Radio Prague International - latest articles

Prague’s Museum of Decorative Arts possesses one of the oldest and largest poster collections in Europe. Nearly 300 of them are now on display as part of the exhibition The Language of the Poster 1890 – 1938, which focuses on the golden era of poster art and advertising.

Sixteen-year-old violinist Roman Červinka from České Budějovice won the most recent season of the popular classical music reality TV competition Virtuosos V4+. He beat thousands of other applicants to take the prize.

Cigarette butts, one of the most hated types of street debris, could actually be useful. A team of scientists from the Tomáš Baťa University in Zlín, say that they have developed a method of using cigarette butts to catch hormones in wastewater.

The Czech government’s humanitarian aid program MEDEVAC provides medical assistance to people in need the world over. In war-torn Ukraine it is literally helping to save lives.

A recent video by a pair of Prague theatre students has caught the attention of people on social media and sparked a debate about ‘trdelník’ – the sweet chimney or funnel cake which turns on a spit and has become ubiquitous in Prague’s city centre over the past couple of decades. Many of the vendors selling the cinnamon-dusted confection have signs alluding to the long rich history of trdelník as an old Czech tradition – a tradition which, as the video points out in an amusing way, is totally made-up.

Since the first round of the presidential elections, many Czech liberals have expressed indignation at the language of candidate Andrej Babiš, with the billionaire ANO leader attempting to depict opponent Petr Pavel, a former head of the army, as a “warmonger”. But given that the bookies make Mr. Pavel favourite, isn’t there a certain logic to Mr. Babiš’s approach? And if it works, mightn’t he then rein in the rhetoric and become a temperate head of state? I discuss those questions – and much more – with commentator Jiří Přibáň, a law professor at Cardiff University.

Located on Czechia’s western border with Germany, Chateau Čečovice is one of the many estates that were almost destroyed during Europe’s tumultuous 20th century. But a committed group of enthusiasts is doing its best to keep the architecturally diverse building standing.

The Bamberg Symphony, led by Czech conductor Jakub Hrůša, has received the International Classical Music Award for best symphonic music for their 2022 CD featuring compositions by Austrians Hans Rott, Gustav Mahler and Anton Bruckner. The album has already collected the German Record Critics’ Award.

Czechs are the world’s most prolific beer drinkers and their various brews are highly sought after in markets across the globe. But a joint study conducted by universities in the UK, US and China suggests that the production of “liquid bread”, as the Czechs call their favourite drink, may in fact be under threat.

The Bohnice "fools’ graveyard" is one of the darkest and most haunting places in Czechia, with a charged atmosphere heightened by the rumours associated with it. We look at some of the unlikely events that took place there.