Compact archive March 21, 2007

Prague will celebrate the anniversary of Charles Bridge

Wednesday 21 March 2007 16:34

Crowds at Charles Bridge Famous Charles Bridge celebrates this year 650 years from the placing of foundation stone by Charles IV. The emperor chose the date 9th July 1357 5:31 because it was considered by astronomists as a lucky number.

Prague councilmen plan great celebrations with period constumes, street theaters, concerts, reconstructions of famous battles, music performance, etc. Prague councilman Richter wants to invite many celebrities and mayors of several cities, such as New York.

The celebrations will start three weeks before the anniversary, at the end of June. The event will culminate on Sunday 8th July. The celebration will take place not only on Charles Bridge, but also in the Knights of the Cross Square, Kampa Island, or just on the water of the Vltava river.

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Prague is the third best place to live in the Czech Republic

Wednesday 21 March 2007 15:03

MF DNES together with professors at Charles University made a unique survey about the best places to live in the Czech Republic. Some of the results were a bit suprising. The best regions to live are the regions around Pardubice and Rychlov nad Kneznou, Prague was ranked the third. The worst place for living is in the north of Bohemia.

Prague has the highest average salary, high pensions, low unemployment, many entrepreneurs and top medical care. On the other hand, flats and rents in Prague are very expensive, the air is polluted and there are relatively many criminals and drug addicts.

The quality of live in Czech regions was evaluated according to 50 criteria, such as average salary, rate of unemployment, infant mortality, prices of real properties, number of schools, sport institutions, etc.

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Star of The Sixth Sense at the Zlin festival

Wednesday 21 March 2007 13:50

One of the famous film festivals in the Czech Republic takes place in eastern part of the country, in Zlin. 47th Film Festival For Children and Youth is held from 27th May to 2nd June 2007.

One of the biggest stars at the festival will be Haley Joel Osment (19), unforgettable from The Sixth Sense with Bruce Willis or Artificial Intelligence: AI directed by Steven Spielberg. Zlin festival will be also visited by Hollywood director Lawrence Guterman (Cats&Dogs), Loyd Price and Ian Whitlock who cooperated on Flushed Away, or Dutch director Gerrit Van Dijk.

The festival offers contemporary films for young audience, meetings with Czech and foreign filmmakers, and rich supporting programme. The effort of the filmakers will be evaluated in many competitions. Here you can see some pictures of the last year’s festival.

UPDATED: Zlin film festival will be one of the first places in the world to show the newest Shrek 3.

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Valuable manuscript returned to Prague

Wednesday 21 March 2007 12:32

The parchment almost 450 years old was shown yesterday for a short time in one of the branches of Uniqa insurance company in Evropska street. The value of the parchment is about one million CZK.

The illustrated manuscript Chronicle of St Wenceslas is a copy of St Wenceslas pictorial series from the Chapel of St Wenceslas in St Vitus Cathedral in Prague. It was probably made by Matyas Hutsky of Krivoklat at the request of Rudolf II.

Another copy is kept in the Austrian Natinal Library. Uniqa insurance company plans to display the manuscript in the future, even though it is not complete, several pages are missing. The manuscript was long the property of American collector Lehmann.

Prague Fashion Week Spring 2007

Wednesday 21 March 2007 11:06

Prague Fashion Weeks is an international festival of fashion designers. It presents designs of Czech as well foreign designers. The opening ceremony of the 10th Prague Fashion Week was held at the residence of Prague Mayer Pavel Bem yesterday but the main programme starts in Manes Gallery tomorrow.

During catwalk presentations you can see the designs of many talented designers. One of them will be awarded the title ‘Talent of the Season Spring 2007’ on Sunday evening when the festival ends.

Catwalk shows will take place in Manes Gallery (Masarykovo nabrezi 250) situated on the bank of the Vltava river. The prices of the tickets for individual presentations vary between 200 CZK and 600 CZK. You can reserve the tickets at the official sites of the festival (www.praguefashionweek.com).

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The first spring day brought snow to Prague

Wednesday 21 March 2007 09:59

Although the astronomical spring starts today, most of the country is under snow. In the east part of the Czech Republic there is about 40 cm of snow, which causes a lot of problems. Several towns and villages were without electricity yesterday and many roads were blocked.

The snow was falling in Prague during last night, now there is a thin layer of snow. Drivers should be very careful, especially those, who have already changed the winter tires for summer ones.

According to the meteorologists, the snow may appear until Friday. At the weekend it will become warmer and the snow will start to melt. The temperatures can rise up to 16 ˚C (60.8 ˚F) at the beginning of the next week.