http://radio.cz/en/article/156424 en Sat, 11 May 2013 02:01:00 +0200 Sat, 11 May 2013 02:01:00 +0200 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Radio Prague CMS   http://radio.cz      http://radio.cz/assets/imgs/radiopraha-rss.png   200   200 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Radio Broadcasting cr@radio.cz (Cesky Rozhlas) webmaster@radio.cz (CRo Webmaster) http://radio.cz/en/article/156424 Zdeněk Nejedlý was an influential Czech musicologist and Communist politician. Most often remembered as a passionate admirer of the composer Bedřich Smetana, he was also instrumental in linking Communist ideology to Czech traditions. A new biography of Nejedlý by Jiří Křesťan offers a more complex view of the man whose life illustrates the perils Czech intellectuals faced in the 20th century. Sat, 11 May 2013 02:01:00 +0200 urn:uuid:27736ad3-dbf3-5868-9f69-b559fc2e9fa5 http://radio.cz/en/article/155852 Prague’s skyline gave the capital one of its nicknames: the city of a hundred spires. But in actual fact around a thousand spires, belfries and towers of various styles and ages now grace the city centre. Some of them are popular tourist attractions offering great views of the city, others only recently revealed their mysteries. One served as an observation post for the secret police; another hosted a morbid display of a dozen severed heads. Sat, 13 Apr 2013 02:01:00 +0200 urn:uuid:af0222a3-f0bf-5a76-b8fd-4b0af58e15dd http://radio.cz/en/article/155137 The head of Radio Prague, Miroslav Krupička, attended a conference in London this week recalling the legacy of the much-loved former Czechoslovak Foreign Minister and ambassador to the UK, Jan Masaryk. The event was held on the 65th anniversary of Masaryk’s still largely unexplained death. Sat, 09 Mar 2013 02:01:00 +0100 urn:uuid:a5047e83-52fc-5e1d-8fba-3a53900fd2bf http://radio.cz/en/article/154700 The name of Václav Babinský is familiar to almost every Czech. The Babinsky legend lives thanks to a folk song, passed on from generation to generation and, curiously, most popular with very young children. It tells the story of a notorious criminal named Babinský who is awaiting execution in a flea infested prison. In today’s Czech History we find out whether the song remains true to history and we look at the life and legend of the 19th-century Bohemian highwayman Václav Babinský. Sat, 16 Feb 2013 02:01:00 +0100 urn:uuid:f42201bf-9e00-520a-8501-1be0ae22ba5d http://radio.cz/en/article/154047 “Illusions of Redemption” is the title of a new book that looks at the history of Czech feminist thinking in the 19th and 20th centuries. From the ideals of the French Revolution through the 19th century confined lifestyle and the liberal First Republic, to the Communists’ forceful push for a new society, the work follows the struggle of Czech feminists for equality. RP spoke to one of the authors, Libuše Heczková, of Prague’s Charles University, and first asked her what made them decide on that particular name for their book. Sat, 19 Jan 2013 02:01:00 +0100 urn:uuid:de2dbe55-04e6-5653-bdf6-3d86ee735e8b http://radio.cz/en/article/152931 British journalist Charles Laurence first came to Prague as a child in the 1950s. His father, a diplomat, served at the UK embassy here, and brought his family with him. In the spy-ridden communist country at the height of the Cold War, he was soon targeted by the secret police. Fifty years later, Charles Laurence revisited Prague in search of what really happened. In his book The Social Agent: A True Intrigue of Sex, Lies, and Heartbreak Behind the Iron Curtain, he exposes Czech writer, and family friend Jiří Mucha as a man who spied on his father, and whose actions had very tragic consequences for his whole family. Sat, 01 Dec 2012 02:01:00 +0100 urn:uuid:e7ec1678-fad4-5383-91a2-26474513c9ed http://radio.cz/en/article/151495 Many Czechs today consider the First Czechoslovak Republic a golden age in the turbulent 20th century. The country, which existed between the two world wars, is seen as the first free state of Czechs and Slovaks after centuries of Austrian rule, and one of Europe’s few democratic states of the time. But its reality, its values and conflicts often escape the popular understanding of the era. One of the First Republic’s outstanding personalities was the army general and writer Rudolf Medek who embodied some of the values of the time. In this edition of Czech History, we look at Rudolf Medek’s new biography penned by the British historian Katya Kocourek. Sat, 06 Oct 2012 02:01:00 +0200 urn:uuid:be27d14b-9b84-5919-bf01-9362c39deb5f http://radio.cz/en/article/150096 Immediately after the end of the Second World War, Czechoslovakia became a testing ground in the contest between democracy and communist one-party rule. In Prague, the United States was hoping to challenge Stalin’s aim of including the country within the Soviet empire by supporting Czech and Slovak democrats in their uneven struggle against the communists. In his new book entitled On the Edge of Cold War – American Diplomats and Spies in Post-war Prague, Boston University professor of history Igor Lukeš explores the US efforts to counter the communist offensive in Czechoslovakia, and arrives at the conclusion that the half-hearted and even amateurish attempts by US diplomats in Prague were doomed to fail. Sat, 11 Aug 2012 02:01:00 +0200 urn:uuid:c5b0c4fe-78a8-5c88-a31e-43c153c7272d http://radio.cz/en/article/149392 The Czech Republic is sometimes called the land of castles and chateaus. For historic reasons, many of those monuments, including some of the most popular ones such as Lednice, Český Krumlov and Karlštejn, are owned by the state and run by the National Heritage Institute. To attract more visitors to these sits, the institute this week opened an information office in Prague. Radio Prague spoke to Tomáš Brabec from the National Heritage Institute, and asked him what information visitors can find in the new facility. Sat, 14 Jul 2012 02:01:00 +0200 urn:uuid:1940abfa-52ec-5778-8765-2a299bb21fce http://radio.cz/en/article/148707 The Habsburg imperial family ruled the Czech lands for nearly four centuries but few of the emperors and empresses found favour with their Czech subjects. One of the exceptions whom Czechs took to their hearts was Ferdinand V the Benign who spent nearly three decades living at Prague Castle as its last imperial inhabitant. A new exhibition which recently opened at Prague Castle looks at the life and times of the last crowned king of Bohemia. Sat, 16 Jun 2012 02:01:00 +0200 urn:uuid:49897bb1-0f48-587c-bb65-8b666f905fd0 http://radio.cz/en/article/147989 Czechs and Slovaks spent most of the 20th century in one country, Czechoslovakia. Ever since its foundation, however, each nation had a different idea of how the country should work, and what their role in it should be. In his new book entitled Czechs and Slovaks in the 20th Century: Cooperation and Conflicts, historian Jan Rychlík argues that Czechoslovakia was in fact bound to fail as a state, and that communism only postponed its inevitable end. Sat, 19 May 2012 02:01:00 +0200 urn:uuid:7f5df350-561b-5557-a226-3d93f9d0b2c0 http://radio.cz/en/article/147309 Prague’s Antonín Dvořák Museum recently reopened after renovation with a new programme dedicated to the life and work of the famous composer. Entitled The journeys of Antonín Dvořák, it offers a new look at the composer’s stays abroad. It also features an exhibition on Dvořák’s Czech-American friend and collaborator, Josef Jan Kovařík, who worked with Dvořák during his stay in New York. Sat, 21 Apr 2012 02:01:00 +0200 urn:uuid:dec3e06c-5bc2-54a3-aee4-79d9ee903295 http://radio.cz/en/article/146667 You might not recognise the name straight away, but Antonín Josef Čermák - a miner’s son from Kladno, Central Bohemia - is one of the most famous Czech-Americans to have ever lived. Anton (or Tony) Cermak became mayor of Chicago at the height of prohibition, overhauled Democratic Party politics in the city, and was then assassinated in the most mysterious of surroundings. All quite dramatic for someone who started his career selling firewood… Tue, 27 Mar 2012 13:21:40 +0200 urn:uuid:e2dbcaa9-5f22-5265-a944-8a82cb9f3e31 http://radio.cz/en/article/146510 What would happen if the Czechs still had a monarch? Or if the country’s population was still one-third German? What would be different today if the 1948 communist coup had been defeated? These are some of the questions explored in a new Czech TV show entitled What If which looks at some of the turning points in modern Czech history. Rather than providing answers, however, the creators of the new programme say they wanted to provoke viewers to look at some of the historical milestones from a different perspective. In this edition of Czech History, we talk to one of the authors of the new show, Eva Vojtová. Tue, 20 Mar 2012 17:07:33 +0100 urn:uuid:bf4d8877-96bd-50ae-864f-0aacacc49d83 http://radio.cz/en/article/146319 Prague City Museum recently put on display a part of the biggest silver treasure ever found in the country. Visitors are able to admire just a fraction of the vast depot of nearly half a ton of silver jewelry, tableware, goblets, coins as well as raw silver, which was hidden in a Prague building some time after the end of WWII. The museum is now trying to find out who hid such a huge treasure, only discovered by accident roughly three years ago. Tue, 13 Mar 2012 15:31:29 +0100 urn:uuid:80d087b6-ddf8-5878-a9ee-f60405ead9bf http://radio.cz/en/article/146141 This year marks the 110th anniversary of the death of Dr Emil Holub, perhaps the best-known Czech explorer, who made vast contributions to public understanding of Africa in the latter half of the 19th century. Tue, 06 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0100 urn:uuid:93a5bad8-754f-5d77-8905-80604881a25c http://radio.cz/en/article/145943 This February marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of one of the Czech Republic’s greatest animators, puppeteers and illustrators, Jiří Trnka. This milestone is being marked in the Czech Republic by the country’s National Film Archive; its Prague-based Ponrepo cinema screening a collection of Trnka’s films and documentaries about the artist until March 16th. Czech Centres around the globe – which exist to promote the Czech Republic - are also marking the anniversary heralding an exhibition called “Jiří Trnka: In the Service of the Imagination” which kicked off in Munich and also runs until March. Tue, 28 Feb 2012 14:34:59 +0100 urn:uuid:0505461f-1bd3-5d61-a008-c718570e6707 http://radio.cz/en/article/145764 It can easily be called one of the most important documents in the history of modern science. Gregor Mendel’s priceless manuscript on the inheritance of plant traits, composed in Brno in 1865, opened the door to the field of genetics. This month, after many years of changing hands and much negotiation, it was brought home. Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:18:02 +0100 urn:uuid:71350566-46bd-5a9c-9087-0ed06dcce947 http://radio.cz/en/article/145592 Hugo Haas was one of the stars of Czechoslovak cinema's golden age of the 1930s. This versatile actor and director was hugely popular in the First Republic and he appeared in a number of classic films from that era. Despite his success, however, Haas's life and career - like that of so many other Czechs who lived during this period - was blighted by the tide of history that swept through Czechoslovakia in the 20th century. Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:10:17 +0100 urn:uuid:31e31a37-733e-507b-9a75-972e21180b36 http://radio.cz/en/article/145415 Petr Novák's unmistakeable, delicate tenor voice is synonymous with Czechoslovak society of the late 1960s. This talented musician shot to fame in this country at the time of the Prague Spring, when his gentle love songs influenced by Western pop groups like The Beatles were hugely popular among young Czechs. His success during this era, however, proved to be short-lived and his career subsequently stagnated under the influence of communist repression and his own problems with alcohol. Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:45:36 +0100 urn:uuid:aa598c08-c4e2-5173-bfe5-0f2b09364d65