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A new multimedia exhibition has opened up this week at the Riding School of Prague Castle. Covering over 2,000 square metres of space, Alphonse Mucha eMotion combines digitised and 3D animated versions of Czech Art Nuveau master Alfons Mucha’s most famous works, such as the Slav Epic, with the classical music of another famous contemporary - Antonín Dvořák. I spoke to the producer of the exhibition, Richard Fuxa, whose foundation owns the most complete collection of the artist’s posters.

A new museum dedicated to Alice Masaryk, the daughter of the first Czechoslovak president Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk and the co-founder of the Czechoslovak branch of the Red Cross, has opened in Lány in Central Bohemia. The institution is located near the presidential retreat in a building commissioned by Alice Masaryk for the local branch of the Red Cross.

Julia Sherwood, an award-winning translator and literary organiser, was born in Bratislava, but spent most of her life in the UK, where she settled after emigrating from Czechoslovakia in 1978. Today, she lives in London with her husband, linguist and translator Peter Sherwood, with whom she translates mainly Slovak but also Czech authors, including Alena Mornštajnová and Radka Denemarková. Julia Sherwood spent the last weeks in Prague on a residency organised by the Czech Literary Centre. I caught up with her just before her return to London to discuss her work and I started by asking her what she was working on during her month-long stay in the Czech capital.

President Zeman’s second term in office will expire in March of next year and Czechs are already mulling who they will support as their next head of state in elections scheduled for January 13. I spoke to political analyst Jiří Pehe about the outlooks and whether the turbulent times we are living in will influence their choice.

The start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine back in late February prompted an outpouring of support from the Czech population, with many donating money, goods, or even opening up their homes to refugees. But few went to the lengths of Pavel Oskin, a landscape photographer originally from Belarus, who has been based in Prague since 2008. He took an empty building slated for demolition and, with the help of a group of volunteers, transformed it into fully-furnished accommodation for 65 refugees from some of the most war-damaged areas of Ukraine. But the stream of donations and funds that was pouring in at the beginning has dried up as the novelty of the war has worn off.

Numerous events have been taking place in the Czech Republic and Brussels to mark the start of the Czech EU presidency. One of them is an exhibition of designer wine glasses celebrating the 27-member states, which is now on display at the Jablonec Museum of Glass and Jewelry.

After rising to become the third biggest party in the Czech lower house, the Mayors and Independents are now on the ropes. A prominent member in Prague is in custody on corruption charges over a case that has also led to the resignation of the Mayors’ education minister. Can the party recover from this scandal? I spoke to political scientist Miloš Gregor of Masaryk University.

As the Czech Republic’s six month EU presidency fast approaches, we discussed the country’s list of priorities for the chairmanship of the European Council with Czech Radio’s EU Affairs analyst and former Brussels correspondent Filip Nerad, and Eastern Partnership and Russia expert Pavel Havlíček from the Association for International Affairs.

Exactly 80 years ago, Nazi forces annihilated the village of Ležáky. A smaller settlement than Lidice, Ležáky have always been in the shadow of the first Bohemian settlement that fell victim to Nazi wrath following the successful killing of acting governor Reinhard Heydrich. But its tragic story is more closely intertwined with the Nazi hunt for the covert Czechoslovak troops that made Operation Anthropoid possible.

Departure of Occupying Forces Day is having its debut this year. June 25 is being officially recognized as a ‘significant day’ in the Czech calendar for the first time this Saturday, marking the anniversary of the signing of the protocol that expelled Soviet troops from the territory of the former Czechoslovakia in 1991.