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A conservation project aiming to restore some 2,000 hectares of degraded moors and wetlands is currently underway in the Šumava mountains in southern Bohemia. The five-year project, called Life for Mires, is also taking place on the German side of the mountains, in the Bavarian Forest National Park.

Most Czech high schools and universities are set to open in September, under strict hygienic rules due to fear of an uptick in coronavirus cases. But a number of such students are already in class – taking part the annual Summer Journalism School in Havlíčkův Brod, now in its sixteenth year – and even reporting on the pandemic.

Prague café owner and ‘cultural activist’ Ondřej Kobza is the brains behind a bevy of cultural projects that have sprung up in recent years. He began by installing pianos outdoors, encouraging passers-by to tickle the ivories. He then fashioned old school desks into public chess tables and placed “poetry jukeboxes” on squares that literally pipe out verses, voiced by the likes of Jaroslav Seifert. While his latest project – opening the rooftop terraces of the Lucerna Palace built by Václav Havel’s grandfather a century ago – is making headlines, Ondřej Kobza has also been managing an ancient castle well off the beaten track.

The Czech Health Ministry has announced that the wearing of face masks will become compulsory in most enclosed spaces, as well as in public transport and education facilities from September 1. The announcement comes ahead of the reopening of schools in the country, which is to be guided by a special Education Ministry manual on coronavirus safety measures.

Czech long-distance hiker Jakub Čech planned to accomplish the so-called Triple Crown of Hiking this year. Having already completed the Pacific Crest Trail and the Continental Divide, he was supposed to leave for the US in March to hike the Appalachian Trail. However, the coronavirus outbreak forced him to change plans – and instead he set off on a journey all the way around the Czech Republic’s borders.

Tuesday marks the 30th anniversary of a legendary Rolling Stones concert at Prague’s Strahov Stadium, the first major rock concert in Czechoslovakia following the fall of communism. More than a 100,000 people attended the show, which became a symbol of the country’s new-found freedom.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš did not mince words this weekend in reaction to the ongoing crackdowns in Belarus. Using analogies of both 1968 and 1989, he said the European Union has to encourage Belarusians not to be afraid of carrying out their own “velvet revolution”. Meanwhile the foreign minister said that Czechia could consider acting unilaterally if EU discussions stall.

In a major honour for Czech RAF legend Josef František, the Hawker Hurricane plane in which he met his death near the end of the Battle of Britain was renamed after him in a ceremony in the UK at the weekend. What’s more, one of the few such planes still flying should visit the Czech Republic next year.

Adéla Horáková quit a top job as a lawyer to devote all of her energies to campaigning for same sex marriage with Jsme fér (We Are Fair). The organisation has collected a total of 100,000 signatures in support of marriage equality, but over two years after a bill was submitted to MPs there has been next to no movement on it in the lower house. When we spoke during Prague’s recent Pride week, the wide-ranging conversation took in everything from Horáková’s own experiences of coming out to the possibility of the vilification of the LGBT community seen in other states in the region also spreading to the Czech Republic.

A March of Solidarity with the People of Belarus is planned to take place in Prague on Saturday afternoon, following police brutality against citizens questioning the recent electoral victory of President Alexander Lukashenko. To find out more about the event and its aims, I spoke to the main organiser Max Shchur, who is himself from Belarus.