Prague

Prague Castle is a castle in Prague where the Kings of Bohemia, Holy Roman Emperors and presidents of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic have had... their offices. The Czech Crown Jewels are kept here. Prague Castle is the biggest castle in the world at about 570 metres in length and an average of about 130 metres wide. The history of the castle stretches back to the 9th century . The first walled building was the church of Our Lady. The Basilica of Saint George and the Basilica of St. Vitus were founded in the first half of the 10th century. The first convent in Bohemia was founded in the castle, next to the church of St. George. A Romanesque palace was erected here during the 12th century. In the 14th century, under the reign of Charles IV the royal palace was rebuilt in Gothic style and the castle fortifications were strengthened. In place of rotunda and basilica of St. Vitus began building of a vast Gothic church, that have been completed almost six centuries later. During the Hussite Wars and the following decades the Castle was not inhabited.
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Vyšehrad is a castle located in the city of Prague, Czech Republic. It was probably built in the 10th century, on a hill over the Vltava River.... Situated within the castle is the Basilica of St Peter and St Paul, as well as the Vyšehrad Cemetery, containing the remains of many famous people from the Czech history, among them Antonín Dvořák, Bedřich Smetana, Karel Čapek, and Alphonse Mucha. Local legend holds that Vyšehrad was the location of the first settlement which later became Prague, though thus far this claim remains unsubstantiated. When the Přemyslid dynasty settled on the current site of Prague Castle, the two castles maintained opposing spheres of influence for approximately two centuries. Like this the second seat of the Czech sovereigns was established on a steep rock directly above the right bank of the Vlatava river, in the 10th century. The zenith of Vyšehrad was during the second half of the 11th century, when Vratislav transferred his seat from Prague Castle, and the original fort was remodelled as a complex comprising a sovereign's palatial residence, church and seat of the chapter.
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The Petřín Lookout Tower is a 60 metre high steel framework tower in Prague, which strongly resembles the Eiffel Tower. Although it is... much shorter than the Eiffel Tower, it stands atop a sizable hill, Petřín, so the top is actually at a higher altitude than that of the Eiffel Tower. The Petřínská rozhledna was built in 1891 and was used as an observation tower as well as a transmission tower. Today the Petřínská rozhledna is a major tourist attraction. If you go up the hard way, the hill is roughly a half-hour walk up paths that get quite slippery when it snows, and the tower is a shorter but fairly tiring climb; however, the hill is served by a frequent funicular and the tower has an elevator for disabled persons. On clear days, the tower offers a good view of the Prague skyline. It is open from 10am to 7-10pm every day from April to October and only at weekends from November to March, from 10am to 5pm. There is a gift shop and a small cafeteria on the main level. On the lowest level is a small museum of Jára Cimrman. Petřínská rozhledna is often described as small version of the Eiffel Tower.
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The Metronome is a giant, functional metronome located overlooking the Vltava River and the city center of Prague. It was erected in 1991, and stands... on the plinth left vacant by the destruction of an enormous monument to former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin . The 75-foot-tall Metronome is now mostly a scenic vista and a meeting place for young people. It was designed by international artist Vratislav Novak. The area behind the metronome is also a famous skatespot where skateboarders from Europe and around the world congregate and film throughout the year.
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The National Gallery in Prague is a state-owned art gallery in Prague, Czech Republic. It is housed in different locations within the city, the... largest being the Veletržní Palác. Its history dates back to the 18th century , when a group of prominent representatives of Bohemia patriotic aristocracy and Enlightened middle-class intellectuals decided to elevate what they called "debased artistic taste" of the local population. It houses the National Gallery's collection of modern art. The institution, which received the title Society of Patriotic Friends of the Arts established the Academy of Fine Arts and the Picture Gallery. In 1918 the Picture Gallery became a central collection of newly formed Czechoslovakia. The vast collection contains a large number of Czech and Slovak paintings and sculptures, including works by Gutfreund, Kupka, Fila, Benes and Bohumil Kubišta. The international collection includes numerous works by artists such as Picasso, Rodin, Gauguin, Cezanne, Monet, Van Gogh, Renoir and Klimt; many of these are donations from the collection of art historian Vincenc Kramář.
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Marek Vašut is a Czech film, stage, and television actor, best known for his appearances in Help! I'm a Teenage Outlaw and Thief Takers.... Vašut had first travelled to New York to attend the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute, secondly attended the University of California, Davis, thirdly attended The Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, fourthly attended the Gymnasium J. Nerudy, a French high school in Prague. Vašut was honored a full sponsored fulbright scholar in Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute. Vašut is most widely known for appearing in the action-filled movie Blade II. He is currently working on the films Solomon Kane which is being filmed, and The Crown of Vyšehrad which is a Czech American movie currently on post-production.
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Karel Zich was a Czech singer, guitarist and composer. Karel Zich was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, into a musical family. His grandfather was... Otakar Zich, composer and professor of music aesthetics, and his uncle was the composer Jaroslav Zich. Karel attended the Prague State Conservatory for three years and later graduated from Charles University in sociology. Between 1964 and 1965 he performed with the band Framus as a singer. In 1968 Zich joined Spirituál kvintet and stayed with them until 1973. His main interest was in rock'n'roll, and he is sometimes called the "Czech Elvis". After his successes in the Czech pop scene with various bands, Zich decided to start his solo career. In 1974 he left Spirituál kvintet and in 1976 released his first album, Dům č.5 . Although he sang his own songs, he also worked with famous composers Karel Svoboda, Petr Janda, and others. In 1975 Zich reached the top of his career by winning 4th place in Zlatý Slavík. In 1979 he founded the band Flop and recorded 50 singles and 15 albums, one with the legendary Wanda Jackson.
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Josef Sedloň is a Czech DJ who works for Radio 1 in the Czech Republic. He is an expert on many types of music. Since the early '90s,... Sedloň's career has been closely linked to the Prague alternative station Radio 1. He began DJing in 1992, at Klub 007 Strahov, using only CDs and audio cassettes. In 1995 he discovered the power of decks and vinyl, and began to attract fans with energetic sets full of acid trance and funky techno. These days, Sedloň mainly plays breakbeat.
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Miroslav Ladislav Vitouš , is a Czech jazz bassist who is known for his extensive career in the USA. Born in Prague, he began the violin at age... six, and started playing the piano at age ten, and bass at fourteen. As a young man in Europe, Vitouš was a competitive swimmer. One of his early music groups was the Junior Trio with his brother Alan on drums and fellow Czech luminary-to-be Jan Hammer on keyboards. He studied music at the Prague Conservatory , subsequently winning an international music contest in Vienna, earning him a scholarship to the Berklee College of Music in Boston, USA. Vitouš's virtuoso jazz bass playing has led critics to place him in the same league as Scott LaFaro, Dave Holland, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen and Christian McBride. A representative example of Vitouš's double bass playing is Now He Sings, Now He Sobs , with Chick Corea on piano and Roy Haynes on drums. This album shows his strong rhythmic sense, innovative walking lines, and intensity and abandon as an improviser.
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Karel Gott is a Czech Schlager singer, and an amateur painter. He is considered as the most successful male singer in former Czechoslovakia and... currently in the Czech Republic; he has being voted the Most Favorite Male Singer in the annual national pool Český slavík in total thirty-six times. He also gained widespread fame in the German-speaking countries. Gott was born in Pilsen, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia , and has lived in Prague since age 6. He initially wanted to study art, but failed the exams at UMPRUM, the Secondary School of Art and Industry, upon which he began training as an electrician. On completing his studies, he began working as an electrician, but was soon fascinated by the new types of music flooding the city, and became interested in jazz. He experimented with playing the bass and the guitar, but eventually decided to focus on singing, studying it privately. During the 1950s, he occasionally performed as an amateur singer and often participated in competitions.
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Olga Schoberová or Olinka Bérová born March 15, 1943 in Prague, Czech Republic , Czech-American actress, was often compared with... Brigitte Bardot and Ursula Andress. She acted in 22 Czech, German, Italian and American movies. Olga was married to Brad Harris on 16 November 1967 and divorced in 1969 with one daughter, Babrinka, called "Sabrina". She married John Calley on December 30, 1972, and divorced almost exactly 20 years later, in December 1992. In 1968 she appeared in The Vengeance of She under the name "Olinka Berova", and used that name for several more films.
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Jan Kaplický was a world-renowned Czech architect who spent a significant part of his life in the United Kingdom. He was the leading architect... behind the innovative design office, Future Systems. He was best known for the futuristic Selfridges Building in Birmingham, England, and the Media Centre at Lord's Cricket Ground in London. In February 2007, he won the international architectural competition for the new building of the National Library of the Czech Republic in Prague, a project that was subsequently cancelled. Jan Kaplický, the only child of a sculptor and a botanical illustrator, was born on 18 April 1937 in Prague, Czechoslovakia, and grew up in a suburb of Prague called Ořechovka. Between 1956 and 1962 he studied at the College of Applied Arts and Architecture and Design in Prague, receiving a Diploma in Architecture. He worked in private practice in Czechoslovakia between 1964 and 1968. In the wake of the Prague Spring, the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, he escaped to London in September 1968 with fellow architect Jaroslav Vokoun carrying only US$100 and a few pairs of socks.
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Francis Lederer was a film and stage actor with a successful career, first in Europe, then in the United States. Lederer fell in love with acting... when he was young, and was trained at the Academy of Music and Academy of Dramatic Art in Prague. After service in the First World War, he made his stage debut as an apprentice with the New German Theater, a walk-on in the play Burning Heart. He toured Moravia and central Europe, making a name for himself as a matinee idol in theaters in Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Austria and Germany. Notable among his performances was a turn as Romeo in Max Reinhardt's staging of Romeo and Juliet. In the late 1920s, Lederer was lured into films by the German actress Henny Porten and her producer husband. Because of his good looks, it took some time for the critics to take him seriously, but his association with directors such as G. W. Pabst, for whom he did Pandora's Box with Louise Brooks, and Atlantic , helped him overcome that problem. He was also notable in The Wonderful Lies of Nina Petrovna in the same year.
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David Nykl is a Czech Canadian actor of film, television, commercials and theater. After the Soviet invasion in 1968, he and his family left... then-Communist Czechoslovakia for Canada. Upon arriving at Victoria, British Columbia, his father found work as a structural engineer and his mother found work as a nurse. Nykl attended the University of British Columbia, where he majored in liberal arts. Nykl has appeared heavily in Vancouver and Prague in dozens of theater, film and television productions. Known for his versatility and depth as an actor, he has also produced theatre and film projects, and in 1994, he co-founded Prague's Misery Loves Company Theatre with Richard Toth and Ewan McLaren. He is known to science fiction fans as the recurring Stargate Atlantis character of Dr. Radek Zelenka, a Czech scientist on Earth's expedition to the "lost city" of Atlantis. His character often provides a foil to the main scientists, who forget the limits of their situation. He is fluent in Czech, English, French and Spanish. Though his character on Stargate Atlantis speaks English with a Czech accent, Nykl normally speaks with a Canadian accent.
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Miroslav Táborský is a Czech actor who has appeared on Czech television series, as well as in American movies. Táborský... graduated from the Theatre Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague in 1987. Táborský has received both an Alfréd Radok Award and a Goya Award .
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Václav Havel ; 5 October 1936 – 18 December 2011 was a Czech playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and politician. Havel was the... ninth and last president of Czechoslovakia and the first president of the Czech Republic . He wrote more than 20 plays and numerous non-fiction works, translated internationally. Havel was voted 4th in Prospect magazine's 2005 global poll of the world's top 100 intellectuals. At the time of his death he was Chairman of the New York-based Human Rights Foundation. He was the founder of the VIZE 97 Foundation and the principal organizer of the Forum 2000 annual global conference. Havel was one of the signatories of the Charter 77 manifesto, a founding signatory of the Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism, and a council member of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. Havel received many recognitions, including the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Gandhi Peace Prize, the Philadelphia Liberty Medal, the Order of Canada, the freedom medal of the Four Freedoms Award, and the Ambassador of Conscience Award.
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Jan Švankmajer is a Czech filmmaker and artist whose work spans several media. He is a self-labeled surrealist known for his surreal animations... and features, which have greatly influenced other artists such as Terry Gilliam, the Brothers Quay, and many others. Jan Švankmajer was born in Prague. An early influence on his later artistic development was a puppet theatre he was given for Christmas as a child. He studied at the College of Applied Arts in Prague and later in the Department of Puppetry at the Prague Academy of Performing Arts. He contributed to Emil Radok's film Doktor Faust in 1958 and then began working for Prague's Semafor Theatre where he founded the Theatre of Masks. He then moved on to the Laterna Magika multimedia theatre, where he renewed his association with Radok. This theatrical experience is reflected in Švankmajer's first film The Last Trick, which was released in 1964.
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