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As of mid-May, travel across the borders will be easier for Czechs who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19. The government has already agreed to relax the existing measures with several European countries.

More than 70 years after the end of World War Two, new information is still coming out about the brave efforts that allied parachutists played in the Nazi occupied Czech lands. In the newly published book Foursquare: The Last Parachutist, George Bearfield explores the development and deployment of these special forces, with central focus dedicated to his grandfather, who was himself sent on a mission to Czechoslovakia in the final stages of the war.

Locations of Hussite battles, parliamentary election results, but also maps of lookout towers or Word War I prisons – all this and much more can be found in a unique online atlas launched by the Czech Academy of Sciences earlier this month. The website, called Czech Historical Atlas, was put together by history and cartography experts.

Among the ceremonies marking the 76th anniversary of the Prague Uprising on Wednesday, May 5, was the unveiling of a commemorative plaque to two British servicemen who participated in the uprising and whose daring deed saved many lives. The ceremony took place at a school building on Na Smetance street in Prague’s Vinohrady district, where the two British soldiers devised a ploy that brought about the surrender of a German unit which posed a grave danger to the resistance fighters at the Czechoslovak Radio building.

May 5 marks the 76 anniversary since the beginning of the Battle for Czech Radio which is traditionally seen as the start of the Prague Uprising that led to the city being liberated from German control after four days of hard fighting in the closing phase of World War Two in Europe.

Czech poetry has been enjoying something of a renaissance in the new millennium. Following a decline in the 1990s, in the past two decades poetry has been shaped by lively literary activity, revolving around literary cafés, festivals and public poetry readings.

The scandal surrounding the 2014 munitions depot blasts which the Czech government has blamed on Russian agents has taken a new twist. The news site Seznam has accused Deputy Prime Minister Jan Hamáček of having planned to hush up Russia’s involvement in the blasts in return for one million Sputnik V vaccines and the right to host a US-Russian summit on Czech soil.

A newly released Eurobarometer survey places the Czech Republic at the bottom of the EU ladder when it comes to trust in government. Faith in the country’s democratic system is also down. Meanwhile, trust in the EU has risen slightly, with most Czechs believing that the union should prioritise rapid access to safe and effective vaccines.

Two leading Czech cultural institutions, the National Museum and the National Gallery, opened their doors to the public on Tuesday. Among the major attractions is the ongoing exhibition Kings of the Sun at the National Museum’s historical building on Wenceslas Square and a retrospective of Toyen’s art in Prague’s Waldstein Riding School.

As of Monday, life in the Czech Republic is returning to a relative degree of normalcy. A relaxation of government anti-coronavirus restrictions has seen the return of many students to the classroom, and the reopening of some services, cultural and tourist venues. But conditions vary from region to region – depending on the respective rate of infection.