Culture

The institution of the Czech National Library needs a new building. Now the library is placed in the old historical building of Klementinum, but this space is not suitable anymore. There is not enough room for all the books. To solve this problem, they held a competition, searching for the best design of the new library building, which should be placed in Letna area, in Prague 7. As the winner was announced an architect Jan Kaplicky with his Future Systems studio. Kaplicky, a Czech, who lives and works in London, won with his extravagant and for someones quite shocking project – a building of organic shape, in combination of green and purple colours, which became known as “Blob“. Some people really liked it, other ones did not, some ones liked the idea of the extravagant building but did not want it to be placed on such beautiful and important place in Letna, which may partly destroy a beautiful panorama of old Prague… so the never ending story about the National Library building started. If you are long in Prague, maybe you have already heard about it. There were also already published some notes on this topic here, on this website.

The problem with the library was not only the extravagant look of the building, but also some issues concerning the run of the exhibition. Was it fair? The union of the Czech architect said it was not. Yes, it may seem that they were just disappointed, because they did not win themselves, but if they were right. They said that the winning project of Jan Kaplicky did not follow all the conditions of the exhibition – the stock space is under the ground in his design, which according to original rules of the exhibition should not be. There were and still are other problems, but it would be boring just to repeat them all the time around, if you want to get to know more about it, you can read it in older article. Everybody got already quite annoyed, after many passionate discus ions and argues, by this library thing. But the problem is still unsolved.

Although, there are some fresh news now. The Czech anti-monopoly office asked European commission for their opinion about the competition. And the office said, that the competition was not o.k. So what is going to happen now? To National Library can be advised to cancel the competition. But if they will be advised this, they are not, according to words of its director Jezek, likely to it. So is the library thing going to end in the court? And who is going to pay all the money that were spent on the expensive exhibition and are still to be spent – all Czech people who pay taxes. The story about new building is already too long, complicated and people got too tired of it. And, if the not only extravagant, but also very expensive building should not be in Prague, other towns already showed interest to have it, not only Czech Brno, but also British Edinburgh, but the architect Jan Kaplicky does not want it to be anywhere else. How this story will end? And how more long will it take?

Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia. As you know, until 1993 there were no Czech or Slovak Republics, but one country – Czechoslovakia, with Prague being its capital and Bratislava the second biggest city. After the separation, it became the capital of new country. Maybe, you will have a chance to visit it. And it is definitelly worth of visit. Not as amazing as Prague, but more fancy then Brno for example. It is in distance of about 4 and half hours bus ride from Prague, so it is not a place for one day trip, but it is worth to visit it for a weekend for example.

Now Bratislava became a bit infamous for someones because of the stupid movie hostel, but the town is pretty nice. Don’t be afraid of visit, you will like it here. And what to see there?

There are some old monuments, so it is good to take a walk in old town, to see gothic Saint Martin’s church, Michael’s Gate, Main Square and just stroll a bit in beautiful streets. Maybe you can also hike a bit to see the castle. The old town is small compared to Prague, but there are other touristic attractions beside it. Bratislava has interesting modern architecture. Highlight is definitelly one of the bridges across Danube river, which is called UFO, because of characteristic form on one of its ends, which looks like a space ship. It is possible to take a lift into “space ship“, and enjoy the amazing veiw all over the city from it. There is also a restaurant located inside, it must be great to enjoying the view while eating, but the prices here are pretty high.

The best place where to eat in Bratislava is Slovak pub on Obchodna Street, popular among students as well as expatriats and tourists. It offers traditional Slovak foods as halusky with brynza cheese or potatoes with onion and cheese, or sweet dumplings, garlic soup in bread and many others, those I tried were very tasty. And they also have their own beer, called “Dobre pifko“, which is also pretty good one.

Another place I like in Bratislava is a chocolaterie on Michalska Street, where they offer many delicious hot chocolates. So many that it is really hard to choose one. And some of them are really attractive, either with fruits, liquors, rum or spices. Beside this, they also have desserts…

Bratislava is on Danube River, so onother option what to do is to take a boat trip. Either just for Bratislava sightseeing from the river or to old Devin Castle close to Bratislava or even to Hainburg, small Austrian town, well or even to Wienna, which is not far from Bratislava. Well, Austria’s capital… also a place wchich should be visited, from Bratislava easily accesible also by train and bus, but it is another story.

So if you want to get to know another city, why not to visit Bratislava and also get to know a little bit more about Czechoslovak history this way, but mostly enjoy the atmosphere which this lovely town has.

The Czech political scene has been quite dirty since the 1989 revolution. Not to an extent extraordinary in today’s Europe, but definitely dirtier than what Havel and his fellow political idealists (meant in the positive sense) had hoped for. And, for the past several years, it’s still less clear which party is in the lead and how long a government will last. The current one seems to be balancing on the edge of a cliff, the previous one was only an inch more stable.

The Czech electoral system does not have any means of adjusting the results. Which means that the two major parties, together with their smaller allies, can form a 100: 100 parliament. That is exactly what happened in 2006. Both the left wing and the right- wing parties found themselves unable to form a coalition. For some time it seemed there simply will be no government and we would have to wait for a new election. Which, of course, would be very awkward for all the parties involved: the citizens did their part and it’s actually politicians’ job to deal with the result, not to say “please, let’s try again.”

There is an end to the story. The right- wing coalition of Civic Democrats, Christian Democrats and, interestingly the Green Party (a right- wing party in the CR) persuaded two Social Democrats to change sides. A solution, but not a very elegant one.

During the presidential vote there was another departure and last month, fourth Social Democrat MP left for the centre- right ground. One may speculate what their motivations are, but it really is not the point. The point is that in Czech electoral system we vote for parties and we expect their nominees to implement party policy, not the policy of a party that contradicts our vote.

But there’s little to be done about it, unless we are to accept a system that supports strict party discipline. In the otherwise liberal First Czechoslovakian Republic (1918- 38), for example, all MPs signed a resignation paper at the start of their term, and their party was free to use it any time he would upset it. That certainly is not an example to follow in 2008.

And what about the electoral system? Shouldn’t there be some fixed minimum majority, some points added to the winning party so that it could form a coalition, no matter how closely it won? Such a system works in Italy. But Italy changes its government nearly every year since the WWII, so it may not be terribly effective.

We could also introduce majority electoral system. That would result in a two- party system. the Civic Democrats and the Social Democrats, like the US Democrats and Republicans. Promblems? Yes, at least two. The Czech parties are far more centralized and rigid, less of open platforms, which the US parties more or less are. Secondly, it would be impossible for smaller parties to influence the political process. Simply, a country’s system has to be ready for such a change and I’m not sure the Czech one is.

The tensions are high. The Social Democrats are enraged. The government coalition seems to be winning, but they too have some major problems. They can’t change the fact that the whole government project is a mess: the three parties have actually little to share when it comes down to single questions.

The Christian Democrats are conservative, socially oriented, pro- Church and they have a leader, Jirí Cunek, with questionable views on ethnic minorities. The same man has been cleared of corruption charges under very strange circumstances, which happened to be condemned by a court several weeks ago. The Greens are pro- European, multicultural and, of course, eco- friendly. The Civic Democrats are not really put off by the EU or ecology. The three leaders don’t really like each other. And two of them have a couple of rebel MPs in their parties.

No wonder they keep arguing about nearly every major issue. So, seen in this light, there is no winner, the fight is a constant draw. Only the Communist Party has an ongoing holiday: without any danger of having a responsibility, without the ambition to win the next election (they know they can’t), they can oppose just about everything.

Thanks to a festival Rudy Linka organized in the main squares of several Czech cities, both residents and tourists were given a chance to see John Scofield at a rare free gig. Scofield is one of the few names of modern jazz known to the wider public. Playig with bassist Matt Penman and Bill Stewart on the drums, he made a powerful appearance on the Old Town Square.

Linka, a Czech- American jazz guitarist, is himself quite renowned, has released nearly a dozen CDs and won recognition of the foreign audience. He has staged the Bohemia JazzFest series of concerts for the third time. The last year is thought to have been a success, with well- known performers and an estimate of 40, 000 people attending the various events.

Around 8, 15 pm Linka welcomed the star with a glass prize, given at the festival for the first time, and the festival’s sponsor, Pilsner Urquell supplied 10 000 dollars for the trio. I believe it surely worked as a substitute for an audition. Pavel Bem was among those who presented the prize to the guitarist, although his appearance did not seem to enchant the public.

Scofield, a former co- player of the modern jazz superstar Miles Davis, is a key protagonist of the fusion subgenre. Such a sentence would arouse disagreement about many, since he isn’t bound by a single style, not even such a broadly defined one. He was always close to jazz funk, but that didn’t prevent him from releasing a dance- influenced album and some more traditional, calm works. A regular collaborator of other major jazzmen, Scofield seems comfortable with the open, ever- changing yet recognizable style he established for himself.

The show was both powerful and modest. Three people on the stage, enjoying themselves while playing some jazzed- up versions of classic rock songs, couple of standards and several pieces from Scofiled himself. The solos were intriguing, the players having a balanced share of time to present themselves. Scofiled was, of course, particularly interesting, using various effects, at times switching to odd and painful guitar sounds, constantly on the edge between established styles. And there were moments, when it seemed like two guitarists playing at once, as he played the high and low strings almost simultaneously, but developing a slightly different melody on each. He would need a third hand to make his play any richer. Shifting moods, the performance would easily slide from slow melancholy to relaxed mid- speed ride to a jazz- rock Satisfaction re- boot.

It wouldn’t be just to omit a mention of his co- players, who proved to be masterful craftsmen, smoothly handling both the support and the difficult improvised solos.

There were three preceding appearances that day which I do not mention only because I didn’t attend them, though I believe they were worthwhile. The festival went on for three more days, consisting of many appearances of bands from all over the world. It spent another night at the Old Town Square, then moved to Domazlice , Plzen (Pilsen), Prahcatice or Ceske Budejovice. Another big name, Victor Wooten, appears on the second Prague night.

You may have noticed it when walking through the streets of Prague. It looks like a rather strange happening with a chimney-like structure in the middle of the street. This “chimney” is made of colorful bricks which are covered with names and pictures. What is this all about?

The Brick Action is a fund-raising project of a civic organization called Portus Praha, which is a non-profit charity organization. The aim of this organization is to help people with mental handicaps to live normal lives and integrate them into everyday life of the society. It strives for independence and self-reliance of mentally handicapped people and elimination of large care-taking institutions for the benefit of family-like centers.

If you buy this special brick, your money will support building of sheltered housing for mentally challenged people. Moreover, your money will also help to develop more sheltered workshops which provide work for people unable to work in standard working conditions.

This year, the Brick Action celebrates its 9th birthday already and will be held in 22 cities all around the Czech Republic. You can buy those good-will bricks in Prague till July 18th. And where exactly? At Andel (yellow line B), Namesti Republiky (yellow line B), I.P.Pavlova (red line C), Na Prikope (near Mustek, green line A), and other places in Prague, simply Old Town Square and at the bottom end of Wenceslas Square. You can’t miss it.

So please, if you want to help, buy a brick and do a good turn.

Director Juraj Jakubisko finished the most expensive film which was so far made in Czech cinematography. His drama and historical movie is called Bathory ad tells a story of Elizabeth Bathory (Ersebet Bathory), a Hungarian countess who lived in today´s Slovakia in 16th/17th century. In those times, Slovakia was a part of the Kingdom of Hungary. Elizabeth Bathory is very infamous for murdering and torturing her vassals. She is also said to kill many innocent young girls to get their virgin blood, which she believed should help her to preserve her beauty. But now, for almost hundred years later, historicians´ opinions about her and her life are not that uniform. Some say that she got extremely rich and independent, and thus become a target of jealousy and then evil machinations of her enemies. So who really was she? An evil murderer or an extraordinary well-educated and rich woman, a lonely widow. Was she an aggressor or a victim? Or both? Now, after release of the movie, we can expect more discussions on this topic.

The Jakubisko´s film was already well discussed even before it started to be made, then shooting finally started in December 2005 and now, in June 2008 the film was finished.

The movie already had its V.I.P. premiere, it was 28th of June in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. The Czech premiere was on Saturday 5th of July in Karlovy Vary, where famous international film festival takes place. Czech and Slovak cinemas start screenings of the film from 10th of July.

Director of the Bathory movie, which was also intended to be called Love Story Bathory, is, already mentioned, famous Slovak Juraj Jakubisko, who did many good films since 1960´s when he graduated at Film Academy in Prague. This year, in Film festival in Karlovy Vary, he also received a prize for his lifelong contribution to cinematography.

The film with budget of 10 000 000 Euros, which makes it the most expansive film in the history of not only Czech, but as well Slovak cinematography, was made in international coproduction of companies from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and United Kingdom with additional funding provided by European Union´s Eurimages, the State Czech funding for cinematography (Statni fond CR pro podporu a rozvoj ceske kinematografie) and the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic.

English actress Anna Friel stars as Bathory, and there are many other popular faces as actors appearing here – as Juraj Jakubisko´s wife Deana Horvathova, Italian actor Franco Nero or popular Czech actors as Karel Roden, Lucie Vondrackova, Bolek Polivka or an idol of some teenagers Jiri Madl.

If you like juggling and street art, there are some good news for you. From 24th to 27th of July there is going to be 8th year of Czech Juggling Convention and Street Festival in Prague. It is, as organizers states, a big celebration of juggling, acrobatic, new circus and other street art forms. Not only Czech people will be performers, the event is international. It consists not of performances on streets of Prague, some workshops, but also evening programs, lectures and gala shows.

It was also announced, that this year the festival is focused on diabolo and contact juggling, fussion in between dance and juggling art and exploring of francophony juggling and also new circus scene. That sounds quite interesting, and juggling seems to be a good summer outdoor activity, so why not to get to learn something new about it.

More information about the project in English language is to be found here From what is written here it seems, that the program is still not much fixed, but on the other hand they ask those who would like to perform something to contact them, so maybe you still have a change even for this year…

On Friday started summer holidays for most of Czech students of basic and high schools. As a school year in the Czech Republic officially finishes 30th of June every year, this time most of school directors decided not to wait until Monday 30th and finished already on Friday 27th, so students have their holidays a little bit longer. As well as their teachers. Now they can enjoy full two months of summer holidays – July and August.

On Friday they got their school reports: in the Czech Republic is used five degrees marking system – students‘ achievements in particular subjects are classified by marks from one to five. One (excellent) is the best mark, while five means failed and student has to repair it at the end of holidays. It is a customary that for their last day of school year students dress well, but lately this custom is often being abandoned. But what stays is a custom to bring some flowers to the teacher (most of Czech teachers, especially at basic schools are female), eventually good chocolate. When teacher gives a report to the student, she/he gets the flowers. And on the afternoon many parents take their kids for ice cream or give them some presents, often also money as a reward for good schoolwork during the year. And then they can go for holidays, although most of high school students also take some summer work to earn some money for their personal expenses.

During summer holidays, some trams and bus schedules are changed, the buses and trams do not have to go so often as during the school year. But there should be a notice on the tram/bus stop.
And after the holidays, school officially starts on 1st of September, which is on Monday this year.

There was an interesting public enquiry on the website TripAdvisor (www.tripadvisor.com). People were asked to vote for “The Best Destinations for 2008”. Website is very visited and they claim, that the destinations on the list were thus chosen by millions of travelers.

The first place on the list went to Milford Sound at New Zealand, from European places was best Rhodos in Greece, which got 5th position. Prague got 62nd position, if we would consider only European places, then it would be the 21st. Is it good or bad? Prague is a very beautiful town and thus popular among visitors, but unfortunately it has its darker sides. So other European towns, which are usually not that often considered as “one of the greatest places on the world” as Prague often is considered, for example Austrian Salzburg or Italian Sienna got higher positions on the list.

There were some articles in Czech newspapers glossing the enquiry and thinking why awesome Prague did not get better position. According to Tomio Okamura, who is the speaker of the Association of Czech tourist offices, the tourists´ excitement from Prague is often spoiled by bad services. They are not only cheating taxi drivers, but also tricky money changes, where exchange money with “zero provision” but in disadvantageous rate. So there are lots of things, which can be improved and lets hope that improvements will happen and Prague will win better position next year.

One of the most disputed questions of last year is the building of a US radar base in Czech Repulic. It is supposed to be a part of the system of anti- ballistic missile defense system, which would work mainly in connection to the missile base that should be built in Poland.

Several cities, including the capital, have seen demonstrations against the plan. The opposition arouses from both sentiment and reason. Speaking of sentiment, any foreign station in the Republic is out of the question for many. The reasoning is based on some kind of stance towards the US policies and the position of Czech Republic in the world today. The supporters base their argument on the need to strengthen the Czech- US ties. The opposition claims that is not necessary and warns of a new arms race. For both it is mostly a question of principle. For part of the Czech public it also a matter of sour memories it brings back to life.

My intention here is not to suggest my opinion on the question. What one may ask is why is it such a sensitive issue for the Czech public. The 1968 Russian invasion may be the answer. It was not the first time in the recent history that the country was invaded or otherwise subject to foreign power or brute force. It was different in several points.

It did not come from an enemy, it came from a supposedly friendly state, in fact the friendliest of all, our idol the Soviet Union. Not that much of a surprise since they did it before, in Hungary. But it was different. The Czech government did not want to leave the Warsaw Pact. They still did pledge their loyalty to the USSR and to socialism- and still the tanks came.

Secondly, the army did not come completely on its own. A part of the Czech Communist Party sent a letter to Kremlin, asking for a “fraternal help” against the contra- revolutionary elements within the party. Party of ruling party asked for the invasion. Part of the public agreed with it.

Thirdly, the army did not commit a widespread massacre and leave. People died, but there was no large- scale fight going on. The army stayed- for more than twenty years. Most people got somehow used to it, as to an unpleasant, embarrassing memento of this country’s lack of strength, or lack of options.

During the first days of the invasion, on the Wenceslas square some confused Russian soldiers (most of them were unaware of what they are going to and why) opened fire at the National Museum. The rumor is that they thought it was the Berlin Reichstag. The scars are still visible and were referred to as “the frescos by El Grechko” by some Czechs, a reference to current Soviet foreign minister’s surname.

A few months ago, an anti- Radar demonstration took place at the square. The sentiment may be abused by some of the organizers, but it is important to know that it is present. Any permanent presence of foreign troops in CR simply does have a sour taste, be it rational or not.