Panorama | All stories

A painting depicting the most famous fratricide in Czech history – the murder of prince Vaclav by his own brother Boleslav in 935 has emerged to see the light of day after gathering dust in an attic for close to 170 years. In this edition of Panorama we look at why the monumental work spent so many decades hidden from the eyes of the world.

Most days, Aleksi Šedo is an experimental oncologist at Charles University’s Faculty of Medicine. But when he meets with his brothers from the Black Dogs motorcycle club, Šedo no longer goes by his real name.

A video spot made by the Association for Integration and Migration highlights the problems of foreign nationals working as domestic service providers – cleaners, maids and nannies. Approximately 27 thousand women from former Soviet bloc countries and Asia are currently employed in menial positions in Czech households. Their poor grasp of the language and scant knowledge of their rights –as well as fear of deportation -make them easy targets of exploitation and maltreatment.

You may know the feeling – you return to your native village after a long absence and come across an eyesore – a building that screams “money, power and influence” and sticks out like a sore thumb from its surroundings. That is the kind of building that architect and photographer Jan Kruml likens to a flashing gold tooth.

The Czech & Slovak Museum & Library in Cedar Rapids, Iowa recently experienced the worst period in its 38-year-long history. Devastated by the 2008 floods the museum has fought long and hard to survive and continue to fulfil its mission –bearing testimony to the two small European nations’ search for identity, human rights and freedom in the turbulent times of the 20th century. Thanks to generous donations from institutions and individuals the museum was able to reopen its doors to the public this summer. Its head Gail Naughton visited Radio Prague’s

This week the Czech capital is hosting a gathering of Czech expats. People of all ages and professions scattered the world over who maintain close links to their native country are here to exchange ideas, forge new ties and help overcome a lingering legacy of the communist past –the yawning crevice between Czechs at home and Czechs abroad. This year’s St. Wenceslas Day on September 28th is dedicated to Czechs living abroad and Czech Radio helped co-organize a week-long festival of expat events leading up to the holiday. I asked Miroslav Krupička,

It was meant to be the pride of Brno - the town’s own astronomical clock to rival Prague’s famous Orloj and attract tourists to the Moravian metropolis. Located on the city’s Freedom Square the shiny black six-metre-tall, phallus-shaped clock has attracted praise and insults in equal measure since its unveiling two years ago. As Brno City Hall hoped, it has become the talk of the town but in a slightly different way than expected.

The Mongol Rally is an adventure/ charity event that starts in Europe and ends in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Among this year’s 300 participants was Ota Ulč jr., the son of Czech exile writer Ota Ulč, Nick Jarret, both from New York and Prague local Karel Vančura. The team covered the 10,000 miles from the Czech Republic to Mongolia in a Renault Kangoo, helping to raise money for UNICEF and the Lotus Children's Centre Charitable Trust. Radio Prague called Ota in New York to talk about the Mongol Rally experience.

Type design is an ancient art enjoying a renaissance in the computer age. The specificities of writing systems that were once passed down from master to apprentice can now be worked with by designers anywhere in the world who have the patience and the talent to take on a foreign script. One such designer is David Březina, one of the founders of the Brno type foundry Rosetta. In 2008 his Skolar type family received international recognition and he is now working on a font for the Gujarati writing system, used by over 60 million people in the Indian

In his weekly TV show “Ano, šéfe!” or “Yes, Boss!,” Zdeněk Pohlreich sets restaurant owners straight. Some might say he is the closest equivalent that the Czech Republic has to Gordon Ramsay. And the Czech celebrity chef has some authority on the topic: he started cooking in 1975, then left the country shortly after the Velvet Revolution and spent some time working abroad. Since returning home, he has applied what he calls “the Western standard of cooking and service” to a number of restaurants around Prague. Zdeněk Pohlreich’s current operation