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Artists have handed down the secrets of their work to younger generations for centuries. Sadly, this is not always the case and the unique artwork leaves the scene with its maker. Glass master Zdeněk Drobný, who single-handedly created unique pear-shaped vases in the Moser glass works for 10 years, is about to retire and he has no one to hand down his skills to.

Jiří Menzel’s classic film Larks on a String, about victims of communism forced to work in a huge scrapyard, was completed in 1969. However it was then put on a blacklist by the regime, where it remained until 1990 – when it won the Golden Bear at the Berlinale. This week the movie is going back to Berlin, in a newly restored version. I discussed it with Michal Bregant, head of the National Film Archive.

Ester Ledecká won the Czech Republic’s first gold medal at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games on Tuesday after dominating the Women's snowboard parallel giant slalom. It is the third Olympic gold medal overall for the 26-year-old, who also won in the same category and in the women’s Super-G event at the previous Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang.

Czech composer Tomáš Kympl has marked his third victory in the UK Songwriting Contest. In 2021 he won the Electronic and Dance Music category with his composition Wifi, which is part of his album Kernel Panic, released last June.

The number of Czech women who are alcoholics is growing. According to research conducted by the Addictology Clinic of the General University Hospital in Prague, Czech women drink on average six litres of pure alcohol a year. The ratio of female drinkers has also gone up when compared with men. While there were 10 men for every one female alcoholic during the 1980s, today this ratio is closer to 4:1.

Michal Krecul, today aged 98, was a Gulag survivor, decorated Czechoslovak WWII soldier and later political prisoner who left for the West in 1968. A new study by a Czech historian finds that he also went unpunished for his part in the killing of 10 Jewish civilians in hiding from the Nazis.

The Czech minister of foreign affairs has started a two-day visit to Ukraine intended to show support for the Kyiv government in the face of strong Russian pressure. Jan Lipavský and his Slovak and Austrian counterparts are also travelling to the Donbas region.

The Council of the Czech National Bank (CNB) chose to raise its base interest rate from 3.75 to 4.5 percent on Thursday, to its highest level in twenty years. The move follows several increases over recent months and, according to bankers, is a reaction to rising inflation.

A dispute between the Czech Republic and Poland over a mine on the Polish side of their border has been resolved, with the leaders of the two states signing a deal in Prague. However, locals in North Bohemia say they will lose out.

After analysing dozens of brass objects dating back to antiquity, a team of Czech archaeologists claims that it has proven the existence of extensive diplomatic and trade contact between the Roman Empire and the Germanic tribes that lived in Bohemia during the centuries around the birth of Christ (100 BC to 200 AD). They say that the method could also help shed light on Ancient Rome’s economy. I spoke to one of the leaders of the project, Daniel Bursák from the Archeological Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, and began by asking him why the team chose to focus on brass.