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Preparations are being completed across the Czech Republic for what will undoubtedly be one of the biggest cultural events of the year. Next year marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of perhaps the country’s greatest poet, Karel Hynek Mácha. We take a look at the dozens of international, national and regional events being planned.

Czech police demonstrated on Wednesday to protest wage cuts affecting civil servants under the government’s austerity measures aimed at helping lower the deficit. Several thousand gathered not far from the office of the government, waving placards and blowing sirens in protest before heading to an area near the country’s Chamber of Deputies.

The Czech Republic has had a small hemp industry for ten years now, since a new law acknowledged hemp as a technical and energy crop in 1999. Since then, technical hemp, that is cannabis which contains less than 0.3 percent THC, has made its way into a broad range of Czech-made products. It is used for making cosmetic products, briquettes, fabric, food and even hemp plastic.

A statue has just been unveiled in Prague to one of the most courageous Czech opponents of the Communist regime, Cardinal Josef Beran. The memorial is a tribute to a man whom the Communists even feared after his death in exile. The authorities refused to allow the body of the one-time archbishop of Prague to be brought back to his homeland for burial.

What exactly is “more than a small amount of drugs”? It’s a question that has plagued Czech drug users, policemen and judges alike for several years. The answer can mean the difference between a prison term and a slap on the wrist, but there are no black and white rules for everybody to follow, so confusion reigns. But not for long.

Officials from the Central Bohemian region bought a rare 15th century miniature at auction at Sotheby’s in London on Tuesday. The artwork, depicting silver mining in the Bohemia town of Kutná Hora, eventually went for over half a million pounds sterling, and is set to be the most important piece at a newly established gallery there.

Vaccination against swine flu has been underway in the Czech Republic for two weeks, but, perhaps surprisingly, interest in the vaccine has not been high. It seems doctors themselves are not interested in getting inoculated either – a poll released last week suggested that a majority of general practitioners had no interest in getting the vaccine; they say that either vaccination had come too late in the face of the growing epidemic or even that the vaccine had not been tested enough. Now the health minister has rejected such claims, slamming sceptics

The acting chairman of the Green Party Ondřej Liška has been confirmed in the post at a Green Party conference, defeating two other contenders by a large margin. While the new Green Party leadership believes it now has enough support to curb internal infighting and address waning voter support, leading the party to success in the next elections will be an uphill struggle.

The Czech men’s tennis team failed to repeat the success of Czechoslovakia in the Davis Cup in 1980, losing 5:0 to Spain in the final in Barcelona at the weekend. Things started poorly when Tomáš Berdych lost to Rafael Nadal, and got worse when David Ferrer dispatched the Czechs’ other star name, Radek Štěpánek. When that pairing lost to Spain in Saturday’s doubles, it was all over, and the Czech coach gave a run to the relatively inexperienced Jan Hájek and Lukáš Dlouhý for the two remaining matches on Sunday.

The House of Rosenberg was one of the most powerful noble families in Czech history. They were the de facto rulers of Bohemia for much of the Middle Ages, but their dynasty came to an end with the death of the celebrated Petr Vok, in 1611. Now, archaeologists in South Bohemia, where the family had its seat, have come across their family tomb, and in doing so have set straight a well-known legend that surrounds them.