Panorama | All stories

In 2006, photographer Jan Reich's publication Bohemia - an extensive series of artistic landscapes throughout the Czech Republic - won the main prize in the country's prestigious literature competition Magnesia Litera. But some critics still consider his best series to be "Disappearing Prague" - a project the photographer began in the 1970s capturing the genius loci of some of Prague's oldest and most run-down districts. Scenes from the periphery in the years following the Soviet-led invasion in 1968: the docks of old Holesovice, ruined facades

Although the Czech Republic is better known in sporting circles for its ice hockey and football prowess, it also has a surprisingly strong horse-racing tradition, which dates back to the days of the Habsburg Empire. For well over a century, the highlight of the racing season in this country has been the Velka Pardubicka steeplechase, which is sometimes known as the "Czech Grand National".

Much has been written about crimes committed against Czechs and Slovaks by Czechoslovakia's Communist regime, which held power in the country for forty-one years. But chilling revelations continue to come to light, even today: recently the Czech press highlighted the role of the communist secret police, the StB, in the abductions (some well known, others less so) of around twenty Czechs and Slovak émigrés in the first years of the Cold War - individuals the regime perceived as a threat. StB officers, though not always successful, resorted to any

Jaroslav Foglar's children's stories of adventure and mystery are beloved to at least three generations of Czechs. Banned under communism, his fiction nevertheless found its way into the homes and subsequently hearts of countless young Czechs, and created memories which for many linger long into adulthood. But with the increased exposure of children's literature in the Czech Republic to new and often international trends, is his popularity beginning to wane?

Visitors coming to Prague from Holland or Scandinavia may get the impression that Czechs don't like cycling. Seeing bikers in the streets of the Czech capital is not a rare thing nowadays, but compared to other European cities, there are still very few of them. Besides, you almost never come across bicycles parked in the streets. Yet, strange as it may seem, statistics say that every second inhabitant of Prague is a bicycle owner and Czechs claim that cycling is their favourite sport.

Beauty pageants are by no means just a Czech phenomenon, but the do enjoy a popularity here unparalleled in most of Western Europe. There are scores of different Miss competitions, from the big nationals like Miss Ceske Republiky and Ceska Miss, right down to the more specific titles of Miss Deaf Czech Republic, Miss Roma Czech Republic, and Miss Orphan Czech Republic, to name but a few.

Czech football has seen some great results in recent years. The Czech national team has been doing fairly well on the international scene and Slavia Prague made it into the prestigious Champions League this year. But all this could fade into the background if one issue is not addressed. In this week's Panorama, we look at the problem of racism at Czech football stadiums.

Over the last seventeen years Czechs have gotten increasingly used to fast food and now many accept everything from hamburgers to hot dogs to pizza as part of their regular diet, if not every day than certainly from time to time. Forgotten are the days when there were only one or two international franchises in town: there are increasingly more venues to choose, with ever more variety.

The Czech National Museum has decided to enrich their collection with the addition of cecka - little plastic hooks in the shape of the letter C, which could be linked up in chains and hung in the doorframes as beads curtains. How did this inconspicuous piece of plastic earn its place among the National Museum's exhibits? Believe it or not, for a generation of people who grew up in the 1980s in communist Czechoslovakia, it is a symbol of their childhood. For reasons unknown, the pressed plastic "Cs" became a collecting craze among the children soon

Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to interview extreme mountain biker Jan Kopka for Radio Prague's Czechs Today [25.04.2007], only weeks after the rider had won the world's toughest race: the Iditarod Trail Invitational. Iditarod sees riders take on 1,800 kilometres in the dead of winter in the Alaskan outback, an incredible feat in which one's life is constantly in the balance. Now, Jan has returned to his home in Jablonec Nad Nisou in picturesque northern Bohemia, and a chance to join him on local trails was too good to pass up. Jan was