2012-11-27T15:48:05+01:00 Radio Prague http://radio.cz/en/section/spotlight/uherske-hradiste-a-fortress-of-culture-1 urn:uuid:a0aeaabb-7395-53b1-bf55-932be2f762c8 2012-11-27T15:48:05+01:00

Spotlight this week comes from Uherské Hradiště, a charming picturesque town in south-east Moravia. Like so many places in this part of the world, Uherské Hradiště has a rich and complex history. As tour guide Lenka Kornelová explains, the town was established nearly eight centuries ago in reaction to the turbulent events of that time and the city actually gets its name - meaning "Hungarian Fortress" - from this period.

urn:uuid:4819b15f-bab8-5402-b2ee-805a89a5d261 2012-11-20T16:50:00+01:00

With its sloping cobbled streets, beautiful baroque churches and an abundance of historical architecture, Olomouc is easily one of the most appealing cities in the Czech Republic outside of Prague. Typically, this bustling university town in North Moravia owes much of its architectural splendour to its long and somewhat chequered past. Some claim that this ancient city dates back as far as Roman times, when it was reputed to have been founded by Julius Caesar himself.

urn:uuid:e63779cd-74fe-5915-ba0f-0a6ea88e1054 2012-11-13T17:04:48+01:00

I had never really been inside or had a proper look around, but I was sure the small church of St Martin in the Wall would have an interesting story, if for no other reason than its ancient appearance and peculiar name. Just off the central Národní třída is a classic Prague alleyway that’s tucked away from the shopping boulevard, neatly dividing the centuries from one another, and there you’ll find it. One of the oldest churches in the city, St Martin in the Wall is one of those relatively few landmarks whose story can transport you all the way back through the ages to the beginnings of the Czech metropolis.

urn:uuid:039824a0-4bcf-5725-bc2f-130b4b232732 2012-10-30T16:56:21+01:00

Prague’s wealth of traditional coffeehouses is a legacy from the era of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. But even in today’s hectic time, grabbing a quick cup on the run is fortunately not the only option for coffee lovers in the Czech capital. Probably the best-known café in the golden city is Kavárna Slavia, or Café Slavia. We recently visited this traditional coffeehouse.

urn:uuid:bff1e2c0-e1f3-5984-a948-2487abe96de2 2012-10-23T16:39:21+02:00

Standing atop of a small hill, with a tramline swooping around it, punctuated by a baroque Roman Catholic church on one side and a modernist Hussite church on the other, Rangherka, or the small Vršovice château, contains within its own story the history of the surrounding district as well. The original building was put up just as the then village of Vršovice began to grow and develop rapidly. Now, unlike the surrounding neighbourhood, it is a sad sight. The prominent neo-renaissance building is in ruins, with reconstruction having dragged on for more than six years, although the past year has seen the work finally intensify.

urn:uuid:a2976df5-8463-570c-ab31-6adca8c0785e 2012-10-16T16:34:03+02:00

Nestled between busy Wenceslas Square and Prague’s number one tourist destination, Old Town Square, the House of the Black Madonna houses a small museum of Cubism as well as the only surviving Cubist café in the world – the Grand Café Orient, which was renovated between 2002 and 2005.

urn:uuid:1b2140b6-1cf7-5f76-942c-1b0725d0344a 2012-10-09T00:00:00+02:00

The Basilica of St. Procopius in Třebíč is one of only 12 places in the Czech Republic inscribed on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. In this edition of Spotlight we’ll give you a taste of some of what makes the 12th century structure such a marvel.

urn:uuid:bff88479-2e56-59e2-bede-f0d0db1aa9c7 2012-09-25T00:00:00+02:00

Pankrác is a byword in the Czech Republic for the large prison that stands a little way outside the centre of Prague. The prison has been the focus for much of the worst and some of the best that has happened over the last 120 years. Appropriately, some mementos have been stored for posterity.

urn:uuid:3cb8edab-e6d3-52eb-97d8-6089ddb6b938 2012-08-21T17:09:07+02:00

In this week’s spotlight, Radio Prague goes on a special tour with a Pragulic guide to look at a different side of Prague.

urn:uuid:e25dbff6-846e-55e4-b1bd-46c125075640 2012-08-14T13:05:00+02:00

The border point of the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Austria is the confluence of two great rivers, the Dyje, from the west, and the Morava, from which the region of Moravia takes its name. Along the rivers is a natural reserve of marsh forest and a bastion of Moravian culture called Podluží, or “under the marshland”.

urn:uuid:adc4076b-2f51-53b6-bb3e-daf9e5816ee3 2012-08-07T16:52:01+02:00

The location of the Czech-Polish-Slovak tri-border can be described in a number of ways. Geographically, it’s in the Beskydy mountain range. Politically, it’s Silesia, the oft-forgotten “third” region of the Czech Republic, a strip of mixed Czech, Polish, German and Jewish heritage straddling the north-east border. 20th century conflict though renamed southern Silesia “Zaolzie”, a Polish-perspective place name that means “beyond the Olza River”. 21st century reality though has left the names Poland, Slovakia or the Czech Republic with little real meaning. This is after all the Slavic corner of the Czech Republic, where all three cultures, it seems, create a fourth.

urn:uuid:e78c0daf-0bdb-5b8d-bf66-3d9413c6ae88 2012-07-31T16:38:39+02:00

On the one hand, defining one’s territory is said to be a basic human trait, and on the other there is nothing that comes so natural to people - when given a say - as to defy a boundary and explore the other side. The Czech/German/Polish tri-border is an excellent example of this.

urn:uuid:c594a269-6401-5b12-89b6-e1c3691f2247 2012-07-24T14:51:32+02:00

Borderlands are fascinating areas where cultures either meet and intermingle, or in some cases are cordoned off to coldly stare at one another. The Czech/German/Austrian tri-border has experienced both. Over the last century it went from being an imaginary line through the woods to a literal Iron Curtain and back again. What’s emerging here today is a cross-cultural region deep in the Bohemian Forest National Park.

urn:uuid:3a387e68-fb15-5273-a15a-dc4c8e070e50 2012-07-17T12:30:49+02:00

In this week's Spotlight, Dominik Jun visits Bethlehem Chapel in Prague, a monument to Jan Hus painstakingly rebuilt during the 1950s.

urn:uuid:baf7fc4c-141d-54a1-9811-f3a6899da56b 2012-07-10T14:01:40+02:00

In this week's Spotlight, Dominik Jun visits Skalka in Prague's Smíchov district, and discovers baroque-era ruins, and forests and meadows galore...

urn:uuid:7701646d-cf10-5d9b-84c8-26cb55fffb07 2012-07-03T16:58:18+02:00

The Pilgrimage Church of Saint John of Nepomuk is a unique work of Czech-Italian architect Jan Santini Aichel, who was known for using unlikely combinations of Baroque and Gothic styles. Such a marvel is it that in 1994 it was included on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. Its architecture was guided by symbols of the legend of the Czech St. John of Nepomuk, one of the foremost saints of Central Europe, but also by the disciplines of the Kabbalah.

urn:uuid:a18e84b5-8319-590c-9035-5b834648a827 2012-06-26T15:31:36+02:00

The Habsburg Emperor Rudolf II left a deep mark in Czech history. Various legends and myths surround the 16th century ruler who made Prague his imperial seat and whose diverse interests made the city a centre of Renaissance arts and sciences. One monument from his time is hidden beneath the surface of the earth – a water tunnel carved deep into the rock of one of Prague’s hills.

urn:uuid:c4809638-a709-5418-8961-17299386729f 2012-06-19T15:05:51+02:00

In the heart of Berlin’s Neukölln neighborhood is Rixdorf, an area that is also known as the Bohemian Village. The settlement originated in the first half of the 18th century, under the auspices of the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm I., who welcomed Bohemian Protestant refugees into his empire. In the Habsburg Empire, they had been banned from exercising their faith. We recently visited this fascinating area of Berlin and talked to Cordelia Polinna,, the director of the Bohemian Museum, which is devoted to the history of this neighborhood.

urn:uuid:e8f89a21-9204-597b-8460-a3ad7da103d8 2012-06-12T16:36:49+02:00

For first-time visitors the world-famous Konopiště Chateau or Karlštejn Castle are natural choices for daytrips outside of Prague but one destination visitors might want to consider is the royal Czech town of Rakovník, a veritable historic gem found less than 60 kilometres west of the Czech capital. Archaeologists have found that long before it was established as a town, the site of Rakovník and its surroundings, was favoured by tribes as far back as the Stone Age. Finds on display at the local TG Masaryk Museum in Rakovník show some of the oldest flint weapons and stone tools, and the museum gradually maps the evolution of Rakovník and its hilly and wooded surroundings down through the ages.

urn:uuid:27401164-e651-5037-8096-5bd787710671 2012-06-05T14:15:09+02:00

Jan Žižka the Renaissance knight, Jan Žižka the heathen bully – both these faces of the Hussite military genius and much more is on display at the Hussite Museum in Tabor, South Bohemia, which hosts a permanent exhibition dedicated to the 15th century movement.