Derweil in Tschechien... 48/25
12.12.2025
Jaroslav Rudiš Receives the Giant Mountains Prize
Czech author Jaroslav Rudiš is this year’s winner of the Krkonoše Prize for Literature. The award was presented to him at a ceremony in Jelenia Góra (Hirschberg) last Sunday. According to the Sächsische Zeitung newspaper, the patron and Prime Minister of Saxony, Michael Kretschmer, was also in attendance. The prize is endowed with 3,000 euros and has been awarded every two years since 2019 by the Association for the Promotion of Silesian Art and Culture. It honors significant literary contributions to the cultural life of Silesia in the spirit of mutual understanding. Rudiš is from Turnov in northern Bohemia and now divides his time between Berlin and Lomnice nad Popelkou, which is about 80 kilometers from Jelenia Góra.
The Czech Republic has a new prime minister
Andrej Babiš is the new Prime Minister of the Czech Republic. The 71-year-old was appointed by President Petr Pavel on Tuesday morning. He is returning to office after a four-year hiatus. He does not yet lead the government, as the ministers will not be sworn in by the President until Monday. Within 30 days of their appointment, the government must be confirmed by parliament with a simple majority.
Prior to his appointment, Babiš announced in a video that he would sell all shares in his agrochemical holding company, Agrofert. The shares will be transferred to a trust structure and managed by an independent administrator. According to Babiš, he will no longer have control over Agrofert even after he steps down as head of government. His children will only inherit Agrofert after his death.
Babiš traveled to Brussels after his appointment and met with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Council President António Costa.
First Michelin Guide for the Czech Republic
The Michelin restaurant guide is being published for the first time as a separate country edition for the Czech Republic. In addition, nine restaurants were honored with the coveted star, one of which even received two stars. Six restaurants received the star for the first time.
The prerequisite for the publication of a separate guide for the Czech Republic was the payment of a fee of approximately 2 million euros by the Czech government. This also secures the publication of the prestigious restaurant guide for five years. Since the restaurant evaluations were not limited to Prague—unlike in previous years—the number of Michelin stars in the Czech Republic increased significantly. Four were awarded outside of Prague alone. To receive a star, a restaurant must meet five strict criteria, which include the quality of the ingredients, harmony of flavors, mastery of cooking techniques, original cuisine personalized by the chef, and consistently high quality.
No Michelin star has been awarded to the North Bohemian border region. But with “Arrigo” in Děčín (Tetschen) and “V Bezovém Údolí” in Kryštofovo údolí (Christofsgrund) near Liberec (Reichenberg), two top restaurants made it into the guide.
Hřensko Removes First Border Market Stalls
The border village of Hřensko (Herrnskretschen) is working on its image. Until now, it was known not only for the Edmundsklamm and Wilde Klamm gorges, but also for the many market stalls selling all kinds of goods of dubious quality. Recently, Mayor Kateřina Horáková announced that some of the market stalls would have to be removed. These are the ones located on land owned by the municipality. Some stalls take up the entire sidewalk. As a rule, they are set up in front of houses, but some are also freestanding structures.
New measurements have shown that there are about 20 stalls. The vendors also had a permit for this. However, it dated back to 2004 and expired a year ago. Now the municipality has given the vendors, who belong to the Vietnamese minority, an ultimatum until the end of the year to remove their stalls. The first stall has already been removed. For the first time in more than 20 years, the sidewalk and the front of the building are visible again.
The customers at the stalls and booths come exclusively from Germany or are tourists interested in the supposedly cheap goods. For Czech customers, the stalls hold no interest whatsoever. In the Czech Republic, however, the stalls are one reason for Hřensko’s dubious reputation.
A bench commemorates Bohemian refugees
A procession passes by. Wagons full of luggage, pulled by horses—but also simply by people. Above it, an open book and a chalice. It quickly becomes clear that the book is the Bible. And the refugees are Protestants. On the right is Prague and the year 1621; on the left, Dresden, with the Vltava and Elbe rivers in between. The Thirty Years’ War was raging at the time. The united Protestant armies suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the imperial troops at the Battle of White Mountain, which took place just outside Prague at the time. And even though the war continued for another 27 years, the fate of Bohemia and all those who adhered to the Protestant faith was sealed. Their leaders were killed, and their heads and bodies were displayed in Old Town Square for months as a deterrent. Everyone else had to either return to the fold of the Catholic Church or flee.
All of this is depicted on the wooden backrests of a bench, carved by the wood sculptor Ivo Švejnoha from Kytlice (Kittlitz) near Nový Bor (Haida) in the Czech Republic. The bench stands in front of the Johanneshaus in Dresden (Haydnstr. 23) and was unveiled on the morning of the second Sunday of Advent.
But why is there a bench featuring motifs of Bohemian exiles in front of a parish hall in Dresden? It serves as a reminder of the Bohemian heritage in Dresden, which has faded and become obscured as a result of the war and several municipal reforms. Bohemian exiles had also settled in Dresden. They founded the Church of the Redeemer, following the example of their home parish in Prague, Salvator—Latin for “Redeemer.” However, the church building on Paul-Gerhardt-Straße was severely damaged during the air raids in February 1945 and demolished in 1962. You can learn more about the history of the parish here.
Today the parish is called Johannes-Kreuz-Lukas. Now the bench not only commemorates the origins of the congregation but also the old Church of the Redeemer, which is depicted on the backrests alongside the Salvator Church in Prague. And that’s not all: two chalices from our Bohemian sisters and brothers in faith have also remained with the congregation. However, they have only recently been returned, having been in storage for a long time or having been part of the “Saxony Bohemia 7000” exhibition in Chemnitz seven years ago. Jana Cejpová from the Salvator parish council was present at the dedication ceremony. Both congregations maintain a close partnership to this day. The production of the bench—whose frame was made of hot-dip galvanized steel by the company Metallgestaltung & Schmiede Andreas Nestler in Freital—was financially supported by the Dresden-Blasewitz district advisory council.
The backrests and seats of the bench are not Ivo Švejnoha’s first work in Dresden. One of his works is already on display outdoors in Zschonergrund—it is also a bench.
Osek Monastery Library Makes a Guest Appearance in Teplice
The library of the Cistercian monastery in Osek (Ossegg) is not normally open to visitors. But that will change through February. The volumes, some of which are over 500 years old, have been temporarily moved to the Teplice Regional Museum. The museum is located in the former castle. A room has been created there that is a complete replica of the library in Osek. This gives visitors the feeling that they are actually inside the monastery in Osek.
A selection of the predominantly Baroque volumes is on display through February 15. The library itself was founded in 1725. Not only books, but also statues of saints such as John Chrysostom, Thomas Aquinas, and Bernard of Clairvaux are on display. Small prints are also on display, some of which are one-of-a-kind. A special highlight is the portrait of Benedikt Littwerig, the library’s founder. The portrait does not come from the library but from the regional museum’s storage facility, and was previously known as “Unknown Monk.” It was only during preparations for the exhibition that it was determined that the subject was the library’s founder, Littwerig.
The exhibition is open every day except Mondays during the museum’s regular hours, i.e., from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., and on weekends from 10 a.m. to 12 noon.
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