Whatever your plans are for Sunday night, be sure you lose one hour of your time. At least if you stay up until 1am GMT, since that’s when Daylight Saving Time begins in Europe. Let’s see if we have anything scheduled for Sunday.
The annual Easter markets are opening this weekend around Prague. If you stumble upon a birch tree with 400 eggs on your weekend stroll in the city centre, you have found it. The two larger markets will be on Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square. Besides the decorated tree you will see dozens of stands featuring traditional Easter crafts and decorations, including painted eggs and Easter whips, pomlázka, which local men make from young willow branches to whip girls on Easter Monday. It may sound weird but it is believed that birching gives the girls strength. As a reward, the boys get coloured ribbons, decorated eggs and something to eat or drink. But that’s not until Easter holiday. We still have two weeks to go.
The markets offer a good opportunity to taste Czech Easter goodies like sweet holiday bread mazanec, Easter lamb cake beránek and stuffing nádivka made of soaked bread, smoked meat, chopped herbs, eggs and young nettles. You can also try your hand at egg painting and decorating or make a birch whip. It is open daily from 9am till 7pm and 8pm on the weekends.
Also this weekend, the Prague 1 municipal district, which includes most of the medieval centre of the city, will celebrate the anniversary of co-existence of Old Town and New Town since 1784. People dressed up in costumes from the renaissance period of the Habsburg emperor Rudolf II will march through the centre on Saturday, a historical village with a medieval pub will open on Žofín Island on Sunday and many venues in Prague 1 will open doors to public. You can visit underground shafts under the Petřín hill, which are normally closed, or you can see the legendary golem from the Czech movie Císařův pekař a pekařův císař and the mayor of Prague 1 diving in the Vltava river to find the clay tablet that would make Golem alive.
With the Easter markets and Prague 1 celebrations it is hard to imagine any other event taking place in the streets of Prague that weekend. And yet there is one more on the schedule. And it will be truly massive. Thousands of runners will gather on Jana Palacha Square near Rudolfinum before noon to set for the first Prague International Marathon race held this year. You can still register and see the historical sites of the Czech capital from the half marathon course. If you think you need more preparation than four days, you can still come on Saturday and watch this unforgettable event as a side line supporter. The start is at noon.
Looking for something to do before the weekend? On Thursday, Prague’s Hlahol centre on Masarykovo nábřeží is putting on Albanian Polyphony, a concert of two Albanian groups, polyphony choir Jonianet and instrumental Saze-Ensemble. The six singers of Jonianet, coming from the Southern Albanian harbour town of Saranda, evocate ancient forms of European music in epic-historic songs, ritual and love songs, blending their powerful voices in three-part style. This music style was declared Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by the UNESCO in 2005.
Another tip for Wednesday music night is Touch and Go at Palác Akropolis. The UK project made its great debut in 1998 with its hit Would You…?, which reached number three in UK charts and became a hit all over Europe. Touch and Go, represented by trumpet player James Lynch and actress Vanessa Lancaster, plays instrumental jazz inspired by Latin rhythms. Their show at Akropolis starts at 7:30pm.
For art exhibits, you can visit the National Gallery in Veletržní palác where the second part of Pablo Picasso early graphics collection runs until 7 June. Chodovská tvrz gallery in Prague 4 features a collection of 80 graphic works by Spanish painter Francisco Goya entitled Hrůzy války (the horrors of war). It is for the first time the complete set of graphics, which Goya created in 1810 in reaction to the Spanish Civil War, is open to public. You can see them until 3 May.
The Spanish Prague exhibition focusing how Spain influenced the Czech culture opened last week at Prague Castle’s Imperial Stables. You have time until 28 June to see Spanish paintings, sculptures, books, prints as well as to learn about important Spanish figures and events which shaped the Czech history.
Pass the Popcorn
Soon after one film festival has ended, another one is opening in Prague. This year’s Febiofest features more than 200 films from 58 countries with guests including Wim Wenders, Amir Naderi, Thomas Vintergerg and Mike Leigh. Wim Wenders will open the event on Thursday with Palermo Shooting and Mike Leigh’s Happy-Go-Lucky will close it 3 April. See the festival programme and tomorrow’s Do It for information about the films and anything in between.
The festival venue is Village Cinemas Anděl, where most screenings take place as well as music shows to accompany the event. Ponrepo cinema will feature Czech movies from 1969 and Centrum Černý Most mall will offer free projections of shopping related films, starting with the famous Czech documentary fiction Czech Dream.
Tickets for all projections at Village Cinemas are CZK 79 each and you better hurry to buy them (you can do so online or directly at Village Cinemas Anděl, no reservations).
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas a British film by Mark Herman is entering Czech cinemas on Thursday as part of the festival. Based on John Boyne’s successful novel, the film is depicting Nazi despotism and concentration camps through the eyes of two children and is well worth seeing, critics say.
Another movie entering Czech cinemas this week is Julius Ševčík’s Normal, the story of serial killer Peter Kürten, who was executed in 1931 for a series of sex assaults and murders he committed between 1929 and 1931 in the area of Düsseldorf. The film, starring Milan Kňažko, Pavel Gajdoš and Dagmar Havlová, follows investigation into Kürten’s crimes.
Kateřina Heilmannis a staff writer and translator at the Monitor. She
likes writing about cycling and culture.
You can reach her at [email protected]
