Prague, Jan 25 (CTK) – The Czech Centre in Tel Aviv will be headed by a former Czech Radio (CRo) correspondent Robert Mikolas, 51, who will replace Lukas Pribyl in the post, Mikolas himself told journalists on Thursday.
Mikolas said that he wanted to focus on celebrating major anniversaries of both the Czech Republic and Israel.
“The Czech Republic and Israel have excellent relations based on historical events. It is an aim of the Czech Centre in Tel Aviv not only to maintain, but also to intensify them,” said Mikolas who flies to Israel on Sunday.
In 2018, the Czech Republic celebrates 100 years since the establishment of Czechoslovakia and 25 years since the establishment of the Czech Republic.
Czechs will also pay attention to the 50th anniversary of the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia which crushed the Prague Spring reform movement in 1968.
Israel will celebrate 70 years since its establishment.
“Israel and the Czech Republic or Czechoslovakia are linked with a shared past. However, we must continue with the young generation, too,” he added.
Mikolas said this was why he would start his work in Tel Aviv by a project focusing on young people.
“The Czech Centre will declare an artistic competition with the topic of establishment of the state, from which a joint travelling exhibition will arise,” he added.
He said at the close of the year he wanted to stage an exhibition on one century of Czech glass design in Israel.
Mikolas studied history and literature. He worked for almost 20 years for CRo as a foreign correspondent.
Personnel changes also occurred in some other Czech Centres branches. In Stockholm, the post of its director was given to Zuzana Kabelkova and in Brussels to Jitka Panek Jurkova.
In March 2018, Ondrej Cerny will become the new general director of the Czech Centres world network.
The Czech Centres are a state-subsidised organisation supervised by the Foreign Ministry. They consists of 22 branches in countries across three continents. Their task is to promote Czech culture and science and boost business relations.
