Arts | All stories

In this week's edition of the Arts, we mark the publication of a book entitled Famous Prague Villas with a visit to some particularily interesting villas in the company of one of the book's authors, architect Zdenek Lukes.

What you're hearing is the sound of water from the Vltava River, as it flooded through the rooms of the old castle in Roztoky near Prague exactly two years ago. Roztoky was one of many Bohemian towns with a precious architectural heritage that suffered in the floods.

Ameropa is the name of a unique music project which takes place here in Prague every year. A classical music festival and summer school in one, Ameropa offers music students, as well as professional and amateur musicians, the opportunity to study and perform chamber music in some of the most attractive concert locations in the Czech capital. This is the Year of Czech Music, the 100th anniversary of the death of composer Antonin Dvorak, and Ameropa is also taking part in the celebrations, including Dvorak's music in most of its concerts.

Summer in the Czech Republic is not just about swimming and sunbathing. During recent decades, film too, has become something of a summer ritual, and not only for its entertainment value. Two major summer events have helped film achieve this position. The first is the International Film Festival in Karlovy Vary, which takes place in the beginning of July. Lesser known, but growing in reputation, is the Summer Film School in Uherske Hradiste, which starts in late July.

The film Shrek 2 that has just been released in the Czech Republic. But in Czech cinemas Shrek does not speak in the voice of Mike Myers, the donkey is not Eddie Murphy and you won't hear Antonio Banderas, Cameron Diaz or John Cleese. The characters have all been dubbed by Czech actors. It is usual practice in the case of children's or family movies but recently some voices started calling for the dubbing of all films regardless of the target group.

In this week's edition of the Arts we look at some of the cultural developments of the past week and some of the festivals underway this weekend.

Those of you who have been to Prague Castle recently, must have noticed the large photographs on display around the grounds. The Summer Shakespeare Festival, which is currently underway in Prague, is accompanied by an open-air exhibition called "Maximal Photography". Twenty-seven enlarged works of leading Czech photographers decorate the castle area until September 11.

In this edition of the Arts we get to see two remarkable manuscripts stolen from the Czech Lands by the Swedes during the Thirty Years War. The first is the intriguingly named Devil's Bible. The second is a religious text in the hand of the great Czech reformer Jan Hus (in Latin but with anti-German jibes written in Czech in the margins). We also learn about the circumstances under which the manuscripts and other artworks were stolen by the Swedish Army in the mid-17th century, and whether there is any chance it might some day be returned.

This weekend, the left bank of Prague's Vltava river comes to life, turning into a little Rio de Janeiro with the Czech capital's first ever street carnival. Numerous events including concerts and dance and drumming classes, hope to attract thousands to Prague's Smichov district from Saturday at noon until the early hours of the morning. A highlight will be a parade. At 3pm dancers and singers in decorated cars bring the rhythms of Salsa, Samba, and Merengue closer to Prague's residents. Petr Nemecek is one of the organisers of the carnival:

Some of you may recall a student hoax a year ago, when a few thousand people, lured by commercials advertising super low prices, flocked to a Prague suburb to attend the opening of a new hypermarket only to find a frontal facade of a building and no hypermarket behind it. A year after, a new film called Cesky Sen - Czech Dream - has come out telling the story of the two students from the Czech Film Academy - Filip Remunda and Vit Klusak - who first hired image experts to appear as top managers and then commissioned a leading advertising agency