Compact archive March 2007

Thousands of tourists heading to Prague for Easter

Friday 30 March 2007 18:05

Prague expects about 70 thousands of tourists during Easter. It is the first peak of the season after the winter. And because Prague is no huge city, the centre will be probably very crowded.

The number of foreign tourists in Prague usually increases by 30%, compared to an ordinary weekend. Most of the tourists are from the European countries, because Easter is a Christian feast and people in Asia don´t celebrate it. There are especially many tourists from Spain, Italy and Great Britain during Easter.

There are many events in Prague, related to Easter, such as the Easter markets, exhibitions and Masses.

Another short-term increase of tourists in Prague won´t come before Christmas. As for the season, most tourists come to Prague during summer months.

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Method Man at the Hip Hop Allstars in Prague

Friday 30 March 2007 16:15

Another “Hip Hop Allstars” party takes place in the Veletrzni Palace tomorrow. This time with one of the big names of hip hop – Method Man.

Method Man, member of the legendary Wu-Tang Clan, released his first solo album in 1994. The single All I Need from that record gained the Grammy Award a year later. (He says, though, that the award means nothing to him). He released 4 albums with Wu-Tang Clan, one of the most respected hip hop bands.

Apart from the biggest star, there will be many Czech hip hop musicians at the party tomorrow. For example DJ Wich, MC Nironic and SuperCroo.

The party starts at 8 pm, Method Man should be on stage at 0:30 am. A ticket in the advance-sale costs 490,- CZK + fee. The Veletrzni Palace is situated in the Dukelskych hrdinu Street 47, Prague 7.

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Many Prague attractions will open in April

Friday 30 March 2007 14:10

Powder Tower After a pause during the winter, you will now have a chance to see many important historical monuments in Prague. Those, which are accessible the whole year, will have longer opening hours now.

The Powder Tower in the Old Town in Prague will open again and there will be a new exhibition: it will be about the Royal Court, the former residence of Czech kings, that used to stand nearby.

Newly open will be the Lesser Town Bridge Tower with the information centre inside and also the tower of the St. Nicholas Church at the Lesser Town Square.

The sights, that were closed during the winter, include the Ctenice Chateau with its exposition on Habsburgs in Czech lands and with the collection of historical carriages.

A new private museum will open in the Lobkowicz Palace at the Prague Castle. It will display the most valuable private aristocratic collection in Czech lands – the collection of the noble family of Lobkowicz.

The Prague Castle is open the whole year, but the gardens below it will be accessible since April.

Another novelty is the historical tram number 91, which will start driving through Prague streets on 31st March. Also the museum of Prague public transport in Stresovice depot will open now. The Petrin funicular, which was closed for restoration, will start operating again already today.

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Contemporary art in a new gallery in Prague

Friday 30 March 2007 12:00

A new gallery for contemporary Czech and foreign art was opened in Prague. It is called “Galerie 5. patro” (“Gallery 5th floor”) and it is situated in the attic of a house in Myslikova Street in the centre of the city. It is just few steps away from another important gallery, the Manes Exhibition Hall.

The new gallery will organize exhibitions of the contemporary art and photographs, auctions of the works and it will release editions about the authors. It is intended as a space for both the general public and professionals.

The Galerie 5. patro opens with an exhibition called “Trouble Every Day”, presenting three Czech artists, whose common feature is the irony and the cartoon-like character of their works. This selling exhibition will continue till 21st April and the admission is free.

The gallery´s address is Myslikova 9, Prague 1. It is open from Wednesday to Friday between noon and 6 pm, on Saturdays between 11 am and 4 pm.

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Mysterious Prague in photographs

Friday 30 March 2007 10:00

Renowned Austrian photographer Gerhard Trumler introduced his new book about Prague at the Czech Embassy in Vienna yesterday. The book is called “Prag – Golem, Kafka, Svejk” and it was released in German and Czech version. You can see photographs from this book in the Austrian Cultural Forum in Prague these days.

Trumler is an author of numerous books of photographs and he gained many awards around the world. His new book represents Prague as a magical and mysterious, almost demonic city. The photos were made between 1999 and 2006 and they are all in black and white. They are accompanied with quotations from books by Gustav Meyrink, Franz Kafka and Jaroslav Hasek.

The Austrian Cultural Forum in Prague is situated at the Jungmannovo namesti 18 (square), Prague 1. Trumler´s photographs will be exhibited there till the 30th April 2007, from Monday to Friday between 10 am and 4 pm, on Thursdays till 6 pm.

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Indie rock and ska at the Sazavafest in Prague

Thursday 29 March 2007 17:55

Jarni Sazavafest Are you interested in Prague music scene? Would you like to see some good local bands? You have a chance this Saturday. There will be a festival, called “Jarni O2 Sazavafest” in Abaton club in Prague.

There will be two stages in Abaton. The “down stage” will belong to guitar bands, especially the up-and-coming indie rock bands, such as the Prostitutes, Living Room, Sunflower Caravan or Roe-Deer. You can also hear the Austrian band Fortunas Favourites there.

The second “up stage” will feature ska and reggae music. There will be Polemic, Sto zvirat and Prague Ska Conspiracy among the performing bands.

The festival will be accompanied by video projections and various other attractions. It will start at 3 pm and continue to the next day, the last band will play till 3:20 am.

A ticket to Jarni O2 Sazavafest costs 280,- CZK + fee (about 310,-CZK altogether) in the advance-sale (Ticketpro, Ticketstream), or 350,- CZK at the place. Abaton club is situated in the Holesovice district, in the Na Kosince Street 8.

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Czech answer to the US radar base: Yes, but...

Thursday 29 March 2007 16:05

Czech Government officially agreed with negotiations about the possible US radar base in the Czech Republic. The Government nevertheless set an important condition: the radar base should be integrated in the future anti-rocket defense system of NATO.

The negotiations will last approximately to the end of the year. However, it is not sure, if the radar base will be approved by the Czech Parliament. The Civic Democratic Party and the Christian and Democratic Union are in favour of the base, but the Green Party emphasizes the necessity to integrate it to the NATO system. The Communists and most of the Social Democrats are against it, so in the end the vote can be quite close.

The public opinion on this issue is not unified in the Czech Republic. There were already several protests against the radar base.

The Americans can already start some exploratory and advance work in Brdy – the possible location of the base.

Poland, where the USA wants to place the rockets, expressed its approval without any conditions.

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How could the National Library also look

Thursday 29 March 2007 13:45

The winning project for the new National Library, designed by Jan Kaplicky, is regarded as controversial. Now you can see all the projects, that took part in the international competition. There is an exhibition in the Clementinum in Prague, which shows models of the projects, some of them looking really crazy.

The winning Octopus by Kaplicky was not the only extraordinary project in the competition. There is for example a model called “an Ear”, looking like a funnel and probably even impossible to build. Some other projects, on the other hand, were conventional.

Kaplicky´s model will be exhibited in the scale of 1:500 to show, how it will change the Letna area.

The exhibition is called “Oko nad Prahou” (the Eye above Prague) and it will be open from today till 31st May, daily except Mondays, between 10 am and 7 pm. You can get to the Clementinum by underground (station Staromestska, line A) and then on foot.

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Small "flood" in Prague district Vysocany

Thursday 29 March 2007 11:55

People who went to work yesterday morning along Sokolovska Street in Prague could´t believe their eyes. The street and the near park were flooded with water to the height of several tens of centimetres. It was caused by a crack of a water pipeline.

The pipeline cracked at 7 am. The area had to be closed for traffic, the trams were diverted for three hours. The supply of drinking water wasn´t affected, because it was an industrial water pipeline, providing service water from the river Vltava. Around 3 000 solid meters of water flew out.

The cracked pipeline was closed and the traffic is fully restored now.

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Prices of flats in Prague rapidly grow

Thursday 29 March 2007 10:01

Flats in the Czech Republic, and especially in Prague, became at least 10% more expensive during the last year. The growth is even higher in some locations. For example, a three-room flat in Prague, which cost about 2 million CZK last year, is half a million more expensive now.

There is a high demand for flats at the present time. The mortgages are more accessible to people with lower salary and the interest is not high. Many flats were bought by people from abroad, who speculate with Czech flats, because of the growth of prices.

There are big differences between prices of flats in various locations. While in Prague you will pay for the mentioned flat the 2.5 million CZK, in a smaller Czech town, such as Pardubice, it is about 1.5 million.

However, the flats in Prague are still much cheaper than those in cities of the Western Europe.

New director general hopes to improve public transport in Prague

Wednesday 28 March 2007 17:30

Prague tram The Prague Public Transit Co. has a new director general. His name is Martin Dvorak and he used to be a head of the commercial TV Prima. His aim is to make the public transport more effective.

There was an organizational audit in the Prague Public Transport Co. and it revealed, that about 1000 employees should be fired. The company gets about one third from the budget of the City of Prague. The new director general hopes, that he can ensure more vehicles and more restored stations for such money.

Among the things, that need to be improved, is for example the lack of ticket machines on the stations of public transport or the too old trams in service in Prague.

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Employees of Prague public transport have to learn English

Wednesday 28 March 2007 16:00

You may already experienced it yourself: you needed an advice about the public transport in Prague or about the location of historical monuments. You asked a driver of a tram or an inspector, who checks the tickets, but you found out, that none of them speaks any foreign language.

This should change soon. Prague Public Transit Co. wants to improve the image of the city by teaching its employees to speak English. Not just the inspectors, but also the employees of public transport information centres and employees of the underground stations will learn English for 24 weeks. The inspectors have to learn also German.

This project, which should improve the service to passengers, costs about 3.5 million Czech crowns and it is fully financed by the EU. Overall, about 1.3 million tourists from abroad use the Prague public transport per year.

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Villa Bilek in Prague will be restored soon

Wednesday 28 March 2007 13:35

Villa Bilek, a unique Art-Noveau – symbolist building in Prague, will be restored in the coming two years. There will be new expositions inside and the villa will be lit in the night.

Villa Bilek is situated near the Prague Castle. It was built in 1911 by Frantisek Bilek, an artist, sculptor, graphic artist and religious thinker. The building is exceptional because of its rare symbolist style. There are Bilek´s works of art exhibited inside and also the interior of the villa is valuable. Bilek´s atelier is accessible to the public as well.

The building is in bad condition, so it will be renewed: the facade, the balcony and the balustrade will be restored. There will be a new centre about Frantisek Bilek and a study hall for the public. The overgrown garden will be modified, too.

You can find Villa Bilek in the Mickiewiczova Street 1, Prague 6.

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The world´s largest scenographic exhibition in Prague

Wednesday 28 March 2007 11:55

Prague Quadrennial, a big exhibition of stage design and theater architecture, will take place in Prague in June 2007. It will be an international competition of scenographers from 58 countries and the winner will receive the Golden Triga award.

The expositions will be placed in the Industrial Palace in the area of Prague Exhibition Grounds. There will be a section of national expositions, a students´section and a section of architecture and technology. Live shows will accompany the expositions the whole day.

Some events will also take place in the streets of Prague: there will be interactive installations, parades, fashion shows and various performances.

This unique opportunity to see current theater trends is intended not just for professionals, but for the general public as well. Visitors will have a chance to participate on some parts of the program.

Prague Quadrennial will be held between 14th and 24th June and a one-day ticket costs 120,- Czech crowns.

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Police swoop at the Ministry of Defense

Wednesday 28 March 2007 09:59

There was a police swoop at the Czech Ministry of Defense yesterday. About 180 detectives were searching for evidence of corruption on many workplaces of the ministry in the whole republic.

There is a suspicion, that employees of the Ministry of Defence rigged competitive tenders of the army. The tenders were for reconstruction and sale of the army´s real estate and their value was estimated at about half a milliard of Czech crowns.

Police also made a house search in the homes of those suspected. They are an organized group of people, arranging the frauds together and then sharing the profit. There are at least 10 people suspected.

Suspicion of corruption often accompanies army tenders. After all, the Czech Republic is a country with a high rate of corruption generally.

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