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The Czech furniture brand TON is synonymous for its manually bent wood furniture, created with the help of a technology that has been in continuous use for more than 160 years. The company, widely considered to be the founders of modern furniture trade, became known worldwide for its iconic bentwood chair No. 14, which remains popular to this day.

Czechia is facing the “worst security threat” in its modern history and “Russia is the Third Reich in colour”. Strong words of warning could be heard on Monday from the various heads of Czech intelligence who gathered at a special conference organised by the head of the Committee on Security of the Chamber of Deputies.

The Václav Havel Human Rights Prize was awarded on Monday to Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian dissident who is currently in jail for speaking out against Putin’s war in Ukraine. Michael Žantovský is head of the Václav Havel Library, one of the founders of the award, and sits on the panel that chooses the laureate. I spoke to him after the winner was announced and asked how he felt about the awarding of the prize to the Russian dissident.

All three winners of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize are people or organisations from the former Soviet Union: the imprisoned Belarusian human rights activist Ales Bialiatski, the Russian human rights organization Memorial, and the Ukrainian Centre for Civil Liberties. Memorial was banned in Russia last year for allegedly operating as a foreign agent, and the Czech branch of the organisation has been doing its best to support them since then.

With prices rising fast – and a vocal minority against the country’s support for Ukraine – some are concerned that tensions in Czech society could intensify this winter. A large “Czech Republic first” demonstration on Prague’s Wenceslas Square early last month fanned those fears, though a subsequent protest drew smaller numbers to the streets. What can we expect in this regard in the coming months? That’s just one of the questions I put to Charles University extremism expert Jan Charvát when we spoke last week.

The Czech minister of defence says the country’s army is stepping up the defence of strategic infrastructure due to the threat of Russian sabotage. Jana Černochová says Moscow is trying to weaken the arms industries in states that are helping Ukraine.

Hynek Martinec, a Czech artist originally from Broumov in northeastern Bohemia, won the BP Young Artist award at London’s National Portrait Gallery in 2007 for his hyper-realistic portrait of his partner, Zuzana, beating 1,869 other contenders. He is currently exhibiting a new portrait of his daughter titled What Are You Most Afraid Of? as part of the exhibition ABSURD at the OHSH Projects gallery in central London.

The archive of the world-famous writer Milan Kundera is currently in the process of being transported to his home city of Brno, where the collected works are being catalogued and digitised by the staff at the Moravian Library. The archive should open to visitors by February 2023.

A small farmer in the Opava region in the north-east of Czechia made a unique discovery while working in a field, unearthing a golden belt dating back to the Bronze Age. The ornamented piece, which is exceptionally well-preserved, should go on display at the Bruntál museum at the end of next year.

More than 40 leaders gathered in Prague on Thursday afternoon for the first ever summit of the European Political Community. It is a new grouping set up by France that also includes many states that are not EU members. At the summit I discussed its aims with Czech deputy foreign minister for Europe, Jaroslav Kurfürst.