Compact archive May 23, 2007

16th festival 'Mezi ploty' in Prague this weekend

Wednesday 23 May 2007 16:54

More and more popular beneficial festival ‘Mezi ploty’ starts this weekend in the mental asylum Bohnice in Prague. The aim of this festival is the fight against the taboo and prejudices around psychiatry.

More than 180 music bands, singers and theatre groups promised to perform at the festival without an honorarium. Besides performances of professionals, you can also see disabled people who will show their art to the large public. A part of the festival is a market of products made in the protected workshops.

The festival is held on Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th May 2007. To the mental asylum Bohnice you can get by buses 177 and 200 (stop Katovicka) from metro station Kobylisy (red line C). The price of the tickets at the venue is 270 CZK (children under 10 and disabled people for free). Drinking alcohol is strictly prohibited during the whole festival.

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Cheap flights to Prague from Kuala Lumpur

Wednesday 23 May 2007 15:21

More and more tourists travel to Prague by low-cost air carriers. Another air carrier that is now negotiating with Prague airport Ruzyne is Air Asia X. They promise to start flying to Prague this July, but tickets can’t be reserved yet. Most probably the plane will take off Kuala Lumpur.

The prices of the tickets could vary between 40$ and 450$. Other low-cost air carriers that fly to Prague are SkyEurope, easyJet, Smartwings, clickair or Aer Lingus.

Another air company that offers very cheap tickets is Ryanair which flies now to Brno. The company is thinking of creating more connections with other towns of the Czech Republic, most probably more flights to Brno and also spa town Karlovy Vary.

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Vaclav Spillar's exhibition 'Marvellous Planet' in Prague

Wednesday 23 May 2007 13:42

Spillar's photograph 'Forest Beyond The Time Horizon' Do you like visiting foreign countries and dreaming about going there? You can get inspired in the shopping centre in Letnany, on the photo exhibition called Marvellous Planet (Zazracna planeta).

The author of this photo exhibition is Vaclav Spillar, Czech photographer, traveller and adventurer. He’s been taking pictures of the most unique and special places in the world for 20 years. This exhibition presents his photographs from his trips to Africa, America and Australia.

The exhibition in the shopping centre is open until 21st June 2007. You can meet the author on Saturday 9th June from 15:00 to 17:00. You can get there for free by buses OCL, Tesco, S, and C from metro station Ladvi. To know more about Spillar’s work, click here.

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Czech politicians will discuss the legalization of euthanasia

Wednesday 23 May 2007 12:16

Experts from hospices, hospitals, medical institutions, theologists and teachers of ethics met in Prague yesterday to discuss the controversial topic of euthanasia. They talked about what exactly euthanasia means and whether and on what conditions it could be legalized.

Euthanasia is legalized in Belgium and the Netherlands. Czech experts want to consult this matter with their Belgian and Dutch colleagues. The opinions of Czech experts are diverse.

The deputy Boris Stastny (Civic Democrats) is preparing a bill for legalization of euthanasia. Whether he will be successful is not clear. Last year the politicians rejected to give lower punishment for people who killed a patient on the patient’s request.

Big plans for Prague public transport

Wednesday 23 May 2007 10:49

Map of Prague metro Travellers in Prague can expect big changes in the coming years. In June 2008 the metro red line C will be prolonged to Letnany via stations Strizkov and Prosek. The whole route will be 23 kilometers longs. Letnany station will be ‘accompanied’ with a big parking place P&R for drivers who want to leave their cars at the outskirts of Prague and continue to the centre by public transport.

In 2009 the city of Prague plan to start the reconstruction of new metro sections. They want to prolong the metro green line A from Dejvice to Prague International Airport Ruzyne and to build a new metro line – blue line D which will lead from Hlavni nadrazi (the main station) to Pisnice in the south of Prague. Both lines should be finished in 2016.

Prague dwellers and visitors can also look forward to more tram routes, which will take them e.g. to the Prague Zoo or to the upper part of the Wenceslas Square.

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Will the 'octopus' change panorama of Prague?

Wednesday 23 May 2007 09:43

Balloon instead of the 'octopus' - view of Letna Prague architect Radek Martisek is a big opponent of Kaplicky’s design of the new building of the National Library in Prague. Recently he made a report, where he criticized the design as too expensive, dangerous and ecologically insensitive.

Now he decided to prove that the visualization of the building made by Kaplicky’s team is not correct and doesn’t show the real proportions of the future building. He hired an agency who blew a hot-air balloon up on the place where the library should stand in Letna. The highest point of the balloon was 48 meters above the ground, where the ‘eye’ of the library is supposed to be. Then he asked his friends and other people to take pictures of the balloon from different places in Prague.

To his surprise, the balloon was hardly seen from the Charles Bridge what he was afraid of the most. On the other hand, the balloon seemed to be much closer to Prague Castle that on Kaplicky’s visualization. Martisek paid this action with his own money.