Panorama | All stories

A lesser known quarter of Prague, somewhat off the tourist beaten track is under the spotlight at Prague’s main municipal museum. The area is Libeň which was transformed from a downriver district of fields, farms and vineyards by the industrial revolution and largely made over again from the middle of the 20th century.

When Harry Pollak left Czechoslovakia for France in the autumn of 1938, he had no idea what the future would hold for him. As a teenager, he joined the exile Czechoslovak army fought the Nazis who murdered his family, before fleeing his country again after the communist coup of 1948, and build a career in England from scratch. Mr Pollak gives an account of his extraordinary life in his recently published memoirs. In this edition of Panorama, we talk to Harry Pollak about how a boy from a south Bohemian village ended up saving the famous British

In our increasingly globalised world, cross-cultural musical collaborations are becoming ever more common, and you couldn’t find a better example of this trend than the work of Pedro Rodriguez. A DJ, producer and rapper whose passport reads Petr Kulíšek, he has forged a unique partnership between Cuban and Czech musicians with a project named La Conexion.

In Prague’s Old Town, on the corner of Celetná Street and Ovocný trh, you will find the House of the Black Madonna, one of the most distinctive structures in a city known for its unparalleled mix of architectural styles. It was the first building in the rare Cubist style of architecture strongly associated with the city, and today houses a Cubist museum.

Hidden away on a narrow street in the Old Town, between Betlémské náměstí and the river, you will find a Prague institution. U Salvátora, a tiny kořenářství (spice shop), has been selling seasoning to the city’s residents for several decades. Indeed, entering the fragrant store feels very much like going back in time.

Dall Wilson is a member of the Moravian Brothers in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, a city where they have a strong tradition. Mr Wilson is an expert on the church and is planning a documentary about their origins in what is now the Czech Republic. He offers a potted history of the Protestant denomination, starting with how they found shelter in the free town of Herrnhut in Saxony in the 18th century.

Prague’s Villa Bílek, an intriguing piece of modern architecture, has opened to the public after two years of renovation. Designed by the Czech Art Nouveau artist František Bílek as his studio and family home, it stands out as one of the more unusual architectural landmarks of the capital, reflecting Bílek’s vision of a “stronghold of a higher realm”.

A recently opened exhibition in Prague turns the spotlight on science fiction in Czechoslovakia between the late 1940s and the late 1970s, when countless magazines, books and films promised a bright, socialist future – in space.

Among the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the Czech Republic enjoys the reputation of a safe haven for cannabis users, with more than half of the country’s adult population admitting to have used the drug. But it was only this past weekend that Prague hosted its first international hemp fair.

The charming and historic West Bohemian town of Bečov nad Teplou has just hosted its third international symposium showcasing the blacksmith’s craft. The two-day event gave the public the chance to get up close and feel the heat of the braziers as a series of top smiths showed that this is very much a craft making a comeback.