Radio Prague International - latest articles

Journalists from Radio Prague International and Radio Slovakia International get together to talk about the peaceful break-up of Czechoslovakia thirty years ago and how it has affected people-to-people relations.

It weighs just two kilograms and can be packed for travel, but it sounds just like the wooden original. The 3D printed cellos made by the Přerov-based company Sensio.cz are being exported across the world and the business has plans to expand its instrument range further.

Stigma around mental health issues and seeking professional help to deal with them has traditionally been high in Czechia. But a survey suggests attitudes may be changing, even among the older generation.

In response to the Taliban‘s crackdown on women’s rights in Afghanistan, several international aid organisations, including the Czech NGO People in Need, have suspended their programmes in the country.

Millions of people round the world have got used to seeing the New Year in with a grandiose fireworks display. Now Czech scientists from the Academy of Sciences are warning about the damage that the harmful chemicals from fireworks can do to our health.

Christmas is supposed to be a time of joy, when families get together to eat, drink, and be merry. But for seriously ill children who have to spend the festive season in hospital, it may be neither a time of joy nor one they can spend with their families. That’s where the organization Puppets in Hospitals comes in.

Ivo Rolčík has been monitoring the weather in the Šumava Mountains since his childhood. The frost hunter and amateur meteorologist cooperates with the Czech Hydro-Meteorological Institute and manages six weather stations in Volary and its surroundings.

Olena Huseinova is a poet and radio journalist from Kyiv. When she visited Czechia recently to present the work of Ukrainian poets, we invited her to Radio Prague’s studio to talk about her life in the midst of war and the importance of art in coming to terms with suffering and loss.

The highlight of the Christmas celebrations for Czechs is Christmas Eve, when families and friends gather for the traditional Christmas dinner of fried carp and potato salad, listen to Jakub Jan Ryba’s Christmas mass and open their presents. Vit Pohanka reports on the food and customs linked to the Czech Christmas, traditions that are observed not only in this country but by thousands of people with Czech roots abroad.

Virtually every Czech household will be eating some form of potato salad as part of their Christmas Eve dinner – but everyone seems to have their own recipe and surprisingly the list of ingredients can spark heated debate between the “traditionalist” and “liberal” camps. To find out what most Czechs put into their potato salad, and whether there are any significant regional differences, a team of data journalists at Czech Radio polled a number of listeners and did a statistical analysis on the results.