Some Useful Links

I thought I would share with you some useful internet websites, through which you can learn more about Czech life and culture.

1) Radio Praha - http://www.radio.cz/en Don't be fooled by the name Radio Prague's website english language version is probably the best way to find out what's happening across the whole of the Czech Republic. And it is not just restricted to news - the site has excellent history, cultural and sports coverage. Search the archive for a topic of interest. You can even subscribe to a daily email update There is a Radio Prague Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/radioprague

2) Czech Literature Portal http://www.czechlit.cz/ A multi-language site promoting Czech Literature abroad - "The aim of the Portal is to provide information on contemporary Czech authors and their works (novelists, poets, playwrights, essayists including authors of literature for children)". To keep up to date sign up for a newsletter or follow on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/CzechLiteraturePortal 

3) The Czech Centres You will find Czech centres in several major cities including London http://london.czechcentres.cz/ and New York http://new-york.czechcentres.cz/ Their websites include details of cultural programmes, educational programmes especially Czech language courses and Czech related news. The centres also have Facebook pages.

4) Czech Holiday  My own site about visiting the Czech Republic is on http://www.czechholiday.co.uk

Oh and this blog of course!

Centre of Europe

One of the biggest faux-pas a Brit can make in the Czech Republic is to talk about the country being in Eastern Europe. This offends on at least three levels. Firstly it is a legacy of the Cold War and puts the Czechs in a bracket with the Russians, Bulgarians and other countries – company that the Czechs would rather not be in and indeed forget. Secondly it is geographically wrong – a look at the atlas reveals, as the Czechs never cease to tell you, that Prague is west of Vienna. Thirdly it offends against a deep-felt notion of themselves and born of history – that their little country is at the heart of Europe. In 1583 this was even politically true when the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II (shown above) moved his court to Prague.

But more importantly it was culturally and intellectually true for centuries, until the bringing down of the Iron Curtain forced Czecho into the Eastern Bloc. Under Rudolf Prague was at the centre of philisophical thought and art. Since then the Czechs have been part of some of the major movements in art (a visit to the Czech National Gallery in Prague revealed to our surprise the early development of cubism here) and music - Mozart loved the city and felt that the citizens understood his work whilst it was rejected in Vienna. And this cultural heritage matters to the generally cultured and well-educated Czechs in a way that it wouldn't to the British, something I love about them.