th 1941 members of the 11th Czechoslovak infantry battalion assisted the defenders of Tobruk in North Africa.
For older generations of Czechs – and European designers of virtually any age – “bentwood furniture” and Bystřice pod Hostýnem are synonymous. For it was in that tiny Moravian town that hundreds of thousands one of the world’s most iconic pieces of furniture, known simply as “Chair No. 14”, literally took shape. In essence, modern furniture what born at what is today the TON factory – which has operated without interruption since 1861.
The current state of Czech President Miloš Zeman’s health and the lack of information provided by his office have raised a debate about the public’s right to information with regard to the country’s top official. Miloš Zeman is not the first head of state who has suffered from serious health problems during his presidency that impacted his ability to work. Czech Radio has mapped out how information about the president’s health was provided to the public since the founding of Czechoslovakia.
During the Second World War, approximately 600,000 Czechs were forced into slave labour for Nazi Germany. However, a few thousand Czechs were also forcibly deployed in Norway. A new project called Noráci, carried out by a group of Czech and Norwegian scholars, traces the fate of these men, based on their memorabilia as well as on the memories of their descendants.
Czech legislators are discussing whether to declare May 27 – the day of the assassination of the Nazi governor of Bohemia and Moravia, Reinhard Heydrich, in 1942 – a “significant day”. The proposal is the result of an initiative launched by Prague 8 – the municipality where the assassination took place. The district mayor says he has high hopes for it will pass no matter how the government decides.
The first ever film screening in Prague took place at the hotel U černého koně 125 years ago, on 18 October 1896. The projection was carried out by the optician and mechanic Adolf Oppenheimer.
The Czech Republic has the world’s third-largest collection of testimonies from people who lived under totalitarian regimes in the 20th century. That collection of the Memory of the Nation project, includes interviews with some 13,000 people who suffered under, fought against, tolerated or collaborated with the Nazi and Communist regimes. As the Memory of the Nation project celebrates its 20th anniversary, co-founder Mikuláš Kroupa reflected on the project’s humble origins and the incredible stories still being collected and preserved.
According to the results of a new study published in the academic journal Science, all known modern versions of Hepatitis B can be traced back to the same original version of the virus that affected people before they were even farmers. The major study drew on samples of pre-historic human remains collected by Czech archaeologists.
The early 13th century Reliquary of St. Maurus is among the nation’s greatest of treasures. The elaborate Romanesque shrine, plated in silver and gold, and adorned with gems and semi-precious stones, is in itself an exquisite work of art. It also is said to contain the relics of four saints – not least, John the Baptist. Adding to its incalculable value and mystique is the recent discovery of an inlaid “toadstone”, among the world’s oldest.
Born into a prominent wealthy family, Václav Havel came of age after the Communist coup of 1948, when to be “bourgeois” was to be part of a despised social class. As a young man, his criticism of the regime and status as a “dissident playwright” would soon land him in prison.
September 28 is St Wenceslas Day, a state holiday in the Czech Republic, marking the death of the nation's patron saint.
Senior Nazi Reinhard Heydrich became acting governor of Bohemia and Moravia on a symbolic date, 28th September – St. Wenceslas’ Day – 1941. As soon as he was installed he declared martial law and oversaw mass arrests, executions and deportations to Mauthausen and Auschwitz.
In the autumn of 1951, Communist authorities launched a massive wave of agricultural “collectivisation”, forcibly evicting thousands of Czech farmers from their land and homesteads. To mark the 70th anniversary of “Operation Kulak”, a monument to the victims was installed this weekend below Mount Říp – a place of symbolic importance in Czech mythology and history.
King Sihamoni studied in Prague from 1962 to 1975, and calls Czechoslovakia his ‘second home’. He is the only living monarch who speaks Czech.
A rare Renaissance shield, which was originally stolen by the Nazis from Konopiště Castle during the Second World War, is now being returned to the Czech Republic by the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Representatives of both the museum and Czech institutions signed an agreement earlier this week, ending a several-year verification process.
Saint Ludmila, the first historically documented duchess of Bohemia, was murdered on the 15th of September in the year 921. Together with her husband Bořivoj I, founder of the Přemyslid dynasty, she sought to spread Christianity throughout the Czech lands, and was de facto ruler of Bohemia after his death, when their sons were too young to sit on the throne.
On the morning of September 11th, 2001, Czech-born architect Jiří Boudník was working on a new federal courthouse in Brooklyn, three subway stops from the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan. After a second airplane hit the Twin Towers, and orders came to evacuate his worksite, Jiří Boudník headed towards Ground Zero, knowing – thanks to his background in civil engineering and architecture and having experienced the 1993 terrorist bombing there – that at least a partial collapse of the Twin Towers was imminent. In the days to come, while organising a volunteer “bucket brigade” to clear debris and retrieve human remains, he developed computer 3D and 4D models of the disaster site that helped firefighters and others safely carry out their grim task.
After more than a two-year break, caused by Covid-related restrictions, Czech archaeologists have returned to Israel to continue excavations at the Tel Motza temple. Experts say the discovery of the shrine from the time of King Solomon, which matches the Biblical description of the first temple in Jerusalem, could rewrite history.
Dr Františka Schormová was awarded Charles University’s highest academic accolade this spring for her dissertation titled “African American Poets Abroad: Black and Red Allegiances in Early Cold War Czechoslovakia”. The young literary scholar and translator is now working on turning it into a book, which will trace the circulation of African American leftist poetry on both sides of the Iron Curtain.
A Medieval treasure encompassing more than 400 silver coins was found in the woods near the South Moravian Castle Lukov recently. Two members of the local castle society found them while picking mushrooms. The coins are now being restored and analysed, but should be put on view soon at the annual Lukov Castle Day on September 19.
Princess Ludmila, grandmother of Czech patron saint “good King Wenceslas”, was the first woman in history known to have de facto rule over Bohemia. She was martyred 1100 years ago this September – killed by assassins dispatched by her daughter in law Drahomíra. Among the events commemorating that anniversary is a pilgrimage tour organized by Tom Zahn, an American specialising in genealogy-related tours.
Saint Ludmila, the first historically documented Duchess of Bohemia, was martyred 1100 years ago this September – strangled by assassins sent by her own daughter in law. Best known today as the grandmother and educator of the Czech patron saint “good King Wenceslas”, Saint Ludmila was among the few women in history to de facto rule over Bohemia.
A unique medieval manuscript, known as the ‘Lipnice Bible’, has gone on display at the National Library in Prague. The precious Latin codex was loaned by the Museum of the Bible in Washington on the occasion of its 600th anniversary. It will be showcased, alongside other precious biblical manuscripts, in the library’s Mirror Chapel over the next two weeks.
An ancient book recently found in a Berlin library sheds new light on the history of the Krkonoše or Giant Mountains. Most of the earliest written records of human activity in the area date back to the mid-16th century. But the newly discovered book proves that treasure hunters arrived there as early as the 15th century.
Czech archaeologists have made a unique discovery near the mythical mount of Říp in Central Bohemia. They have unearthed a Stone Age mound, which ranks among the oldest of its kind in Europe. They also found an exceptionally well-preserved burial chamber, containing the remains of a child and artefacts from about 3,800 B.C.
Czechs are marking the 53rd anniversary of the Sovie-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. Commemorative ceremonies are being held around the country at significant sites linked to the invasion of Warsaw Pact troops which were sent in by Moscow to crush the Prague Spring reform movement aiming to introduce “socialism with a human face”.
This Saturday, Czechs and Slovaks will commemorate the anniversary of the Soviet-led invasion of August 1968, sent to crush the Prague Spring – the raft of reforms that Communist Party secretary Alexander Dubček had famously hoped would lead to “socialism with a human face”.
Luděk Němec is not your typical student of history. At the age of 21, he has already authored two books, both about ethnic Sudeten German settlements in the Šumava National Park region, forcibly abandoned during the “wild expulsions” following the Second World War.
Rare jewels, unexplained burial sites and divine thrones are among the objects uncovered during a four-year-long dig near the Moravian city of Přerov. Archaeologists found new settlements from a wide range of pre-historic periods, including the Neolithic and early Bronze Age.
The National Theatre in Prague, built almost entirely using money raised through public collections, was a world rarity. For some thirty years, people gathered funds "coin by coin". The fire that destroyed much of it in 1881 was therefore all the more devastating.
The Czech National Archive has made a unique acquisition. After years of negotiations, last week it took over the personal belongings of legendary Czech protest singer Karel Kryl. Apart from all sorts of documents and sketches, they include the guitar he played at his very last concert.
The Memory of the Nation (Paměť národa) project has for decades collected testimony from witnesses to major events in modern Czech history, including those who fought against Nazism and Communism, or fell victim to those regimes. To date, the project has recorded interviews with nearly 13,000 people, over half of which are available online. This autumn, the institute plans to open its first brick-and-mortar multimedia institute, a kind of museum of totalitarianism.
The Petřín funicular transports roughly 2 million people every year up and down Prague’s most famous hill and is the second most visited attraction in the Czech Republic. It was built on the occasion of the General Land Centennial Exhibition in 1891, which took place in Prague.
The history of the Czech nation during the tumultuous twentieth century is the subject of a new major exhibition opening up this Friday in the National Museum in Prague. Around 2,000 square metres of space in the museum’s New Building are dedicated to the exhibit, which mixes historical artefacts with multi-media presentations to bring the period alive.
July 18, 1891 was one of the most important days not only in the history of Prague’s public transport, but also in the history of railway transport and Czech technical engineering in general.
After being closed for nearly two decades, the historic carousel in Prague’s Letná park is now set to be restored and reopened, the Czech Technical Museum, which administers the building, has announced. Its director Karel Ksandr hopes that if all goes well the carousel will reopen sometime next spring.
The ruins of Königsmühle or King’s Mill, a dilapidated settlement near the Czech-German border bears testimony of the tumultuous years of the 20th century. Life in the settlement which had only six houses, ended with the expulsion of Sudeten Germans from Czechoslovakia at the end of WWII. The place remained uninhabited for decades, and the houses went to ruin, but their haunting presence attracted Czech tramping enthusiasts and later various artists who are determined to bring it back to life.
The first section of the D1 motorway was opened to traffic on 12 July 1971 with a spectacular ribbon cutting ceremony, attended by Communist leaders. The section was only 21 kilometres long, running from Prague to the Central Bohemian town of Mirošovice.
July 6th is a public holiday in the Czech Republic honouring the memory of reformer priest Jan Hus who was burned at the stake for heresy against the doctrines of the Catholic Church in 1415. A theologian, philosopher and professor at Charles University in Prague, Hus was a central figure of the Bohemian reformation. Hus is considered to be one of the first church reformers before Martin Luther, later inspiring the Hussite movement. Following his tragic execution, the Hussites followed his religious teachings and rebelled against their Catholic rulers.
July 5th is a public holiday in the Czech Republic, celebrating the legacy of the Greek missionaries Cyril and Methodius who came to Great Moravia in 862. As founders of the liturgical Slavonic language and the Glagolitic alphabet, the Byzantine brothers are referred to as ´fathers´ of Slavonic literature. Not only did they greatly influence literary development and culture, but they also translated the Bible and largely contributed to the spread of Christianity among Slavic peoples. Though both were born into wealth and prestige, they chose to become priests and devote their lives to their people.
The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, commonly known as the Comecon, was headed by the USSR and was meant to deliver prosperity to the whole Eastern Bloc. At its final session on June 28, 1991 an agreement was reached to dissolve it in 90 days.
Tomáš Lom, a Czech veteran of World War II who served in Britain’s Royal Air Force, died on Wednesday, just weeks ahead of his 97th birthday. As one of this country’s last RAF airmen, his passing was marked by the government with a moment of silence, and Lom is to be buried with military honours.
When it comes to Czech cars, most people undoubtedly think of Škoda. However, Czechoslovakia’s car production has long been associated with another automobile brand – Tatra. The company’s futuristic-looking aerodynamic passenger cars first appeared on the roads in the 1930s, and have since become one of the icons of Czechoslovak design.
Exactly 400 years ago, Habsburg Catholic authorities put three nobles, seven knights, and 17 burghers to death on Prague’s Old Town Square. Their executions – victor’s justice – came many months after the defeat of the reformist Bohemians in the seminal Battle of White Mountain. Twenty-seven white stone crosses have long been embedded in the historic square, paying tribute to the men whom Czechs consider to be martyrs of the nation.
In part two of our interview with Dr Jan Koura from the Cold War Research Group at Charles University, we look at Czechoslovak economic, political and educational involvement in the Third World during the Cold War. Czechoslovakia sought not just to bring socialism into Africa and Latin America, but also to establish strong economic ties that would benefit its own industry, he says.
Until 2011, the castle of Moravský Krumlov was home to the series of paintings by Alphonse Mucha known as The Slav Epic. A pair of skeletons unearthed in the region two decades ago tell a very different tale – that of two tiny prehistoric women who likely worked in some of the largest mines in Europe.
Dr Jirina Stone, a Czech émigré who became an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford was a secret informer for the Czechoslovak communist intelligence service, according to a story recently published in the Daily Mail by its investigations team. It is not the first time that a prominent individual in the West has been hit by such a revelation. According to Dr Jan Koura from the Cold War Research Group at Charles University, who specialises in Czech intelligence activity during the communist era, it is not likely to be the last.
Czechs love mushroom picking. Perhaps nowhere in the world do people devote so much time to this activity, combing the country’s coniferous forests to fill their baskets with a wide variety of mushrooms, which are either consumed or dried for the winter months.
Despite more than three decades since the fall of communism, historians are still discovering new information about communist Czechoslovakia and its role in the Cold War. Some of the most interesting discoveries have been made in the realm of intelligence, where the country’s foreign intelligence service played a disproportionately larger role than other Soviet satellites. To find out more, I spoke to Dr Jan Koura, the head of Charles University’s Cold War Research Group, who has done much work in the realm of researching communist-era Czechoslovak intelligence.
Czechoslovak RAF veteran General Emil Boček, received a belated 98th birthday treat on Wednesday, taking to the skies in a De Havilland Tiger Moth –a plane he first piloted when he joined the RAF. The 15-minute flight was a tribute from the Czech Airforce to one of the country’s last remaining war heroes.
Dutch authorities have unearthed the remains of an RAF bomber whose Czech crew were shot down by a German fighter as they were returning from a bombing raid in June 1941. The remains are currently being analysed.
Prague’s Vltava river has been used to transport wood on rafts for centuries. On June 11, 1871, local raft traders formed their own association.
A rare exhibit was added to the Pantheon inside the Old Building of the National Museum in Prague this week - a 45,000-year-old woman’s skull. Visitors are now able to view both the original and the reconstructed face of the woman it belonged to. A Facebook poll has also been launched to give the prehistoric human a name.
It may not have the international renown of its South Bohemian neighbour Český Krumlov, but the city of Tábor is well known across the Czech Republic as the headquarters of legendary Hussite commander Jan Žižka. The city’s Hussite Museum gives visitors the chance to learn more about this crucial period in Czech history and the many innovative yet also gruesome characteristics of Hussite warfare.
A daring plan to kill Nazi governor of Bohemia and Moravia Reinhard Heydrich was realised 79 years ago on Thursday. Just ahead of the anniversary, a new 200-metre mural depicting Operation Anthropoid was unveiled in Prague’s Libeň at the very spot where parachutists Jozef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš opened fire on Heydrich’s car. The artwork was created by architecture student Jakub Marek.
An annual fund-raising run for the Memory of the Nation institute kicks off on Thursday. In years past, the event has raised close to a million crowns towards recording interviews with eye-witnesses to major events in modern Czech history, including those who fought against Nazism and Communism, or fell victim to those regimes.
Archaeologists are currently excavating an early-Medieval burial ground near the city of Písek in South Bohemia. The sight was partly damaged during the winter, when a wood harvester drove through the wooded area. Similar damage has become quite common in recent years.
Hundreds of people gathered in Prague on Saturday to mark the 300th anniversary of the beatification of St John of Nepomuk, a court priest who died a martyr’s death after invoking the wrath of King Wenceslas IV. While in Prague, the traditional baroque festival of Navalis was held in his honour, around the world a symbolic 300 churches rang their bells to mark the occasion.
After more than two years of intensive work, the legendary Czechoslovak bullet train, known as Slovenská Strela or Slovak Arrow, has been restored to its former glory. On Thursday, the train undertook its first ride from Přerov, where it had been renovated, to Kopřivnice, where it will go on display.
With a proud history spanning over 200 years, the Becherovka herbal liquor is among the most famous alcoholic beverages produced in the Czech Republic. The recipe was famously created by the Becher family and remains a closely guarded secret to this day.
The historic flight from Pardubice to Prague – at the time the longest flight ever undertaken in the Austro-Hungarian Empire – took place on May 13, 1911. Czech aviation pioneer Jan Kašpar took off from the Pardubice military training ground, where he had already conducted his first flight experiments.
This week the British Embassy unveiled a plaque in memory of two British servicemen who took part in the Prague Uprising in 1945 and who saved many lives by their incredibly brave action. On the occasion of VE day the British ambassador to Prague, Nick Archer, granted Czech Radio an interview about the incredible feat of the two British servicemen, the ties that bind us and the security challenges of the present day. Jakub Lucký first asked him to tell the story of how Sargent Thomas Vokes and Private William Grieg devised a ploy that brought about the surrender of a German unit which posed a grave danger to the resistance fighters at the Czechoslovak Radio building.
Celebrations are underway in Pilsen to commemorate the city’s uprising against the Nazi occupation and liberation by American forces in May 1945.
More than 70 years after the end of World War Two, new information is still coming out about the brave efforts that allied parachutists played in the Nazi occupied Czech lands. In the newly published book Foursquare: The Last Parachutist, George Bearfield explores the development and deployment of these special forces, with central focus dedicated to his grandfather, who was himself sent on a mission to Czechoslovakia in the final stages of the war.
Locations of Hussite battles, parliamentary election results, but also maps of lookout towers or Word War I prisons – all this and much more can be found in a unique online atlas launched by the Czech Academy of Sciences earlier this month. The website, called Czech Historical Atlas, was put together by history and cartography experts.
Among the ceremonies marking the 76th anniversary of the Prague Uprising on Wednesday, May 5, was the unveiling of a commemorative plaque to two British servicemen who participated in the uprising and whose daring deed saved many lives. The ceremony took place at a school building on Na Smetance street in Prague’s Vinohrady district, where the two British soldiers devised a ploy that brought about the surrender of a German unit which posed a grave danger to the resistance fighters at the Czechoslovak Radio building.
May 5 marks the 76 anniversary since the beginning of the Battle for Czech Radio which is traditionally seen as the start of the Prague Uprising that led to the city being liberated from German control after four days of hard fighting in the closing phase of World War Two in Europe.
The Staropramen brewery, the second largest beer producer in the country, is toasting 150 years since it put out its first batch.
How did the Communist regime approach heritage conservation? What led to the devastation of so many historical monuments? And why did some buildings survive while others were knocked down? These are just some of the questions addressed in a new research launched by historians from the Czech Academy of Sciences.
Velorex is the name of a unique, three wheeled vehicle which runs on a motorcycle engine. It was designed by brothers František and Mojmír Stránský during World War Two. Over 15,000 Velorex’s were made until the 1970s. Today, thousands of these machines are still registered in the Czech Republic and have become somewhat of a collectors item among historical vehicle enthusiasts.
On April 27, 1991, the internationally recognized artist David Černý, a student at the time, painted a monument to Soviet tank crews in Prague pink.
On 3 October 1926, Josef Laufer made history, filing Europe’s first live sports journalism radio report, three months ahead of Britain’s BBC.
A Jewish cemetery in the Moravian town of Hranice dating back to the 17th century, neglected for decades and slated for demolition under Communist rule, is now finally being restored.
Archaeologists in Brno have announced a unique discovery. During a dig in the city’s Vídeňská Street, they unearthed fragments of a skull of the now extinct woolly rhinoceros. It was most likely killed by prehistoric hunters, who resided in the area 16,000 to 20,000 years ago.
In the first half of the 20th century, the Czech entrepreneur Jindřich Waldes was known as the “king of snap buttons”, and nearly as famous as the founder of the Baťa shoe dynasty, a major client. In fact, he was fond of saying “If Baťa can’t make something cheaper, then it’s a Waldes product.” The outspoken, gregarious Czech patriot was also a celebrated patron of the arts – especially of painter František Kupka, who helped create the company’s iconic symbol, the Koh-i-noor girl. Waldes and his partner Hynek Puc brought to market machine-pressed snaps on a scale never seen before.
Bruce Berglund’s fascinating Castle and Cathedral in Modern Prague, published in Czech in January, focuses on the early years of Czechoslovakia, when President Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk was forging the new state. This included making Prague Castle the symbolic heart of the new democracy and, Berglund writes, an ambitious plan for a new religion for the country that TGM founded in 1918. I spoke to the historian from his home in Minnesota.
The first telephone call in Bohemia was made on April 10, 1881 between the Hartmann coal mine in Ledvice and a nearby train station in Duchcov, covering a distance of around two and a half kilometres.
Tuesday marks 100 years since the birth of sculptor František Bělský who is known for creating the busts of Queen Elizabeth II and several other members of the British royal family. Before becoming a famous sculptor, Bělský served as a soldier in World War II and escaped both Communist and Nazi occupation.
The life of the brave mayor, who saved Roosvelt and was not afraid of Al Capone, is the story of the American dream
Few Czechoslovak products have been as internationally successful as the Jawa motorcycle. For a period of more than a decade the company’s models dominated their respective international markets, while at the same time helping Czechoslovak racers win several competitions. Despite a fall from grace in the last decades of the twentieth century, Jawa continues to exist as a brand and its machines are still produced at home and abroad.
Property restitution became one of the cornerstones of the transformation of the Czech economy after the fall of communism in 1989. The law was intended to right the wrongs committed by the communist regime as far as possible.
This Saturday marks exactly 25 years since the visit of the British monarch to the Czech Republic. Elizabeth II, accompanied by her husband Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, came at the invitation of the late president Václav Havel and was the first British monarch to visit the country.
Marie Šupíková, one of the last survivors of the Lidice massacre, has died at the age of 88. Mrs Šupíková, who was ten at the time of the event, was one of the few children selected for re-education, escaping death in a concentration camp. In the course of her life she worked selflessly to help educate young people about the Holocaust.
A new online photo-database of Czechoslovak Legionaries who fought for the establishment of Czechoslovakia during World War One has recently been set up. The website not only gives viewers the chance to see the faces of thousands of legionaries, but also to check if an ancestor served in the force and upload their picture, or further information about them.
Historians have long known that members of the infamous communist-era Auxiliary Technical Battalions (PTP), army units comprised of “politically unreliable” persons, helped build the Stalin monument in Prague’s Letná Park. But only recently has a labour camp housing them been revealed. Archaeologists now have a unique opportunity to examine the remains.