Radio Prague International - latest articles

Rare jewels, unexplained burial sites and divine thrones are among the objects uncovered during a four-year-long dig near the Moravian city of Přerov. Archaeologists found new settlements from a wide range of pre-historic periods, including the Neolithic and early Bronze Age.

The Ústí nad Labem Region in northwest Czechia is best known for coalmining and heavy industry. It is also home to Teplice, the second-largest Czech spa town after Karlovy Vary. Teplice’s storied spas specialize in the treatment of muscles, joints, and nerves. And, since this year, a programme aimed at helping people recover from Covid-19 is also on offer.

It has been a week to forget for Czech football clubs in Europe. Domestic champions Slavia Prague and Sparta Prague were both knocked out in qualifying for the lucrative Champions League, while Jablonec failed to make the Europe League group stage and Viktoria Plzeň narrowly avoided defeat in qualifiers for the third-tier Conference League. I spoke to football journalist Karel Häring.

More than a hundred vintage cars embarked from the centre of Prague on early Thursday morning on a three-day journey to the Slovak capital Bratislava and back. The “Thousand Miles of Czechoslovakia” tour, which dates back to 1933, is organised by the Veteran Car Club in Prague and covers some 1,300 kilometres.

For the first time in history, the Czech Republic is among the host countries of the World Mountain Running Association’s “World Cup” race. This weekend, endurance athletes from across the globe will attempt to run half-marathons in the Krkonoše Mountains – the highest range in the country.

As of this week, Czech paediatricians can begin ordering anti-coronavirus vaccines for their patients over the age of 12, directly in their surgeries. But many doctors are hesitating to place even the minimum order of 50 vaccines, due to a lack of demand.

Monika Vintrlíková is the Honorary Consul of the Czech Republic in Atlanta, where her family moved a decade ago to open a subsidiary of their manufacturing business. Part of that honorary position entails working to develop trade, economic and cultural ties – her favourite aspect of it – between Georgia and her homeland. Working to bring the Czech expat and Czech-American communities together and celebrating the folklore and heritage of her own region “all came together” in the form of the foundation Moravian Glory (Moravská krása).

The 55th edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival gets underway in just over a week, with veteran star Michael Caine set to receive a lifetime achievement award at the gala opening. The region’s biggest cinema extravaganza will also welcome megastar Johnny Depp, organisers have just announced. I asked artistic director Karel Och what it means for Karlovy Vary to draw such big names, especially as the festival is back after a two-year gap.

The global climate is being changed in unprecedented and often irreversible ways by human activity, according to a major new United Nations report. But how are the changes affecting the Czech Republic and what lies ahead? According to leading Czech ecologists, effects could include an end to spruce forests and major floods at least once a decade.

Barrier-free tourist trails, construction of lookout towers and online campaigns – these are just some of the projects that will receive state subsidies for promoting tourism, which should increase significantly this year. The Ministry of Regional Development alone is to spend over one billion crowns to help the struggling sector.