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The Friends held two very productive working parties at Červený Dvůr in South Bohemia at the end of May and beginning of June. The numbers were small but sometimes this can be an advantage, especially when doing semi-skilled tasks, as we were. The project was centred around the reconstruction of the two gatehouses, which formerly guarded the main c...
The first stop was the Hospital of St Cross and Almshouse of Noble Poverty, where we first viewed the Chapel with its remarkably intact Norman architecture. After coffee sitting outside the Hundred Men’s Hall the group enjoyed a tour of the Great Hall of the Hospital led by Barbara Peacock, one of the founders of The Friends. Lunch was at The Bell ...
In his talk, Dr Lorman explored how Slovak culture was initially characterised by its rural quality and alienation from the beginnings of mass industrialisation and urbanisation in Hungary (exemplified by the 1896 millennial celebrations in Budapest). He examined how Slovak national identity was then substantially (but not entirely) transformed by ...
Under Rudolf II Prague again became the capital of the Holy Roman Empire. Following the example of his Habsburg ancestors, he assembled an exceptional collection of works of art for which the imperial palace on the Hradčany was adapted. He patronised painters, sculptors, goldsmiths who flocked to Prague, and also men of learning including Tycho Bra...
LECTURE IN LONDON 'The Bell of Treason - The Munich Agreement and its Aftermath', at 6:30pm (doors open at 6pm) on 27th March 2019 in the Czech Embassy, London. The lecture will take place in the Czech Embassy Cinema. To reserve your ticket via Eventbrite system, please follow this link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-bell-of-treason-the-muni… ...
The charity The Friends of Czech Heritage is a member of the British Czech Chamber of Commerce in Prague and on 7th February our Chairman Peter Jamieson and Secretary James Robertson attended a wine tasting promoted by the BCC as their special guests at the showrooms of the Lasvit glass company. This gave us the opportunity to mingle with members a...
Milan Svoboda, the heritage specialist who worked on The Friends' recent tour of historic Bohemia, was instrumental in setting up an exhibition at Konopiště Castle, the home of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the Duchess of Hohenberg, born Žofie Chotková z Chotkova. The couple were assasinated in Sarajevo in 1916. After World War One and the expulsion...
Sir Jonathan Marsden gave a talk at the Embassy of the Czech Republic on Tuesday 14th May 2019, entertaining the guests with stories from behind the scenes of the Royal Sculpture Collection. He presented some of the lessons learned from working on a catalogue raisonné of European sculpture in the Royal Collection to be published by...
FRIENDS' LECTURE: BRITAIN AND BOHEMIA IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY On 5th March 2019 Dr. Mark Whelan, an historian of late medieval and early modern Germany and Central Europe who is currently working at King’s College, London, gave a lecture explaining how and why the English kings and senior clerics became involved in the early-fifteenth-century stru...
On 10th November 2018 'Magazín Práva', a supplement in the Czech national newspaper 'Pravo', featured this year's working party organised by The Friends at the Chateau of Vizovice. The article is by Zuzana Musálková, with excerpts below translated from the Czech by Rupert Emery. "The fact that foreigners admire our cultural monuments – and moreover...
