Spotlight | All stories

What are the origins of the Czechs? Where did they start out? The cultural anthropologist would tell you there is no clear answer. The patriot however would tell you the answer is as clear as day, or in this case, as clear as a mountain: a famous one outside of Prague that has played a special role in the history of Czechs, and it’s called Říp.

For this week's Spotlight we're in one of the most beautiful regions of the Czech Republic, the Krkonoše or Giant Mountains, straddling the Czech-Polish border, a hundred kilometres north-east of Prague. These are the Czech Republic's highest mountains, rising well over a thousand metres, and at this time of year, they are decked with a thick blanket of snow. The Giant Mountains is a wonderfully poetic and evocative name... and indeed Krkonoše does have its very own legendary giant, known as "Krakonoš" in Czech and "Ruebezahl" in German.

In today’s Spotlight we take a trip to a hidden gem of a museum in a Prague suburb which traces the often surprising history of coffee. The private Coffee Museum Alchymista takes you through coffee’s history, cultivation, production and industry covering the many different strains and its progress from a devilish concoction to everyday drink.

A short walk from the Vltava in Prague’s New Town is the church that witnessed some of the most dramatic moments during the Nazi occupation of the country. The crypt beneath the church was the last hiding place for seven Czechoslovak commandoes, including Jan Kubiš and Jozef Gabčík who assassinated the Reinhardt Heydrich in 1942. The site now houses an exhibition dedicated to their heroic actions. But the church also remains a place of worship for the small Czech Orthodox community.

Langhans photographic gallery is currently celebrating the 130th anniversary since the original studio, which became the most famous in the country, was founded in the centre of Prague in 1880. A fraction of the million and a half negatives that were built up there over the following seven decades now forms a valuable pictorial archive which is still being worked on and conserved for the future by a specially created foundation. We look at the archive, ongoing restoration and future plans.

It is a key anecdote in Czech musical history: that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart felt better in Prague than anywhere else. That feeling was based - among other things, no doubt - on his outstanding success at the city’s Estates Theatre, which was the scene of that and other important moments in Czech cultural history. And it’s the focus of today’s Spotlight by Christian Falvey.

In today’s Spotlight Radio Prague visits an early Baroque palace known as Michnův palác in the historic quarter of Malá strana. Built in the 16th century, it first belonged to the Micha family before it became munitions factory in the mid-1700s. In the early 20th century, after the founding of Czechoslovakia, it was sold to the patriotic Sokol sport and gymnastics organisation, which renovated it and named it Tyršův dům (or Tyrs’ House) after its main founder.

Many Czechs are familiar with the old expression Panenko Skákavá, which literally means Jumping Virgin Mary, but few know about the origin of the phrase. Jumping Virgin Mary, or more precisely, the Virgin Mary of Skoky, is the patron of what used to be one of Bohemia’s most famous Roman Catholic pilgrimage sites. In this edition of Spotlight, we visit Skoky, now an extinct village with a run-down Baroque church that once attracted large crowds of believers.

No visitor to Prague can fail to admire the beautiful National Museum, the dominant feature atop the long boulevard of Wenceslas Square. It is home to millions of items of natural and social history. However, today’s edition of Spotlight focuses not on the exhibitions inside, but on the building of the National Museum itself, one of the instantly recognisable landmarks of the Czech Republic.

Café society was a reality in Prague and many other Czech towns and cities during a golden era before the First World War and between the wars. There were hundreds of such cafés with the latest addition often trying to outdo its predecessors in luxury and splendour. This edition of Prague Spotlight centres on one of the most famous of these cafés, the Café Louvre. It is one of the few great cafés which have survived the ravages of time and has been restored to some of its original grandeur.