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With the reopening of hotels, restaurants, and wellness facilities, the Czech Republic this week also opened the door to tourists from 13 states. The sole condition is that they have received at least one dose of a Covid vaccine.

A notebook that belonged to the Czech-born musician and teacher Antonín Rejcha, who spent most of his life in Paris, was recently discovered lying by some trashcans in the French capital. The notebook and other documents, which are more than 200 years old, were found by a Parisian woman, who donated them to the French National Library.

After concluding an investigation into the case publicly known as the Stork’s Nest affair, Czech police have proposed indicting Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and his former advisor Jana Mayerová. The decision whether to press charges will be decided by a public prosecutor who already dismissed the case two years ago.

Monday marks the 300th anniversary of the beatification of St. John of Nepomuk, a court priest who died a martyr’s death after invoking the wrath of King Wenceslas IV. To mark the occasion, Radio Prague International paid a visit to the birthplace of the famous Czech Saint, a small town of Nepomuk in south-west Bohemia.

Czech ice hockey may not be the titan it was twenty years ago, but in recent years young players have increasingly been able to profit from new training technologies. These incorporate virtual reality simulators, cameras and isolated skating boards to perfect individual technique.

Monday, May 31 has brought another wave of reopenings, a fortnight earlier than planned. As of today pubs, clubs and restaurants can open their indoor spaces to visitors and people can once again visit swimming pools, saunas, spas and wellness facilities.

On a hill overlooking the sleepy industrial town of Žďár nad Sázavou stands one of the most beautiful churches in Czechia, the Church of St. John of Nepomuk on Zelená hora. Its architecture is a unique blend of Gothic and Baroque styles and was built in the 18th century to honour the most popular Czech saint. The church, which is the work of one of the best architects of the Baroque era, had to go through over two centuries of neglect before being recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and restored to its former glory.

In the course of the next year, European citizens will have the opportunity to bring in their own ideas on EU reform and policy as part of the Conference on the Future of Europe (CFE). Largely seen as the brainchild of France and Germany, its inaugural Conference Plenary will take place on 19 June 2021, in Strasbourg. Citizens of all member states can take part in the conference on the local and state levels as well. In order to find out more about the conference and its possible impact on the EU, I spoke to analyst Vendula Karásková from the think-tank Association for International Affairs.

“Amazonka”, a new exhibition at Prague’s Karolinum, tells the story of how Czech scientists made significant breakthroughs in tracing the sources of the Amazon River – for which expedition leader Bohumír Janský of Charles University received Peru’s highest honour.

The National Library of Israel has published a long-lost collection of archival materials by Franz Kafka. They include, among other things, the Prague-born, German-speaking writer’s personal diary and a notebook in which he practised Hebrew. Israel received the missing documents in August 2019, after years of searching and court battles over Kafka’s legacy.