Spotlight | All stories

The Czech Republic has so far escaped the worst of the global recession, but it is beginning to bite now – worrying news at a time when the country’s government has collapsed. Small manufacturing companies that depend heavily on exports are really feeling the pinch – especially those that make goods for a very specialised market. Rob Cameron has been to the Petrof piano factory in Hradec Kralove to see how they’re coping with the crisis.

A Tuesday night in Brussels and a crowd of well-dressed concertgoers await a recital of Dvořák and Martinů. The concert, staged in the city’s splendid Theatre du Vaudeville, is a joint English and Czech venture. One of the people behind the event is Lucie Čadilová, from the Brussels Prague House:

This week’s spotlight focuses on one of the main centres of forestry in the Czech Republic and an oft overlooked pearl of Bohemian cultural heritage. Christian Falvey gives us his impressions of the town of Kostelec nad Černými lesy.

In today’s Spotlight we look at the history of Výstaviště - Prague’s Exhibition Grounds founded in the late 19th century but used to this day for fairs, exhibitions, concerts and other activities. Every year, Výstaviště, which is found at the edge of Bubeneč’s Stromovka Park and the Prague district of Holešovice, continually draws tens of thousands of visitors, both from the Czech Republic and from abroad. Its centerpiece is the 19th century Industrial Palace – an architectural gem that was partly destroyed by fire last year.

You are not very likely to wander into Svitavy by chance. Located on both the major road and railway line connecting Moravia and eastern Bohemia, for most people Svitavy is just a name on their itinerary. But if you do come and take a closer look, you’ll find a little town proud of its past and working for a better future. Once an important town for Moravia’s textile industry, re-populated after the expulsion of Svitavy’s German speaking inhabitants, it only recently showed its pride in perhaps its most famous native personality – Oskar

The Czech Republic is famous as a country of castles but this week I had a chance to visit one that is truly exceptional: the renowned Konopiště Chateau, found just 40 kilometres south of Prague. Konopiště, together with its wide surroundings and gorgeous interiors, is of course particularly famous for its ill-fated last owner – the heir-apparent to the Austrian throne, Archduke Francis Ferdinand, assassinated, together with his wife, in Sarajevo in 1914 - the spark that set off the First World War. In this edition of Spotlight we visit some of

It is a very crisp autumn day here in South Bohemia. And I’m slowly trundling towards Slavonice, which is in the very far south of this country, right on the Austrian border. I’m in a modern-looking, but as you can probably hear, rather shuddery sort of train. And I’m heading towards this stunningly pretty Czech town, which I hear, in recent years, has become something of an artists’ colony. So, I’m off to find out more about that in this week’s Spotlight.

A rather strange court case made the news recently when the deposed king of the make-believe Wallachian Kingdom lost a seven year legal battle with his former ‘foreign minister’ over the copyright to the fictitious realm. The Wallachian Kingdom – which has its own passports and currency - started as a practical joke, but soon grew into the most successful tourist venture in the country. And confusingly, it’s situated in the real Moravian region of Wallachia. Our reporter Rob Cameron went there to find out what all the fuss was about.

In this edition of Spotlight we visit Veltrusy Chateau, a gorgeous summer estate found north of the Czech capital. Founded in the 1700s by Czech nobleman Václav Antonín Chotek, Veltrusy is far from an obvious destination, but is well-worth a day-trip. The castle grounds boast a 300 hectare park along the Vltava River, with numerous paths leading among ancient trees to pavilions, a bridge or two and various monuments. Then of course, there is the chateau itself, highly valued as a gem of Baroque architecture.

The oldest and largest railway yard in Prague is soon to disappear. It will be replaced by a modern development with shops, apartments, offices and all kinds of other facilities as investors are ready to pour money into the area. In this edition of Spotlight, we look at the past and the future of the Bubny railway yard in Prague.