http://www.radio.cz/en/current/spotlight In this popular feature we take you to different corners of the Czech Republic. en Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:39:17 +0100 Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:39:17 +0100 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Radio Prague CMS 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Radio Broadcasting cr@radio.cz (Cesky Rozhlas) webmaster@radio.cz (CRo Webmaster) http://www.radio.cz/en/article/125821 For centuries, the northern Bohemian town of Žatec has been the centre of hops growing in the country. Known as the home of hops and beer, the town is now trying to cope with a decline in its traditional industry. It recently launched a multi-million euro tourism project called Temple of Hops and Beer – but it is also slowly coming to terms with recent history that saw the town’s original German population replaced by Czechs in the aftermath of WWII. Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:39:16 +0100 urn:uuid:6376adba-e8dc-5503-a393-b98ddfdf1f95 http://www.radio.cz/en/article/125374 A visit to Týn nad Vltavou offers much of what you would expect of a small South Bohemian town. The winding streets are full of locals in the morning, each one greeting the other, the buildings, mostly farmsteads, have a kind of rural hominess that whips up the nostalgia in you even if you’ve never been there before, the woods are full of aged artefacts - bridges and crosses in the middle of nowhere, say – and in the absence of any bustle you get the feeling that the church bell rings almost constantly. Wed, 24 Feb 2010 17:20:19 +0100 urn:uuid:5f619b20-8507-518c-ae7c-21cdbcb0720a http://www.radio.cz/en/article/124901 The Czech Republic’s first and only science centre has recently celebrated its first birthday. Techmania, based in the western industrial city of Plzeň, has already demonstrated its pulling power based on the formula of learning while having fun. And it has much bigger ambitions. Wed, 10 Feb 2010 14:05:46 +0100 urn:uuid:0c2aef11-cbce-57ec-92a7-5c777d7c771e http://www.radio.cz/en/article/124455 No visit to Prague is complete without paying homage to one of the most important buildings in the country in terms of history, symbolism and function: the National Theatre, a physical manifestation of Czech national pride. Wed, 27 Jan 2010 15:12:26 +0100 urn:uuid:763ff6ad-987f-56db-99f3-26f29720e1eb http://www.radio.cz/en/article/123228 Every year the start of Advent in late November sees the opening of traditional Christmas markets in the Czech capital, among the most popular the market on the city’s historic Old Town Square. Surrounded by famous medieval architecture, red-roofed stands, decorated with sprigs of evergreen, sell everything from hand-painted baubles to traditional nativity scenes. Open for more than a month, the market features daily programmes such as children’s workshops and concerts in the run-up to Christmas. It also offers a variety of refreshments - a draw not only for Czechs but also of course for visiting tourists. Wed, 16 Dec 2009 14:40:01 +0100 urn:uuid:f82717be-f1f3-5365-915c-e4fe66ae0418 http://www.radio.cz/en/article/122788 Deep beneath the city of Prague is another city altogether, one that most people are completely unaware of, and that they’ll hopefully never see. It is a system of hundreds upon hundreds of concrete bunkers with their own electricity, water and ventilation systems awaiting the day that you might hear the air-raid sirens wailing. Wed, 02 Dec 2009 16:54:34 +0100 urn:uuid:89d51d6e-15b6-5294-b656-4504a4f44ebf http://www.radio.cz/en/article/121891 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”. Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:37:50 +0100 urn:uuid:4bbe0dd2-012f-5064-9653-c322f5201354 http://www.radio.cz/en/article/121430 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. Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:39:01 +0200 urn:uuid:f308fe92-eac6-52ca-8bd9-a023f7078d85 http://www.radio.cz/en/article/120989 On the one hand, marking off one’s territory is said to be a basic human trait, and on the other, there is nothing that comes so naturally to people as defying a boundary and exploring the other side. The Czech/German/Polish tri-border is an excellent example of this. Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:25:48 +0200 urn:uuid:88ee9d88-882a-5ca4-b69f-866951761115 http://www.radio.cz/en/article/120567 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. Wed, 23 Sep 2009 17:45:11 +0200 urn:uuid:ee8082ab-450f-5002-b8d7-99c90093dbd6