Meanwhile in Czechia... 34/26
11.09.2026
John the Baptist Returns to Fláje
In the late 1950s, the village of Fláje (Fleyh), located near the border with Saxony, had to make way for the construction of a dam. Today, Fláje is part of Český Jiřetín and consists of only a few buildings near the dam wall. Right there, just a few meters from the dam wall, a statue of John the Baptist has stood since July. Last Friday, it was blessed by Stanislav Přibyl, Archbishop of Prague and Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Litoměřice (Leitmeritz).
The bronze statue is the work of artist Petra Wolfová. John the Baptist was the patron saint of Fláje. A statue of him had previously stood there since 1760. The original pedestal is now located in Český Jiřetín.
An opening in the shape of a cross has been carved into the chest of the new statue. Behind the statue lies the expanse of water from the drinking water reservoir built in 1963. “The attributes of St. John the Baptist are the cross and water. I liked the idea that the water can be seen through this cross-shaped opening,” the artist explains of her work.
The statue is an initiative of the “Českojiřetínský spolek” association. An earlier stone statue of John the Baptist was flawed due to impurities in the stone and was therefore not erected on the dam wall as originally planned, but instead near the site of the former church on the eastern shore of the reservoir.
PISA Shock in the Czech Republic, Too
The new PISA study on the educational attainment of 15-year-olds has also made an impact in the Czech Republic. Although the country still ranks higher and achieved above-average results in all subject areas, performance has declined significantly since the last study four years ago, and the once-comfortable lead over most countries in the European Union has vanished. The decline was most pronounced in reading comprehension. In the long term, however, performance is falling particularly in mathematics. The Czech Republic has long had a high proportion of children who do not even reach the basic level. Even students at multi-year high schools showed a decline.
“The social environment still plays a decisive role,” says senior school inspector Tomáš Zatloukal in an interview with the daily newspaper Hospodářské noviny. “The results come as no surprise, because we’ve been using the same teaching methods for decades,” Zatloukal adds. “We rely too heavily on support from families, and when that support is lacking, students fall behind and their problems pile up.”
It’s also interesting to look at the different types of schools. For example, students at so-called multi-year high schools have seen a significant decline in performance, while students at four-year high schools have actually improved. Students transfer to multi-year high schools as early as after 5th grade. The other students remain in elementary school longer and do not transfer until after 9th grade. According to PISA, they now perform better than those who transferred to a gymnasium four years before them. Zatloukal sees two reasons for this: “It’s not the best students who transfer after 5th grade. At the same time, the curriculum at the multi-year gymnasiums is the most outdated.”
The only subject in which Czech students have consistently performed well and have not seen a decline this time around is digital literacy.
Acquittal in Wildfire Trial
The devastating wildfire in Bohemian and, to some extent, Saxon Switzerland in the summer of 2022 has no known cause. The only suspect to date was acquitted by the Supreme Court in Prague. More specifically, the court upheld the acquittal handed down by the lower court. The District Court in Ústí had already acquitted Jiří L. in January 2025. After the court received the case back from the appellate court, it reaffirmed its verdict. The Supreme Court in Prague has now rejected the prosecutor’s appeal.
Jiří L., a former volunteer national park ranger, had initially confessed twice to setting the massive fire but later recanted his confession. He claimed he had been under the influence of drugs at the time. As the Supreme Court has now determined, no new evidence has emerged that could have incriminated the defendant. Furthermore, the confession itself was already partly contradictory.
Jiří L. had already been sentenced to two years’ imprisonment for setting fire to smaller structures in the Krásná Lípa area, a sentence he had already served while in pretrial detention. Later, Jiří L. was transferred to a secure ward. During the hearing before the Supreme Court, the transfer to a secure ward was now converted to outpatient treatment.
According to investigations, the wildfire in Bohemian Switzerland originated in the Malinové údolí valley near Hřensko and spread rapidly as the wind picked up, even toward Saxony. In the village of Mezná (Stimmersdorf), four houses were destroyed by the fire. Fortunately, there were no fatalities. Thousands of firefighters battled the blaze for several weeks.
Forest and field fires have increased this year. Compared to the previous year, fire departments across the Czech Republic had to extinguish over 300 more fires, most of them in the Central Bohemian Region, the Plzeň Region, and the South Moravian Region. The Ústí District ranked fifth with 142 fires. While the highest number of field and forest fires in the Czech Republic occurred in 2023, the Ústí District reached its peak in 2022 with 259 fires.
End of Passenger Train Service on the Right Bank of the Elbe Between Děčín and Ústí
Passenger trains on the right bank of the Elbe between Ústí-Střekov (Aussig-Schreckenstein) and Děčín (Tetschen) Central Station will continue to run for only a few more weeks. With the timetable change in December, the regular train service will be discontinued. Even a petition signed by approximately 1,300 people—calling on the Ústí District, as the contracting authority, to continue the service beyond the timetable change—did nothing to change this decision.
The Ústí district merely took note of the petition and is standing by its decision. The reason is low ridership. At the same time, the train service is more expensive than the parallel bus service. The district will therefore increase the frequency of bus line 450 during peak hours.
As a result, only freight trains will run on the right bank of the Elbe in the future. On the left bank of the Elbe, Eurocity trains, as well as express and regional trains, will continue to operate.
Tip: A Trip to a Vanished Village with a Concert
The Schuberts e.V. association from Bad Gottleuba has a special event planned for Saturday, September 26: a guided tour of the nearly vanished village of Nakleřov, followed by a concert in the church with the glass roof in Petrovice.
The tour through Nakleřov will be led by Chemnitz-based journalist Oliver Hach, who, in his recently published “Atlas of Vanished Villages in the Bohemian Ore Mountains,” presents many places that suffered a similar fate after 1945 and of which only traces remain today.
Afterward, a concert by the German-British duo ME&T will take place in the Church of St. Nicholas with its glass roof in Petrovice. Tamara and Tristan, who also happen to live in Chemnitz, bring innovative pop with unexpected sound design to the stage together with drummer Daniel Selle. They view their songs as musical experiments in which they reflect everyday life exactly as it is, with absolute honesty.
A shuttle bus will run from Dresden via Pirna and Bad Gottleuba to the guided tour and concert. You can find all the details at the following link.