Compact archive March 6, 2007

Prague has another university

Tuesday 06 March 2007 17:43

One of the colleges in Prague has changed its status to university. The whole name of the school is now Jan Amos Komensky University. It is seated in Prague-Zizkov and it provides the higher education to about 5,000 students. It is the only private university (that means that the school is mainly financed by the school fees, not by the state) in the Czech Republic.

The status university brings some changes. Students can study PhD programmes there. The school can offer any kind of study programmes in several faculties. Besides the pedagogical activities, the teachers can develop scientific research. And at last but not least, the status of university is more prestigious and help cooperate better with foreign institutions.

According to the Czech Statistical Office and Eurostat, every 11th person you meet on the streets of Prague is a university student. There are total about 112,000 university students in Prague. The number of students studying at universities and colleges has increased by 5,3% from last year.

The Police with Sting plan to have a concert in Prague

Tuesday 06 March 2007 14:52

The Police and Sting announced on their web pages www.thepolicetour.com that they will perform in Prague during their European tour that starts in Stockholm on 29th August and finishes in Cardiff on 19th October 2007.

Prague concert is scheduled on 16th September in Prague’s Sazka Arena. “We know about it but we cannot confirm or disprove this information,” said the spokesman of Interkoncerts, a company normally organizing concerts of big stars.

Bass guitarist Sting, guitarist Andy Summers and drummer Stewart Copeland are now practising for their world tour that starts on 28th May 2007 in the North America. The Police returned to the stage after more than 20 years. They played on the Grammy Awards ceremony on 11th February 2007.

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Musical Angelika starts today

Tuesday 06 March 2007 13:43

Today is the premiere of new musical Angelika (Angelique), telling the immortal story of a beautiful lady and her live created by Anne and Serge Golon. There has been already 100,000 bookings of the tickets for the play until the end of the year.

“We want to create the atmosphere of a romantic fairy tale,” says the director Josef Bednarik. A lot of money was spent on costumes, especially on the dresses and jewellery of Angelika. Songs from the music play can be bought on a CD in music shops.

Angelika is played in Prague’s theatre Broadway (Na Prikope 31). Tickets can be bought in the box office of the theatre or via Ticket Art and Ticketpro. Tickets can be also reserved by phone (+420 225 113 311, +420 225 113 199). The prices of the tickets vary according to the position in the theater, from 699 CZK to 149 CZK. One of the performances will be visited by the author of the novels Anne Golon.

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Every sixth passenger in Prague travels without a valid ticket

Tuesday 06 March 2007 12:32

Since January, travellers using Prague public transport at night can meet ticket inspectors together with police officers who take care of the safety on night trams and soon on buses in Prague as well as they penalize everybody without a valid ticket.

As MF DNES reported, the Prague ticket inspectors gave more than 2000 penalties and ejected from the trams more than a thousand of homeless people. During one month, the employers of Prague Public Transit Company inspected about 21,300 travellers on night trams, 15% of them didn’t have a valid ticket. There are about 6% of such travellers during the day time.

The ticket inspectors can give penalties up to 950 CZK. If you pay immediately or withing 15 days at the office, the penalty is lowered to 500 CZK. The ticket inspectors at night shifts start at 22:30 in metro. After the metro is closed, the inspectors joined by police officers travel on night trams. See also when you’re not obliged to pay the penalty.

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Successful exhibitions of the National Museum in Prague

Tuesday 06 March 2007 11:05

Exhibition The Hunters of Mammoths is more successful that the organizers ever dreamed of. It has been visited by more than 250,000 people so far. Such a high visit rate made the organizers prolong the exhibition until 1st July. Updated: the exhibition is prolonged until 2nd September 2007.

The exhibition doesn’t only show mammoths and the lives of people in that era but it also touches every sense. Visitors can hear roars of wild animals and smell leather. People interested in prehistory can also buy many souvenirs, such as small mammoths or copies of the precious statuette Venus of Dolni Vestonice.

The National Museum displays besides this popular exhibition also the piano on which Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart played during his visit in 1787. Another exhibition is devoted to the history of Charta 77, an informal initiative against the process of normalization, and the Nobel Prize for Literature that was given to Czech writer Jaroslav Seifert in 1984. The Nobel Prize as well as the piano are displayed until 25th March.

The National Museum at the top of Wenceslas Square also prepares the exhibition of precious prints of The Unity of the Brethren and the exhibition showing the jewellery of famous Czech opera singer Ema Destinova.

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