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Historians in the department of old prints and manuscripts at the Research Library in Olomouc have made a surprising discovery. While moving a safe containing rare documents to a new building, they found a seven-page nautical atlas that was hand-made in 1563. The richly coloured parchment with gold and silver linings shows the Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea and the northern part of the Atlantic. Made by the Catalan cartographer Jaume Olives, there are only five others in the world - in Barcelona, New York, Florence, Milan, and Valenciennes in

Last week, the first Mene Tekel festival dedicated to the history of totalitarianism in this country was held in Prague to coincide with the anniversary of the communist putsch in 1948. Taking its name from the so-called writing on the wall, which appears in the Bible's Book of Daniel and refers to the counting, considering and punishment of evil deeds, the Mene Tekel festival aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the oppression meted out by the communist regime in this country for more than forty years.

While former dissidents and prisoners of conscience marked the 59th anniversary of the 1948 communist putsch with calls for the communist party to be banned, Communist Party leader Vojtech Filip urged his party to prepare for a new revolution. He said the party must meet the challenges of the present day by re-embracing the Lenin ideology. A contradiction in terms? Commentator Jiri Pehe says that the strange speech reflects the plight of the communists - they are like a dinosaur fighting for survival in the present day.

The red carpet was out on Thursday evening for the Czech premiere of the latest play by the renowned British playwright Tom Stoppard. He was born in Czechoslovakia, and the play, Rock'n'Roll, is partly set in Prague; it begins with the Soviet crushing of the Prague Spring in 1968 and ends with a Rolling Stones concert at the city's Strahov stadium in 1990.

Prague's Mucha Museum - dedicated to the life and work of the world-renowned Czech artist Alphonse Mucha - received its millionth visitor this week. The museum was opened in January 1998 and is the most frequently visited private museum in the Czech capital.

"Flyer's chocolate", "shabu" or "gingerbread" - currently the most popular hard drug in the Czech Republic has a lot of names and a colourful history. It was first synthesized in Japan in 1893 and during the Second World War it was given to the country's kamikaze pilots. The German military dispensed the drug to its war pilots and Adolf Hitler is rumoured to have received three daily injections of it from his personal physician. It was banned after the war but was later re-discovered by drug addicts in communist Czechoslovakia. Illegal Czech producers

The United States campaign in Iraq was dealt a blow on Wednesday, when the UK said it was withdrawing around a quarter of its troops and Denmark said it was taking almost all of its soldiers home. But what about the Czech Republic - how long will its soldiers remain in Iraq? And what impact will the British troop reduction have on the Czech mission? I spoke to Czech Defence Ministry spokesman Andrej Cirtek.

Last year the Czech Prison Service decided to commission a calendar for 2007 that would be just "a little bit different", a calendar featuring shapely female silhouettes - mostly anonymous arms and legs - behind bars. Now, two months into the new year, the finished product has come under fairly heavy fire, with critics in the media questioning the calendar's appropriateness and overall worth.

The Czech government has recently backed proposed legislation that should make it easier for foreigners from EU countries to buy Czech farmland. Until now, foreign EU citizens have been obliged to meet a number of conditions, such as being able to speak Czech, before being able to purchase arable land. If the proposed change in the law is passed, it should bring Czech legislation into line with the rest of the European Union. Nevertheless, critics including the country's biggest farming associations say the move could have devastating consequences

One of the most controversial buildings in Prague, the futuristic Zizkov TV Tower, is this week celebrating its 15th anniversary. Long before that date, many people in Prague opposed the idea of such a tall and out-of-place building being erected in a largely residential area. But 15 years later, it now seems that Praguers are slowly but surely getting used to it.