Stará Aerovka – Czech Aviation Museum Complete with Hangars

Stará Aerovka is a Czech Aviation Museum complete with hangars, a unique complex representing not only the architecture showing the beginning of Czechoslovak aviation, but also the development of aircraft technology during WWII. At this single location it’s possible to see uniquely preserved buildings, typical for Central European airport structural engineering of the 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, and...

LIFESTYLE

July 13, 2016

The Czechoslovak People’s Army in the Early 1960s

A Look Back at the Czechoslovak People’s Army in the Early 1960s is inspired by today’s date, July 13th. Today is a special day because it’s my father’s birthday, and while I was looking at old photographs of him, I found this collection of old army photos of him and his friends. Now I cannot...

Bohemians, CULTURE, Photography

July 12, 2016

Flowers at the Farmer’s Market in Prague

Summer is a wonderful time to be in Prague. One of our favorite reasons are the outdoor farmer’s markets. Many of these also have vendors who sell flowers. Flowers at the Farmer’s Market in Prague just make summer feel more… summery! Flowers are a huge part of Czech culture and they are on sale throughout...

LIFESTYLE

July 12, 2016

Back in Time to Charles University Students of 1948

Last week we posted about the esteemed professors at Charles University in 1948. Today we wanted to share a little about student life. LIFE Magazine photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt went to Czechoslovakia in 1947 and he captured the images of some students at Prague’s Charles University. The photographs accompanied an article in LIFE Magazine on January...

Czech Schools, LIFESTYLE

July 11, 2016

Czechoslovakia 1968: The Award Winning Documentary

Czechoslovakia 1968 is a short documentary film about 50 years of history of Czechoslovakia, composed entirely of sepia toned archival footage. It was produced in 1969 and it focuses primarily on “Prague Spring”, also known as the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia. The provided excerpt offers just a glimpse into the extensive article. To unlock the...

ENTERTAINMENT, History, Movies

July 10, 2016

The Good Soldier Švejk in Color

We’ve already shared The Good Soldier Švejk (pronounced: shvayke) here in much more detail before, but today we came across some sweet images in color, so we are sharing once again. In The Good Soldier Švejk, celebrated Czech writer and anarchist Jaroslav Hašek combined dazzling wordplay and piercing satire in a hilariously subversive depiction of the...

Art and Design, CULTURE

July 8, 2016

Strawberry Crumble Cake or Jahodový Koláč s Drobenkou

Strawberry Crumble Cake (or Jahodový Koláč s Drobenkou in Czech) is a quick and easy dessert to make. This moist cake tastes more like a super sweet strawberry bar than a cake and that is precisely why we love it so much. I remember eating this cake as a young girl for breakfast and feeling...

Food, Recipes

July 6, 2016

Carlsbad Dumplings or Karlovarský Knedlíky

There is nothing more popular in Czech cuisine as dumplings. Today we are going to share a family recipe for Carlsbad Dumplings or Karlovarský Knedlíky. In the Bohemian forests, around the Šumava mountains, dumplings are called bosáky, in Southern Bohemia, they’re called drbáky and in Moravia they’re often served with poppy seeds and called šulánky. In the...

Food, Recipes

July 4, 2016

Back in Time to Charles University Professors and Doctors of 1948

LIFE Magazine photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt went to Czechoslovakia in 1947 and he captured the images of some amazing notable people at Prague’s Charles University. The photographs accompanied an article in LIFE Magazine on January 12, 1948. These are the esteemed faces and personalities of Charles University at the time… So how much did an education cost...

Czech Schools, LIFESTYLE

July 1, 2016

Retro Czech in the 70s and 80s – Exhibit of ČSSR Memories

Are you interested in seeing retro Czech in the 70s and 80s? If so than do we have a plan for you. There’s a fun exhibit going on at the Dancing House. It’s a groovy retro time capsule including a prefab apartment complete with appliances and home accessories, vehicles and camping gear to take you...

LIFESTYLE

June 30, 2016

A Unique One-of-a-Kind Škoda Limo

If you speak Czech, you get the pun on the cars name. A Škoda (Czech car) translates to damage but also means something like “bummer”, so today we are looking at a funny old bummer of a limousine. Škoda Auto more commonly known as Škoda, is a Czech automobile manufacturer founded in 1895 as Laurin...

LIFESTYLE

June 29, 2016

Radio Free Europe’s Czech Game Show from 1952

Did you know that there was a Czech game show version of What’s My Line? is called Hádej kdo jsem? What’s My Line? is a panel game show which originally ran in the United States from 1950 to 1967, with several international versions and subsequent U.S. revivals. It is the longest-running game show in the history of primetime network...

LIFESTYLE

frantisek-hilmar-kytka-FM-Hilmar-Frantisek-Matej-Hilmar-Polka

June 28, 2016

František Hilmar, Father of the Polka

Here is something that most of you may not know about our family… My father can trace his history back to around 1648, when the first Hilmar (Hylmar) came from Swedish/Nordic territory to Košťanech (in what’s now known as the Czech Republic) as a soldier in the Thirty Years’ War. He settled and made his...

Bohemians, CULTURE, LIFESTYLE, Music

June 25, 2016

Your Chance To Save a Czech Castle

Ever since we’ve started this site, we have lots of emails coming into our mailboxes from sharing of recipes, to old photographs, to places yet undiscovered and artists we may never have heard of. This morning we received a call for help to save a Czech castle from ruin. The castle is located in Veselí (Janovice...

LIFESTYLE

June 23, 2016

Czechs in the City of West, Texas

Have you ever been West? By West I mean the city of West, located in McLennan County, Texas. It’s a friendly little place with a population of about 3,000 folks, many of them with Czech descendants. This tiny community boasts a remarkably vibrant and long-standing Czech heritage. Yes, there is an abundance of Czechs in the city of...

PLACES, Wanderlust

June 22, 2016

Josef Čapek – Artist and Inventor of Robot

Josef Čapek (1887-1945) was born in Hronov, Bohemia (Austria-Hungary, now Czech Republic). He was three years older than his brother Karel Čapek (1890-1938), who was to become one of the most influential Czech writers of the 20th century. Josef Čapek at first studied weaving (1901–3) at a craft school in Vrchlabí, but soon it became...

Art and Design, CULTURE