http://radio.cz/en/article/145426 In this popular feature we take you to different corners of the Czech Republic. en Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:49:20 +0100 Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:49:20 +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://radio.cz/en/article/145426 The functionalist Mánes Exhibition Hall, located on the right bank of the Vltava river between the bridges Jiraskův most and Most Legií, is one of only two buildings in Prague that were expressly designed to house art – the other one being the famous Rudolfinum gallery. Martin Pavala, the chairman of the supervisory board of the Czech Art Foundation, which owns it, explains that the art gallery’s history started in 1930. Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:49:20 +0100 urn:uuid:7291c063-6814-5998-8320-ab699efb1a81 http://radio.cz/en/article/145181 Prague’s leafy central suburb of Karlín may best be known outside of the Czech Republic for the devastating floods that laid ruin to it in 2002, but much of the world has been using the machines and products born of Karlín factories for more than a hundred years and aside from that it is also Prague’s oldest suburb – a point recalled by an exhibition being held this year at the City Museum in Prague that was created by historian Dr. Zdeněk Míka: Sat, 28 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0100 urn:uuid:ba0d232f-b7c4-5451-959f-da6082048bce http://radio.cz/en/article/145075 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. Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:19:39 +0100 urn:uuid:1ec2664b-f109-5f0b-8076-35dbfb85051f http://radio.cz/en/article/144898 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. Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:51:06 +0100 urn:uuid:9546bda9-fb5d-5397-b28c-8ef2dc8acb87 http://radio.cz/en/article/144706 Lovers of Czech applied arts and design will find a veritable treasure trove of interesting items, ranging from glass wares to clocks and metal works, in Prague’s Museum of Decorative Arts. Located right across the street from the well-known Rudolfinum palace, the museum is housed in a stunning Neo-Renaissance building. It was one of the last in Prague to be designed in that style. The architect was Josef Schulz, who also was behind the Czech National Museum. Wed, 11 Jan 2012 14:38:38 +0100 urn:uuid:8de5ca85-c667-5189-8334-0f105692ab6f http://radio.cz/en/article/144540 It is early on a Friday morning, the air is freezing and there is no sign of the sun in the sky. Yet, the creaky old Karosa bus heading towards Krkonoše or Giant Mountains is almost full when I arrive at the bus station. Many people from Prague have taken their day off in order to enjoy some snow. Unlike most of my fellow travellers, I am not heading towards the ski slopes and racing tracks. My destination is the little town of Jilemnice, crouching at the foothills of the Giant Mountains in north Bohemia. Jilemnice was one of the very first skiing centres in the country and it proudly calls itself the Cradle of Czech skiing. Petra Pohůnkova from the local Town Hall has promised to give me a tour through the town. We meet on the central square, right in front of the Town Hall building: Wed, 04 Jan 2012 15:32:19 +0100 urn:uuid:d953b26e-464b-5bd0-a8f3-be0ac5ccc076 http://radio.cz/en/article/144383 The Lucerna Palace, long considered a beacon of Czech national pride has been celebrating its centenary this year without too much of the fanfare usually reserved for such occasions. Situated off Wenceslas Square in the very heart of Prague, and established by civil engineer, designer and builder Václav M. Havel in 1907, it was the first multi-purpose arcade of its kind ever to be built in this country. Wed, 28 Dec 2011 16:21:51 +0100 urn:uuid:ec8446b8-ba6d-5856-9972-5a963b50341c http://radio.cz/en/article/144097 The North Bohemian town of Litoměřice has long enjoyed the reputation of being one of the Czech Republic's most beautiful towns. Founded roughly 1,000 years ago, Litoměřice lies in one of the Czech Republic's hilliest ranges on the confluence of the Elbe and Ohře Rivers. The town's beginnings was originally a Slavonic fort overseeing a number of small municipalities, later replaced by a castle and emerging town in the 11th century. Sat, 17 Dec 2011 02:01:00 +0100 urn:uuid:b010b05c-dda0-5467-8ef1-1c9237a48589 http://radio.cz/en/article/144025 In today’s Spotlight we travel to South Moravia, to the town of Strážnice, the heart of the ethnographic region of Slovácko. The town is a traditional centre of regional ethnographic festivities. Today we take you to the Strážnice open-air folk museum featuring local village architecture and showing glimpses of life in the past centuries. Wed, 14 Dec 2011 15:44:05 +0100 urn:uuid:9f022375-4914-5234-bd43-1eeb9647fb58 http://radio.cz/en/article/143841 Two weeks ago in Spotlight we travelled to the centre of Ostrava, the capital of the Moravian-Silesian region, where a new industrial heritage site is going to open next year. Today we will stay in the area to visit Landek Park, the largest museum of mining in the Czech Republic. Wed, 07 Dec 2011 14:46:10 +0100 urn:uuid:fa9cbd3c-9ca5-5ba6-90ea-d485f9ea9a4b http://radio.cz/en/article/143668 Hrabal’s book "I served the King of England" makes working in a restaurant sound very dramatic, and very glamorous. But the novel also suggests that such drama and glamour belong to a time now long gone. To find out whether this was true, I visited two of Prague’s most famous restaurants, to talk to their owners about their work from day-to-day. Wed, 30 Nov 2011 16:12:12 +0100 urn:uuid:13729ca7-93a6-55b5-9e20-ff3f511632ed http://radio.cz/en/article/143480 In today’s Spotlight we travel to the city of Ostrava, the capital of the Moravian-Silesian region and more precisely to the city’s industrial centre Vítkovice. Its unusual skyline does not feature skyscrapers and church towers but rather the tall and imposing structures of extinct blast furnaces. Instead of demolishing them, Ostrava has decided to preserve its unique industrial heritage and the whole complex is now being revitalized and turned into a multipurpose cultural facility. Wed, 23 Nov 2011 16:28:40 +0100 urn:uuid:a005e617-afab-5d55-8d78-8eab8bc9ef40 http://radio.cz/en/article/143397 It is a very crisp autumn day here in South Bohemia. And I’m slowly trundling towards Slavonice, which is in the very far south of this country, right on the Austrian border. I’m in a modern-looking, but as you can probably hear, rather shuddery sort of train. And I’m heading towards this stunningly pretty Czech town, which I hear, in recent years, has become something of an artists’ colony. So, I’m off to find out more about that in this week’s Spotlight. Sat, 19 Nov 2011 19:20:28 +0100 urn:uuid:4ed0a9ef-436e-5437-b440-ce82dbaf65f4 http://radio.cz/en/article/143311 In today’s Spotlight we don’t have to travel too far. Just a forty-five-minute tram ride uphill from the centre of Prague takes us to one of the largest parks in the city. Not long ago, its greenery was untended and the historic building in the middle of it was inhabited by a commune of squatters. But after a recent facelift, Ladronka, as the park is called, now offers something for everybody. Wed, 16 Nov 2011 13:33:30 +0100 urn:uuid:73dfccc3-1514-5c25-8fbe-9f2fe9655517 http://radio.cz/en/article/143135 South Moravia is well-known for its wine, which has been produced there at least since thirsty Roman soldiers far from home began doing so in the 2nd century. Move forward a thousand years or so, to the 13th century, and wine trading had become one of the most profitable businesses in the region. Those are the days that our destination for today stretches back to. Wed, 09 Nov 2011 16:05:02 +0100 urn:uuid:2eeac2e9-f0dd-5bc1-b155-a18b25c8ebb0 http://radio.cz/en/article/142963 “What’s a ‘chuchle’” was my first question, a reasonable question I think, when I first learned I would be going to see a ‘big’ one, many years ago. In the end it seems, the name of the premier Czech horse racing flat-track, Velká Chuchle, doesn’t have any literal meaning, but it is a synonym for a lovely Sunday afternoon. Wed, 02 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0100 urn:uuid:131ce652-3d8d-53f4-a7dc-2ef4ac5dc606 http://radio.cz/en/article/142780 Cemeteries across the country will soon fill with flowers and burning candles when on All Saints Day people visit the graves of their loved ones. But in Prague, there is one burial ground where few visitors are expected. The Malá Strana cemetery was only in use for about a century, and it now stands out as a unique monument in the middle of the dynamically developing district of Smíchov. A group of local enthusiasts have now got together to save this unique part of the city’s heritage. Wed, 26 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0200 urn:uuid:fa9eab70-4cf3-5197-9b97-9f78e0dbf783 http://radio.cz/en/article/142662 Surrounded by railway sidings and industrial estates, it's easy to get the impression that Kolín is simply a town travellers pass through on the way from the Czech capital to the nearby tourist-friendly Kutná Hora. Nevertheless, anyone who gets off the train in Kolín and takes the trouble to walk the short distance past the factories and business parks to the city centre will find that it is a place worth visiting. Sat, 22 Oct 2011 02:01:00 +0200 urn:uuid:b57b4dee-5982-52fc-8400-9fe6139c793a http://radio.cz/en/article/142594 You are not very likely to wander into Svitavy by chance. Located on both the major road and railway line connecting Moravia and eastern Bohemia, for most people Svitavy is just a name on their itinerary. But if you do come and take a closer look, you’ll find a little town proud of its past and working for a better future. Once an important town for Moravia’s textile industry, re-populated after the expulsion of Svitavy’s German speaking inhabitants, it only recently showed its pride in perhaps its most famous native personality – Oskar Schindler. Wed, 19 Oct 2011 15:36:19 +0200 urn:uuid:4e6ddf86-3c3a-5f50-b183-ba09ccc0aaf8 http://radio.cz/en/article/142399 The imposing Teplá abbey complex is sited around a dozen miles from the spa town of Mariánské Lázně, in western Bohemia. Its story is one of an enterprising religious community that was the main force in developing the whole region, its destruction under Nazism and then Communism and its tentative comeback today on the back of tourist income. Wed, 12 Oct 2011 13:23:00 +0200 urn:uuid:d2b9e0b0-72e0-5f98-ac33-ad1a73349e4d