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In Mailbox this week: The Czech Republic and the International Criminal Court, ownership of churches, a cat parasite featured in Czech Science, day nurseries in the Czech Republic. Listeners quoted: Wayne Soukup, Max Pottie, Barbara Deacon, Aloisie Krasny.  More

Current AffairsCzech Republic has got highest percentage of dilapidated churches in Central Europe

There are hundreds of churches in the Czech Republic which have turned into ruins over the past few decades. Most of them belong to the Catholic Church, but it seems unable to improve the current situation. More

Current AffairsCatholic Church, Prague Castle administration discuss handing over of St Vitus Cathedral

As we reported last month, the Supreme Court cancelled all previous rulings by lower courts that ordered the Czech state to hand over Prague's St Vitus Cathedral to the Roman Catholic Church. The administration of Prague Castle is now claiming the monument back. On Tuesday, the representatives of both parties met to discuss further steps.  More

NewsCzech Republic demands returning of Gothic statue in court in Austria

SpotlightBystrice pod Hostynem

In today's Spotlight we visit the Moravian town of Bystrice pod Hostynem, close to the city of Zlin. Lying beneath the Hostyn Hill, which is a place of pilgrimage but also offers ideal hiking routes and skiing conditions, the town attracts thousands of visitors every year.  More

Current AffairsChurch gets back art objects stolen three years ago, but robberies continue

Three years ago, almost twenty valuable art objects were stolen from a church in a small village near the town of Liberec in North Bohemia. The loot was soon discovered in Poland and on Thursday, the Baroque woodcuts and statuettes were handed back to representatives of the Roman Catholic Church here in Prague, to be restored and returned to the village church. Even though the number of church robberies has fallen since the looting sprees of the early 1990s, hundreds of cases are still reported every year in the Czech Republic.  More

Current AffairsSt.Vitus now in Church ownership

One of Prague's most visited tourist attractions has changed ownership. For 13 years the Roman Catholic Church sought to regain ownership of Prague's famous St. Vitus Cathedral, located in the Prague Castle compound and administered by the state. In June of this year the Prague City Court ruled that St. Vitus belongs to the Church. This week the Prague Castle Administration officially handed over its management to the Roman Catholic Church.  More

Current AffairsStudents protest sale of St. Michael's church

At noon on Tuesday a group of students and their supporters staged a march to protest the National Library's sale of the Church of the Archangel St. Michael. The students feel that the church, in the heart of Prague's Old Town, should be preserved and not have been sold for secular and potentially blasphemous use. Radio Prague's Michael Longaro attended the march. More

Current AffairsHow authentic is St Valentine relic housed in Prague church?

Around the world people are celebrating St Valentine's Day, the traditional day of lovers. But did you know that the Church of SS Peter and Paul in Prague's Vysehrad may be home to a relic of the famous saint? Four years ago the Royal Collegiate Chapter of SS Peter and Paul uncovered several forgotten Baroque shrines in its depository; it was surprised to find one relic - a complete shoulder blade - had belonged to none other than the patron saint of lovers. Last year, the church held a mass in St Valentine's honour - displaying the relic - and this year it's doing the same. More

Current Affairs50 years since the relocation of Prague's Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene

One only has to look at such recent edifices as the so-called "Fred and Ginger" building by Frank Gehry or Jean Nouvel's Andel Centre to see that Prague's architecture becomes more and more ambitious year by year. Yet there have been few more industrious projects than the groundbreaking relocation of the Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene, a move which saved the monument from certain destruction. As the building celebrates 50 years since this momentous operation, Radio Prague looks at how and why such an undertaking was made possible. More