Panelák Housing in the Czech Republic and Slovakia

People visiting the Czech Republic and Slovakia expect to see what the travel magazines show us; the castles, ancient bridges, cobblestone streets, stunning cathedrals and more. What they often don’t realize is that millions of people who live there do not all live in castles and luxury flats. In fact, a third of the population...

Architecture, CULTURE

January 24, 2018

A Closer Look at The Slav Epic by Alphonse Mucha

The Slav Epic is a series of twenty magnificent artworks by the Czech Art Nouveau painter Alphonse Mucha. The monumental artworks which comprise the series depict the history and mythology of the Slavic civilization and people. Mucha first formed the idea for the Slav Epic when he was working on the interior deign of the...

Art and Design, CULTURE

January 11, 2018

Photographs of Prague’s Beautiful Municipal House

The Municipal House is a posh civic building in Prague that is not only a well known landmark from the outside, but on the inside it houses one of the most prestigious concert halls in all of the Czech Republic… Smetana Hall. The art nouveau building itself is a sight to see. Located on Náměstí Republiky, the...

Architecture, CULTURE

December 18, 2017

Oil Paintings of Prague by Yuriy Shevchuk

Yuri Shevchuk is a Ukrainian painter whose paintings of Prague capture the vibrancy and life of the famous Czech capital. Shevchuk was born in Kiev, Ukraine in 1961 and attended the Kiev Art School and the prestigious Kiev Architectural Academy. He has lived in Prague since 1993 and the city has become the subject of...

Art and Design, CULTURE

November 8, 2017

Czech Bronze Plaques from the First Half of the 20th Century

Today we are looking at Czech bronze plaques from the first half of the 20th Century featuring Bohemian, Moravian and Slovak (now known as Czech) people. They are all quite rare, coming from the late 1800s and early 1900s. Searching far and wide, I could not locate any others, making them one-of-a-kind treasures, many created...

Art and Design, LIFESTYLE, Shopping

The-History-of-the-Brave-Czech-Nation-Tres-Bohemes

November 4, 2017

The History of the Brave Czech Nation by Lucy Seifert

The History of the Brave Czech Nation (And a Few Insignificant World Events) by Lucy Seifert is a big, beautiful coffee table book that seriously says it all. This fantastic book takes you on a whimsical journey into the past of the Czech Republic all the way from how Homo Sapiens arrived in Moravia to...

Books, ENTERTAINMENT

October 30, 2017

Šaloun’s Villa or Šalounova Vila

The atelier of one of the most famous sculptors of the first half of the last century stands in the steep hillside between Vinohrady and Vršovice. Ladislav Šaloun set up studio here after winning the order for the master Jan Hus monument, intended for Old Town Square, because his then studio in the Melantrich building...

Architecture, CULTURE

October 22, 2017

Light and Color at the Signal Festival in Prague

For four days in October, the historical heart of Prague was turned to a center of new technologies, amazing ideas and unbound creativity. The colorful Signal Festival revived both well-known as well as hidden mysterious places of Prague with creations of renowned Czech and foreign audiovisual artists. The Signal Festival in Prague lights up the...

PLACES, Prague

September 6, 2017

The Simple Line Drawings of Czech Painter Rudolf Kremlička

Rudolf Kremlička (June 19, 1886 – June 3, 1932) was a Czech painter who belongs to the great personalities of Czech modern painting of the 20th century. He is most known for his full color paintings of women and the countryside but today we’re looking at a few of the simple line drawings which are...

Art and Design, CULTURE

September 4, 2017

The Recycled Bottle Sculptures of Veronika Richterová

There are so many talented people in the Czech Republic, it would take several lifetimes of posting each and every day to introduce you to them all, but today we’re looking at the creative work of Veronika Richterová. She has turned recycling bottles into an art form all her own. The wonderful recycled bottle sculptures of Czech...

Art and Design, CULTURE, PEOPLE, Women

August 30, 2017

The Striking Collages of Jiří Kolář

Jiří Kolář was a Czech painter, poet, and writer from Protivín, Czech Republic. He became a full-time writer while living in the city of Kladno in 1943. In 1945 he moved to the capital of the Czech Republic, Prague. In Prague he worked the publishing house Družstvo Dílo as an editor. When the communists came...

Art and Design, CULTURE

August 24, 2017

Architectural Villa at Černošice, Czech Republic

Welcome to the Vráž family house, a new architectural villa at Černošice, Czech Republic. Originally the site of a small cottage, this sloping plot of land was in need of an update. The owner was thinking of transforming it into a weekend home and that is when he approached Studio Olgoj Chorchoj. By the end of the...

Architecture, CULTURE

August 22, 2017

Little Sketches of Prague Photographed on Location by Ieva Ozola

Ieva Ozola is an artist from Latvia who lived in Prague for three years. She is a very talented illustrator and designer who specializes in watercolor and ink illustrations. She began a project in July of 2015, where she sketched one place each day for 365 days. Her little sketches of Prague photographed on location give us...

Art and Design, CULTURE, Women

August 10, 2017

David Černýs St. Wenceslas in The Lucerna Passage

If you have ever visited Prague, you have surly been to – or at least heard about – Wenceslas Square, one of the main city squares in Prague. At one end of the square stands Prague’s National Museum and a monument dedicated King (and later, Saint) Wenceslas, who was so famous that Czechs named a day...

Art and Design, CULTURE

August 4, 2017

The Alphonse Mucha Museum in Prague

Muchas artwork can be found in many places in Prague including the Municipal House, the National art gallery, and even his design of a stained-glass window in the St. Vitus’ Cathedral in Prague. But their is no better place to go to see Muchas famous art then the Mucha museum in the center of Prague....

Art and Design, CULTURE

July 21, 2017

Czech Modernist & Industrialist Designer Jindřich Halabala

Czech industrial designer, writer, and educator Jindřich Halabala was a significant proponent of modernist, industrially manufactured furniture in Czechoslovakia and had a tremendous influence on the interior design of many interwar and postwar Czech homes. Halabala helped create a new mass-market approach to home design and furnishing in Czechoslovakia in the interwar period and after...

Art and Design, CULTURE