The arts - The Rough Guide to Prague - page 312

CINEMAS
Aero Biskupcova 31, Žižkov 271 771 349, kinoaero.cz ; tram #10, #11, #16 or #29 to
Biskupcova. Crumbling art-house cinema that shows rolling mini-festivals, retrospectives
and independent movies.
Bio Konvikt-Ponrepo Bartolomějská 11, Staré Město 226 211 866, bio-ponrepo.cz ;
metro Národní třída. Black-and-white classics, some of them very old indeed, dug out from
the Czech National Film Archives.
Cinema City Na příkopě 22, Nové Město 257 181 212, cinemacity.cz ; metro Můstek.
The most central of Prague's multiplex cinemas, regularly showing new Czech releases with
English subtitles.
Evald Národní 28, Nové Město 221 105 225, evald.cz ; metro Národní třída. Prague's
most centrally located art-house cinema screens a discerning selection of new releases inter-
spersed with plenty of classics.
Kino MAT Karlovo náměstí 19, Nové Město 224 915 765, mat.cz ; metro Karlovo
náměstí. Tiny café and cinema popular with the film crowd, with an eclectic programme of
shorts, documentaries and Czech films with English subtitles. Entrance is on Odborů.
Lucerna Vodičkova 36, Nové Město 224 216 972, lucerna.cz ; metro Můstek. Without
doubt the most ornate commercial cinema in Prague, with the best café-bar, all decked out in
Moorish style by Havel's grandfather, in the pasáž the family once owned.
< Back to The arts
VISUAL ARTS
The Národní galerie (National Gallery) runs the city's main permanent art collections , in
the Anežský klášter , Salmovský palác , palác Kinských , Schwarzenberský palác , Šternberský
palác and Veletržnípalác , eachofwhichisdescribedindetailintheGuide.Mostofthesegal-
leries also give over space for temporary exhibitions , and there are several others that only
ever stage special exhibitions. Prague Post has selective listings, including the foreign cul-
tural institutes that put on regular exhibitions, but as ever you'll find the fullest listings in the
Czech monthly listings magazine Culture in Prague/Česká kultura . Dozens of commercial
galleries have sprung up in the past twenty years or so, only a handful of which can be relied
on regularly to show interesting stuff; here is a selection of the best. Look out, too, for the
various Prague Biennales - the city has, in the past, staged more than one in a single year.
As in Venice, but on a fraction of the budget, the exhibitions attract contemporary artists and
curators from all over the world.
MAJOR EXHIBITION SPACES
České Centrum Rytířská 31, Staré Město 234 668 501, prague.czechcentres.cz ; metro
Můstek. The mother ship of the state-run globe-spanning Czech Centre network puts on