The Friends of Czech Heritage: keeping you informed about our activities
You can click on the envelope icon on the right of the black bar beneath this text to subscribe to our activities listing.
For events and news from other organisations please click here, where we feature a broad range of Czech-related items on Facebook, regularly updated.
Saturday 11th June to Saturday 18th June 2016 Participants worked on maintenance works of the Lower Cemetery (which was in fact never used for burials), built by a famous Baroque architect J. B. Santini-Aichel, so that it can be opened to the public. Tasks involved simple building work, some clearance and preservation work and simple terrain. No pr...
Friday 9th to Friday 16th September 2016 Participants made their own travel arrangements to Prague. There was a day-excursion to Karlovy Vary Meeting point: Participants were picked up at Prague Airport and travelled by minibus to Krásný Dvůr. Accommodation: in the local self-catering municipal hostel in the village - shared bedrooms, cost includin...
Dr. Jana Gajdošová of the History of Art Department at the University of Cambridge gave a comprehensive lecture, copiously illustrated by photographs and plans, on the building of what is now called the Charles Bridge after the King of Bohemia (and Holy Roman Emperor) Charles IV, who commissioned the building of the bridge in 1357 to replace the ea...
The Friends held a lecture 'Memories of Jan Kaplický' given by Ivan Margolius, architect and friend, in the Embassy of the Slovak Republic, London. Mr Ivan Margolius presented an intimate view of the life and achievements of his close friend and professional colleague the Czech architect Jan Kaplický. Their friendship grew from shared personal expe...
On 22nd October 2015 Eva Jiřičná, a renowned architect, who was born in Zlín but has lived and worked in England since 1968, gave a fascinating talk on the development of Zlín into a major centre for industrialised shoe manufacture. This occurred largely through the efforts of Tomáš Bat’a, the son of a Zlín shoemaker, who left school at a very youn...
The Friends of Czech Heritage held a garden visit in Surrey on 18th September 2015, organised by one of the founders of The Friends, Ian Kennaway. It started with Painshill, a beautiful 158-acre 18th-Century landscape garden, including the restored crystal grotto, historic planting, a collection of North American trees and shrubs, and spectacular v...
The Friends held a lecture 'Lednice/Valtice - Bringing the UNESCO-listed historic gardens in Moravia to life', given by Ing. Přemysl Krejčiřík PhD and Kamila Krejčiříková PhD, photo below. Ing. Kamila Krejčiříková Ph.D., assisted by her husband Přemysl, gave a very interesting lecture at the Czech Embassy, London, on the work they, as experts in la...
The Friends held a lecture 'HAVEL - a life' by Mr Michael Žantovský, Ambassador of the Czech Republic to the UK and biographer of Havel, on 5th March 2015 at the Embassy of the Slovak Republic, London. Václav Havel, an intellectual, playwright, philosopher and President, was a key figure of the 20th century and Michael Žantovský was one of his clos...
The Friends organised a lecture in the Czech Embassy, London, 'Kilián Ignac Dientzenhofer (1689-1751) - Architect and Master Builder in 18th century Bohemia' by Caroline Cannon-Brookes, art historian, former lecturer at Leeds University, held on 5th February 2105. The event was organised with the co-operation of the Embassy of the Czech Republic. D...
Friends' lecture in London, organised with the support and co-operation of the Embassy of the Czech Republic The Velvet Revolution 25 Years on: An Émigré Perspective The Friends held a lecture evening by Dr. Katya Kocourek, formerly of the School of Slavonic and East European Studies at University College London, who gave an absorbing and original ...
