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This Wednesday will see the 32nd anniversary of the start of the Velvet Revolution that ended totalitarian communist rule in Czechoslovakia. To mark the occasion, several events are taking place in Prague and in the wider Czech Republic. Unlike last year, they will be taking place outdoors, despite the worsening of the epidemiological situation. Here is a rundown of what’s in store.

History remembers Gustáv Husák, the last communist president of Czechoslovakia, as the face of a spineless regime that ruled during the Normalisation era. He had risen to power in the wake of the Soviet-led invasion that crushed the Prague Spring – a reform movement that Husák had supported. And while a political prisoner himself in the 1950s, he went on to overse the persecution of opposition activists in the 1970s and ‘80s. Ahead of the 30th anniversary of his death, we reflect upon Husák’s remarkable life.

A bust of Václav Havel by sculptor Marie Šeborová can be found in the Irish parliament, at Columbia University and a number of other places. The latest in the series will be unveiled on Wednesday – the anniversary of the start of the Velvet Revolution – at Prague’s Café Slavia, one of the late dissident-turned-president’s old haunts. The person behind the series of bronze busts is Bill Shipsey of Art for Amnesty.

A team of Czech scientists has developed a new microscopic method that made it possible to look inside the atom for the first time ever. The new method was tested on the theory of so-called “sigma holes” - asymmetric electron density distributions on single atoms of halogen elements. To find out more about how the discovery works and what it could lead to I spoke to one of the scientists that took part in the project - Dr Pavel Jelínek from the Institute of Physics at the Czech Academy of Sciences.

The incoming Czech government headed by Petr Fiala of the Civic Democrats has pledged to be more pro-Western than its immediate predecessor. But will it really follow a Havel-like, human rights agenda? And what will its installation mean for the Visegrad Four? I discussed these issues with Zdeněk Beránek, director of the think tank Europeum.

Rachael Smith is a young, comic artist from the UK, who has just undertaken a three-week residency programme in Prague, organised by the Czech Literary Centre in cooperation with the International Lakes Comic Art Festival. During her stay she recorded her life in the Czech capital through short comic strips, which she immediately shared with her fans online. I met with Racheal on the last day of her residency to discuss her work and her impressions from the Czech Republic, but I started by asking what brought her here in the first place:

Among the many highlights of the ongoing Czech Space Week is a model of “New Prague”, an imaginary space colony on the Moon accompanied by a lunar rover designed by architect Tomáš Rousek. The event brings the latest in space technology to scientists, business leaders and the wider public.

Archaeologists from the Rakovník Museum have announced a rare discovery from the Migration Period —­  a gold ring and clasp decorated with Czech garnets and almandines, which probably come  from India or Sri Lanka. According to experts, the roughly 1500-year-old find is one of the most unique of its kind in Europe.

The tiny Czech village of Rozvadov is a stone’s throw from the border with Germany. Before the fall of communism, however, the Bavarian town of Waidhaus, a hundred metres or so west along the D5 motorway, was a world apart. Today, the pre-war customhouse at the Rozvadov/Waidhaus border crossing is home to the Iron Curtain Museum. Its co-founder, Václav Vítovec, gave us a guided tour, highlighting some of the most unique Cold War-era artefacts packed into the once notorious space.

As Covid numbers shoot up, the Czech government is making an all-out effort to convince more people to get vaccinated against the infection. A brutally frank campaign in the media showing people close to death and those who have succumbed to the infection has sparked controversy among media experts and the public alike. However, doctors say the urgency of the situation requires drastic action.