Czechmatediary

Remember when we were voting on 7 wonders of the Czech Republic? Well, the votes have been counted and the results are in. Here they are:

1. Czech Beer

• it has its trademark in EU now
• the Czechs drink annually about 160 liters per person, which makes them the world winners
• the historical records of Czech beer reach all the way to 1088 (during the reign of king Vratislav II.)
• year 1842 welcomes the birth of Pilsener Urquell, the most popular Czech beer ever

2. Czech glass

• known for its high quality (on the home front and worldwide)
• it has been around since the 13th century
• Czech crystal chandeliers decorate the opera house in Rome, Milan’s La Scala or Versailles
• 19th century Czech artist Bedrich Egermann pushed ahead the ‘crazy’ thought of glass becoming a new form or sculpturing material

3. Charles the Fourth (1316 – 1378)

• The most well-known Czech king ever, known as the Father of the Land
• He took over the Czech lands when they were in a terrible shape and made them out to be the most powerful state (Roman Empire) in Europe
• A founder of the first university in Central Europe (Charles University in Prague), Prague’s Charles Bridge and other magnificent structures (more…)

Imagine you get invited by your acquaintance for a cup of tea and when you come to his house, there are strange paper bags hanging all over the walls. First, you realize you don’t know this person enough and you wonder if you should start slowly backing out of this very strange place and call the police. Then you decide to be brave and take a closer look at those walls and you realize they are covered with  barf bags!

We are talking here about Milos Kubista, a Czech dude from Plzen who owns  a collection of more than 1,500 air sickness bags (some framed) from all over the world. It took him close to 40 years  to collect all those ‘valuable’ items and the numbers are still growing. (more…)

Do you know what I love the most about blogging with Czechmate Diary? I learn something new almost every day! For instance, take this example: did you know that Baltimore used to have a neighborhood called Little Bohemia? I had no idea this Maryland capital has traces of Czech heritage!

I guess the city is known for its painted screens (see image above), which seem to be a mark of almost every house. This popular art craze was started by a CZECH GUY, William Octavec, who in 1913 painted his first screen, illustrating goods for sale inside his store.

This eye-opening article was sent to me by one of you guys, so thank you! If you would like to read the whole story click here.

CZ: Vite, co se mi na blogovani s Czechmate Diary libi nejvic? Ze se neustale dovidam plno novych informaci. Napriklad toto: vedeli jste, ze Baltimore, hlavni mesto Marylandu, mival mestkou ctvrt zvanou “Little Bohemia”? A to neni vsechno! Toto mesto je pry take velmi zname svymi malbami na oknech skoro kazdeho domecku. Tento prazvlastni malirsky trend zacal v roce 1913 Cech William Octavec, ktery se rohodl pokreslit okna sve samoobsluhy obrazky zbozi, ktere bylo v krame k dostani.

Clanek mi poslala jedna ctenarka, tak ji za to vrele dekuji. Podrobnosti si muzete precist zde.

Calendar for May is done! Don’t miss out on Houby Days Festival in Cedar Rapids or Nebraska Czechs festival in Lincoln. Also, if you haven’t seen a Czech movie called “A little piece of heaven” rent a little plane on May 12th and fly to Washington DC – a piece of cake.

CZ: Je tu kalendar na kveten a s nim veleznamy Houby Festival, nebo Nebraska Czechs of Lincoln festival. Jestli jste jeste nevideli film zvany “Kousek nebe”, 12. kvetna nasednete do privatniho jetu, smer ceska ambasada ve Washingtonu.

1. Cedar Rapids, IA

What: Houby Days festival

When: May 15

2. New York, NY (Czech Center)

What: “Kriess” concert (performs European music of 13th to 15th century)

When: May 6

3. Astoria, NY (Bohemian Hall)

What: 1910 Costume Ball (100th anniversary of Bohemian Hall)

When: May 1

4. Lincoln, NE

What: Nebraska Czechs of Lincoln Festival

When: May 2 (more…)

Josef Lada is a phenomenal, self-taught  Czech writer and an illustrator. Born into a poor cobbler’s family, Lada’s love for drawing made him a self-taught prodigy of a unique style of drawing. In fact, his style is so ‘Lada’ that it is almost impossible to make a mistake when identifying his drawings.

One of his more famous drawings is called “Hospodska Rvacka” (‘Bar Fight’) from 1943, in which he depicts about 50 individuals fighting in a local pub. Why are they fighting? Maybe the innkeeper told them there was no beer left to serve? Who knows… (more…)

The Czech Republic’s tourist spot is Prague;  Slovakia has the magnificent Tatras; China has the Great Wall; Japan has the Mount Fuji and…what else? How about these images of a truly astonishing Rice-paddy art that my friend sent me? ‘The Japanese artists create the murals by planting little purple and yellow-leafed Kodaimai rice along with their local green-leafed Tsugaru, a Roman variety,to create the coloured patterns in the time between planting and harvesting in September.’

Isn’t this crazy?!

CZ: Cesi se mohou vytahovat Prahou, Slovaci Tatrami, Cinane Cinskou zdi a Japonci horou Fuji…nebo jsem neco vynechala? A co takhle japonske umeni zasevani ryze (tzv. Rice-paddy art)? Tyto fotky mi poslala jedna z mych kamaradek a nemohla jsem si pomoci, nez vam je ukazat. Neni to nadhera?
(more…)

The Czech Republic is famous again! The world’s biggest panoramic photo happens to  portray the beauty of Prague. This is what the 360cities.net says about it:

‘This image a super high resolution photo. Use your mouse to zoom in and see a startling level of detail. This image is currently (as of 12/2009) the largest spherical panoramic photo in the world. It is 192,000 pixels wide and 96,000 pixels tall. That’s 18.4 billion pixels, or 18.4 gigapixels! When it’s printed, it will be 16 meters (53 feet) long at regular photographic quality (300dpi). It was shot in early October 2009 from the top of the Zizkov TV Tower in Prague, Czech Republic in collaboration with Prague 3 town hall. A digital SLR camera and a 200mm lens were used. Hundreds of shots were shot over a few hours; these shots were then stitched together on a computer over the following few weeks. (more…)

Daniela Lazarova from Radio Prague always digs out such interesting stuff. This time her article targeted the Museum of Records and Curiosities in Pelhrimov. We already know about fakir Petr who was planning on overcoming his past record at the museum by laying on hundreds of glass shards for 72 hours. This time the museum is exhibiting a 2  by 1,35 meters tapestry made by an amateur! This late-bloomer is a 46-year-old machine engineer from Slovakia who was unable to work for 4 years because of a work accident. Bored out of his mind, he kept watching ‘dumb’ TV channels until he came across a tapestry maker and decided to try it. He tried making Czech castles and various caricatures from the daily newspaper and then went on doing – now his life achievement – the Last Supper. This tapestry has over a million stitches and took him more than 9 years to finish. (more…)

My friend Kristina is such an awesome artist. She makes these amazing hand-carved silhouettes that allow the shadows of the Prague past to illuminate our life in the present. Take a look for yourself – you cannot help but fall in love with them.

Once again, this would be a great, very ORIGINAL Christmas present for your loved ones. If you decide to purchase one (like I did), you have 2 options:
A. You can buy an unframed 9 x 7 silhouette for $29.99 (plus tax)

B. You can buy the silhouette in a 8 x 10 frame for $39.99 (plus tax)

- email subscribers get a 10% discount!

- in both cases shipping and handling is not included. (more…)

This is a special month for Czechs and Slovaks because it marks a 20-year anniversary of the Velvet Revolution. That’s right, although Czechoslovakia does not exist anymore both countries have been enjoying 20 years of freedom! Most of the events bellow commemorate just that:

CZ: Tento mesic je pro Cechy a Slovaky velmi vyznamny, nebot 17. listopadu obe zeme slavi 20. vyroci (!!) sametove revoluce!! Ceskoslovensko sice jiz neexistuje, ale obe zeme si jiz 20 let uzivaji nadherne svobody. Vetsina zde zminenych akci si pripomina prave toto datum:

1. Baltimore, MD

What: Slavic food festival

When: Nov. 21 (more…)