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The Friends of Czech Heritage: keeping you informed about our activities

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For events and news from other organisations please click here, where we feature a broad range of Czech-related items on Facebook, regularly updated.

Lecture 08.04.25: A Life in Bat'a Modernism: Straight Lines, Flat Roofs & Planned Communities

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A Talk by Sir John Tusa on Tuesday 8th April 2025, 6.30pm, in the Embassy of the Czech Republic, 26-30 Kensington Palace Gardens, London W8 4QY. Sir John Tusa was born in Zlín. Two days before the German occupation of Czechoslovakia on 15 March 1939, John’s father flew out of Czechoslovakia on a Bat'a company plane via Poland, Yugoslavia and France...

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SPRING OUTING 24.05.25: Hampstead, Belsize Park and the Modern Movement


Saturday 24th May, 2025. Meet at Hampstead Underground Station at 10.30am. The walk from Hampstead to Belsize Park is a rich mixture of architecture from the late Regency to the 20th century, home to writers, artists, architects, refugees and spies. We visit a classic 1930s building, 2 Willow Road, wander down Keats Grove to the edge of Belsize Par...

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OUR PATRON RECEIVES THE HIGHEST CZECH ORDER

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Architect Eva Jiřičná has been awarded the highest honour bestowed by the Czech Republic, the Order of the White Lion At a ceremony in the Vladislav Hall of Prague Castle marking Czech Independence Day last week, on October 28th 2024, hosted by Czech President Petr Pavel, the London-based architect was among more than 50 people decorated for outsta...

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LECTURE 28.01.25 - COURIER: MY LIFE AS A SPY IN COMMUNIST CZECHOSLOVAKIA

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The talk by Professor Mark Cornwall, on 28th January 2025, in the Embassy of the Czech Republic, London W8 4QY, was extremely popular. He explored the subject of secret police surveillance in communist Czechoslovakia in the 1980s. Prof. Cornwall drew on his own surveillance file, asking why, when and where he was being followed and assessed by the ...

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LECTURE 08.10.24: THE CZECH CONNECTION

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Edward Peacock writes: "Congratulations to The Friends of Czech Heritage and Caroline Cannon-Brookes for such an interesting talk last night, illustrating historic links between Britain and Bohemia over the centuries. We saw the Bohemian Queen of England, Richard II’s wife Anne; we tried to reform the Church with Wycliffe and Hus; we went sightseei...

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The Restoration of the Château Aided by The Friends

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Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi is recognised as one of the founders of the Pan European movement in the inter-war period and whose influence can be seen in the founding of the European Union. His family château at Poběžovice is steadily being restored from its ruinous state by the local municipality and The Friends have given a grant towards the conser...

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Working Party in Brněnec in September 2024

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Brněnec is a village in the Pardubice Region. The Low-Beer family founded a textile-producing company here more than 200 years ago. The factory was confiscated after the occupation of Czechoslovakia by Nazi Germany in 1938 and in 1944 Oskar Schindler took it over. What happened next was the basis for Schindler's Ark, the historical novel by Thomas ...

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Working Party in Teplice nad Metují in August and September

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The resort town of Teplice nad Metují is situated in rolling, forested country of northern Bohemia near the Czech border with Poland. The Baroque Church of the Virgin Mary has a historic hermitage attached to it, which is being painstakingly restored by a small local group of volunteers. The work this year included stone walling, plastering and lim...

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LECTURE 24.06.24: CZECH FUNCTIONALISM 1918-1938

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Professor Vladimír Šlapeta’s lecture in the Czech Embassy on 'Czech Functionalism' in the inter-war period, was a revelation. His unrivalled command of his subject gave the audience a privileged view of the astounding creativity of the Czechoslovak nation during this period. Image, from left to right: Ivan Margolius (architectural historian), Sir J...

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Celebrating Cooperation in South Bohemia

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On Saturday 18th May 2024 a recital was held in the Château of Červený Dvůr in South Bohemia to celebrate the completion of the restoration of the Mauricovna, or Park Keeper's cottage, in the grounds. On a glorious sunny evening we were entertained by a string quartet from the Czech Philharmonic with a sublime programme of Czech music. It was a mem...

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