Compact archive November 16, 2007

The exhibition and book trilogy Prague Castle in Photography is concluded by a part showing changes of the siege in years 1939-1989.

Historic and topographic signs have the upper hand over the whole conception of this exhibition. The photos are not sequenced according to beauty, but the groups are formed according to the inner logic of the castle area. The only exception is the ‘personalities’ group, which brings in portraits of politicians and architects of the famous Gothic castle.

As the past two episodes of the cycle could be called romantic or calm, this episode commemorates especially the dark times, for example it depicts Emil Hacha, the Czechoslovak president, surrounded by Nazi soldiers, getting his new BMW given by Adolph Hitler.

The book ends symbolically; by the classic picture of Vaclav Havel on 29th November 1989, after being elected a president. But this is not the case of all’s well that ends well; Prague castle is too much permeated by history for such a conclusion.

7th January (Three wise man day) 2008 ends this exhibition, but the book trilogy accompanying the event stays for those who bought it, and gains its documentary value. The exhibition takes place in Prague Castle, Terezianske Kridlo (Terezian Wing).

Radio 1, which is the oldest alternative radio of Prague, presents their new festival called Midnight Sun Session. It introduces northerners’ culture and tradition live – music, theatre, film, dance or arts.

The first Midnight Sun Session starts this Sunday 18th at 18:00 by featuring the movie Heim about Sigur Rós. Sigur Rós is an Icelandic post-rock band with melodic, classical, experimental, and minimalist elements. The band is known for its ethereal sound and lead singer Jónsi’s falsetto voice.

The evening will continue from 19:30 with Ralph Myerz and the Jack Herren Band. They are a Norwegian electronica group. Their live shows have gained a massive reputation both in Norway and in the rest of Europe combining various percussion instruments and pyrotechnics.

The other Midnight Sun Sessions will introduce northern stars like Koop or Múm. All the info is possible to find at Radio 1 webpage here

Midnight Sun Session starts this Sunday 18th November 2007,
Palac Akropolis Kubelíkova 27, Prague.

The National Theatre has started its three-year reconstruction, which costs are estimated 160 millions CZK (5,5 mil. €)

The first item on the list of reconstructions is the 10-ton, 78 meters long cast-iron railing, that represents a golden crown on the top of the historic building. All the parts of the railing are going to be gilded again with two kilos of the best quality gold, worth 70 thousands €.

Two other symbols of the theatre, sculptural groups of prancing horses are undergoing reconstruction on the roof, where it was in 1940 fixed with concrete. There is a problem with water running into the sculptures.

Expenses for those items are estimated 22 millions CZK (760 000€). The facade reconstruction of National Theatre starts in 2009, conservators have both hands full of work inside, too.

SMS help link, which has been introduced at the beginning of 2007 have received 80 messages so far.

The number was established for police needs, but it provides help i.e. in the case of a deaf person needing a doctor, too.

603 111 158

What you should fill in the message? Surname, the place of occurrence (city), and some specific location like the number of public lighting where something happened, and a brief account of what has happened.

The police contacts the person via SMS, and sends a unit that was informed it is a case with a deaf, there. In the case of incident being further investigated, the police has interpreters into sign language prepared.

The provider of the service is T-Mobile

Recently published analysis of regional differences in the Czech Republic revealed an interesting fact – Prague is, year by year, more different from the rest of the country. The numbers are so different, they have to be filed separately, as it would blur the republic average.

For example – Prague citizens have the most advanced cars from the whole country, every second household is connected to the Internet and one third of citizens of Prague have finished higher or university education.

Ales Michl, analyst of Raiffeisenbank stated:

“Prague is unique compared to other metropolises, located east from Prague – i.e. Bratislava or Budapest. There, the differences among the capital and the rest of the country aren’t so noticeable. Prague is so much more like Paris, London of Frankfurt.”

The metropolis is first also in the quality and availability of health care, so here is 15,7 percent of seniors older 65 years, meanwhile the republic average is 14,4 percent. Prague has population of 1,198,094. The numbers of Prague citizens are getting higher every year, and more than 70% of newcomers are Ukrainians, Russians and Vietnamese. Those cover some of the low paid jobs, but surprisingly there is still over-supply of such positions.

Concerning salaries; the average is 26 134 CZK (933€), which can sound meager compared to the average in i.e Britain (2931€), but the salary in Prague is still about 5196 CZK (179€) higher than the national average.