Panorama | All stories

In the first half of the 20th century the Česká národní budova (Bohemian National Hall) was THE Czech social centre in New York, before later sinking into disrepair. Now the building on the Upper East Side of Manhattan is receiving a major facelift, and should again be the pride of Czech New York when it reopens its doors later this year. In this edition of Panorama, we’ll be hearing about the past – and future – of the Česká národní budova.

It is exactly 50 years since Czechoslovakia’s great triumph at the world Expo exhibition in Brussels, at which the country won the best pavilion award and many Czech and Slovak artists received special prizes. To recall the Czechoslovak success at Expo 1958, the City Gallery of Prague this week opened an exhibition entitled “Brussels Dream”. It aims to recreate the famous Czechoslovak exhibition with authentic objects from Expo 58. It also reflects the lifestyle of the early 1960s, marked by the rise of popular culture and affected by the so-called

It’s nearly midday and Prague’s Old Town Square is heaving with people taking photos of the astrological clock, tour groups which you can probably hear behind me, and pizzerias and Czech pubs selling lunchtime fare. But in the midst of all of this hubbub, there is one thing missing, and I’m joined here by Eva Skalická of Prague Town Council, who is here to tell me exactly what that thing is.

Car making has been one of the motors of the Czech Republic’s economic boom of recent years, and for this edition of Panorama I’ve come to one of the centres of the country’s motor industry. The central Bohemian town of Kolín – around 50 kilometres from Prague – is home to one of country’s biggest and most modern car factories. The Toyota, Peugeot and Citroen automobiles plant – commonly referred to as TPCA – produces an incredible 1100 cars every day. It’s spokesman – and our guide today – is Radek Kňava.

Steve Lichtag, 54, is a respected Czech-American filmmaker who has travelled the world mapping everything from activity on coral reefs to the life of the Blue Whale. But most famously, the director captured what it’s like to swim with the ocean’s most feared predator – the Great White Shark – a creature any sane person would try their hardest to avoid. Not Lichtag: if there’s anything he enjoys, he made clear in a recent Radio Prague interview taped safely on dry land, it’s adventure. And when it comes to that, what better place to find it than

‘Limonádový Joe’ (Lemonade Joe) is a cult sixties Czech western cum musical about a lemonade salesman in the Wild West. The film started life as column in a newspaper written by Jiří Brdečka during the war, before becoming a theatre play, and then finally the all-singing, all-dancing, film production Czechs know and love today. Tereza Brdečková is a film critic and the daughter of Jiří Brdečka, the man who conceived the movie:

Just a few minutes’ walk from Prague Castle, the monumental Černín Palace stands out in Hradčany’s Loreto Square. Built in the 17th and 18th centuries as the residence of the Černín aristocratic family, the Baroque palace now houses the Foreign Ministry of the Czech Republic. But the history of the largest of Prague’s Baroque palaces has seen more than politics – it has witnessed ambition, corruption and even a mystery death.

Organic food is selling in ever increasing quantities in the Czech Republic. Between 2006 and 2007 sales grew by almost 50 percent, and some predict further growth of around a third every year until 2011. That’s good news for Greens. However, they’re less pleased about the fact over half of the organic produce sold in this country is imported from abroad. Hoping to change that, the Czech branch of Friends of the Earth has just launched a new campaign entitled Hledá se česká buchta, or Czech Cake Wanted. I discussed it and other aspects of the Czech

On Sunday The Counterfeiters, based on the memoirs of Prague resident Adolf Burger, won the Academy Award for best foreign language film. Mr Burger’s book The Devil’s Workshop tells the remarkable story of a Nazi scheme under which Jewish concentration camp prisoners – including the author – were put to work forging US and UK banknotes, with the aim of destabilising the Allies’ economies. Adolf Burger, who is 90, was in Hollywood to enjoy The Counterfeiters Oscar victory. To celebrate his success we are re-broadcasting Mr Burger’s story, which first

I am standing on Prague’s magistrála, an artery cutting through the centre of Prague. If you have ever visited the Czech capital you could hardly have failed to notice the main road which cuts across the top of Prague’s main square, Wenceslas Square. It was built in the early 1970s to ease growing traffic in the capital, but it soon became a nightmare for the people living along the magistrála. It was originally designed for 20 000 vehicles a day at the most, but nowadays nearly five times as many cars drive through the city each day. So, how come