Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Construction & Corruption
Talk with a Czech for more than a few minutes and the twin topics of construction
and corruption are bound to surface. The Czech capital is awash with unfinished ma-
jor rebuilding projects, including the billion-euro 'Blanka' ring road and tunnel com-
plex just north of the centre, that remain mired in mud and allegations of contractor
bilking and missing funds.
The Blanka Tunnel is part of an even more ambitious scheme that proposes to re-
route through-traffic around the city, and may even allow the city someday to abandon
the unfortunate highway that drives straight through the centre just above Wen-ceslas
Square (and cuts off the square from the National Museum and State Opera).
Someday, if you believe the glossy catalogues, part of that highway may run under-
ground and Wenceslas Square will once again be connected to residential Vinohrady.
Best on Film
Amadeus
(1985) Mozart's love affair with Prague gets brilliant treatment.
Kolya
(1996) Velvet Revolution-era Prague never looked lovelier.
Loves of a Blonde
(1965) Miloš Forman's 'New Wave' classic.
Mission Impossible
(1996) Prague was the setting for the first instalment of
Tom Cruise's blockbuster trilogy.
Alois Nebel
(2011) Graphic novel adaptation set in WWII-era Moravia.
Best in Print
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
(Milan Kundera; 1984) Prague before the
1968 Warsaw Pact invasion.
I Served the King of England
(Bohumil Hrabal; 1990) The Hotel Paříž is the
backdrop to this humorous classic.
The Castle
(Franz Kafka; 1926) We wonder which castle Kafka was thinking
about?
The Good Soldier Švejk
(Jaroslav Hašek; 1923) Hašek's absurdist novel is set
throughout the Czech Republic.
My Merry Mornings
(Ivan Klima; 1986) The sweeter side of life in communist
Prague.
