LECTURE IN LONDON Sam Walters, Director or the Orange Tree
Theatre, Richmond, will speak on Thursday 23 February at 18.30 at the St. Bride
Institute, Bride Lane (off Fleet Street) on the theme of producing Vaclav
Havel's plays in English.
Sam Walters has been an enthusiastic
supporter of his plays at the Orange Tree Theatre since Havel first began
to receive international recognition as a dissident playwright in the 1970s. The
event is organised by the English College Foundation and anyone wishing to
attend should email the ECF at dinah.bond@info-europe.demon.co.uk
to reserve a place.
LECTURE TOUR The Garden History Society in conjunction with The Friends of Czech Historic Buildings Gardens and Parks has arranged a tour that will be led by Harriet Landseer, a Prague based-art historian based and a specialist in tours of Central Europe.
The tour will take place from the 25th May to the 2nd June 2012 and will concentrate on historic gardens and parks. Places to be visited will include Brno, Hluboká, Český Krumlov and Prague Castle.
The cost of the tour will include a donation to the organising charities to help further their work. Please contact: rma.peel@btopenword.com
LECTURE TOUR IN 2012 One of the popular Wessex Fine Art Study Courses, running since 1982, will take place from the 13th to the 22nd of May 2012 and will concentrate on historic buildings, their settings and contents in both Bohemia and in particular South Moravia. The tour will be led by Barbara peacock. Places to be visited will include Kutná Hora, Kroměříž (one of the finest Baroque ensembles in the country) and Lednice, and others of great interest.
Telephone 02380 445261 or email: paman6139@hotmail.com
CZECHOSLOVAKIA - TWO RECENT
PUBLICATIONS
Exile In and From Czechoslovakia during the
1930s and 1940s, edited by Charmian Branson and Marian Malet of the
University of London's Institute of Germanic and Romance Studies, is the
proceedings of the very successful conference held at the Institute in September
2003, at which distinguished experts examined every facet of the subject.
Tomas Masaryk and Eduard Benes:
Czechoslovakia by the historian Peter Neville of
Kingston University is one of numerous titles in Haus
Publishing's Makers of the Modern
World series, and deals with the role of the two statesmen as champions of
the independent state of the Czechs and Slovaks.
CONNECT TO THE LANGWEIL MODEL OF PRAGUE The Langweil model of Prague as a three-dimensional illustration of the city is a unique work of art unlike any other in the world.
The model made from paperboard on a wooden construction was created in 1826-1837 by Antonín Langweil, an assistant at the university library in the Klementinum.
The model contains over two thousand buildings from the historic heart of Prague in a perfect and realistic state with all the structural and decorative details of the facades.
Approximately half of the buildings in the model were later demolished or radically rebuilt in the real Prague.
You can take a tour of Prague from the comfort of your computer. Download Google Earth here. Then when this has been installed, go to Google, write in 'Prague', press 'Maps' top left. You will see a vertical (=overhead) view or map of the city. Hover with the mouse over 'Satellite' top right, and when 'Earth' appears alongside, press this and the map will convert into a 3D projection of the city. You can use the controls and your mouse to fly about over the city and even drop to street level. It's one way to get to know the Old Town!
LITERATURE BELIEVE IN PEOPLE – THE ESSENTIAL KAREL ČAPEK Recently published by Faber and Faber
Hugely engaging collection of pieces by Karel Čapek, perhaps the best-loved Czech writer of all time. Novelist and playwright, famed for inventing the word ‘robot’ in his play RUR, Čapek was a vital part of the burgeoning artistic scene of Czechoslovakia of the 1920s and 30s. This selection of his writing, translated into English for the first time, contains his essential ideas.
BOOK Castles, Country Houses and other Monuments in the care of the National Heritage Institute
The English version of Hrady, zámky a další památky ve správě Národního památkového ústavu has been published by the central office of the Národní památkový ústav - National Heritage Institute - in Prague. This lavishly illustrated book on the 114 properties managed by the state includes many photographs of the interiors, gardens and contents that have never been seen before, as well as a detailed building history, placing the buildings in their European context. As such it is a revelation.
Originally written by Karel Kuča, author of the Atlas of Monuments in the Czech Republic, the multi-volume Towns & Villages in the Czech, Moravian & Silesian Lands, and many other books, it has been translated and amended for the English reader by art historian Harriet Landseer, who has been leading museum tours to many of these castles for over 15 years.
The Czech Republic has the densest network of castles and country houses in the world; over 350 of them are open to the public. This is the first ever in-depth architectural history of many of the best of them to be published in English, and as such has been eagerly awaited.
Available directly from the NPU - National Heritage Institute - in Prague www.npu.cz and redakce@up.npu.cz at selected bookshops in Prague, including the bookshop of the Club for Ancient Prague at the Malá strana end of the Charles Bridge. ISBN 978-80-87104-50-7
BOOK Bellaria: the work of František Jakub Prokyš This exquisite book by Czech publisher Fotomida celebrates the decorative paintings of Prokyš. The book is filled with beautiful photographs by Michal Tůma of Prokyš‘s work in situ in several buildings in South Bohemia. The painter‘s work also adorns the interior of the Music Arbour, recently restored with help from the Friends of Czech Historic Buildings, Gardens and Parks: click here to to be taken to 'Our Work', second item on page.
Postal address: Fotomida,U Tří lvů 11, 37001, České Budějovice, Czech Republic. Telefon/fax: +420 386 353 315
Also of interest by the same photographer and publishers and in the same format is the book ‘The Story of the Masquerade Hall in Český Krumlov Castle’. These beautifully produced books are available in English.
ART+DESIGN The Baroque
The Czech Republic has a cultural significance out of all proportion to
its size. Architecturally it has one of the richest concentrations of
great houses and castles in Europe, numerous important historic gardens
and parks and countless enchanting and unspoilt Renaissance and Baroque
towns.
The great castle of Český Krumlov was once part of the
huge Schwarzenberg properties in South Bohemia. The château gardens were
laid out in the late-18th century as a series of Baroque terraces,
reached by way of a remarkable four-level bridge and corridor
construction that leads from one wing of the castle across a ravine. The
topmost corridor passes through the roof of the Castle Theatre.
ART+DESIGN Veletržní palác
Art of the 19th, 20th and 21st Centuries
The permanent exhibition on three floors of the Veletržní palác acquaints visitors with the development of Czech and foreign fine art during the course of the last two centuries. Artists include Klimt, Kokoschka, Zrzavý and Filla. The extensive exhibition space in this Functionalist building is home to over 2,300 exhibits and spans an area of1 3,500m2. The exhibition presents the work of leading artists in Czech fine art in monographic profiles or in a selection of key works, along with the work of foreign artists. The image of the period is complemented with examples of architecture, furniture, the applied arts, fashion, design and stage design.You will also find photographs, drawings and prints concentrated in graphic cabinets. Alongside celebrated figures there are works by artists who have been neglected in the past or are yet to be discovered. Czech art is shown through qualities which distinguish it from its international counterparts and which make it unique.
Open Tuesday to Sunday 10.00 - 18.000
National Gallery/ Národní
galerie, Dukelských hrdinů 47, Praha 7 - Holešovice.
From the Old
Town: Tram 17, direction Sídliště Ďáblice Tram 14, direction Vozovna
Kobylisy
LECTURE TOUR
LECTURE TOUR IN 2012 One of the popular Wessex Fine Art Study Courses, running since 1982, will take place from the 13th to the 22nd of May 2012 and will concentrate on historic buildings, their settings and contents in both Bohemia and in particular South Moravia. The tour will be led by Barbara peacock. Places to be visited will include Kutná Hora, Kroměříž (one of the finest Baroque ensembles in the country) and Lednice, and others of great interest.
BOOK Castles, Country Houses and other Monuments in the care of the
BOOK Bellaria: the work of František Jakub Prokyš This exquisite book by Czech publisher Fotomida celebrates the decorative paintings of Prokyš. The book is filled with beautiful photographs by Michal Tůma of Prokyš‘s work in situ in several buildings in South Bohemia. The painter‘s work also adorns the interior of the Music Arbour, recently restored with help from the Friends of Czech Historic Buildings, Gardens and Parks: 
The Czech Republic has a cultural significance out of all proportion to
its size. Architecturally it has one of the richest concentrations of
great houses and castles in Europe, numerous important historic gardens
and parks and countless enchanting and unspoilt Renaissance and Baroque
towns.
The permanent exhibition on three floors of the Veletržní palác acquaints visitors with the development of Czech and foreign fine art during the course of the last two centuries. Artists include Klimt, Kokoschka, Zrzavý and Filla. The extensive exhibition space in this Functionalist building is home to over 2,300 exhibits and spans an area of1 3,500m2. The exhibition presents the work of leading artists in Czech fine art in monographic profiles or in a selection of key works, along with the work of foreign artists. The image of the period is complemented with examples of architecture, furniture, the applied arts, fashion, design and stage design.You will also find photographs, drawings and prints concentrated in graphic cabinets. Alongside celebrated figures there are works by artists who have been neglected in the past or are yet to be discovered. Czech art is shown through qualities which distinguish it from its international counterparts and which make it unique.