Five Czech dishes to be aware of

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Five Czech dishes to be aware of

1. Tatarak (tatarák)

This is a raw ground beef, but everything is not as scary as it looks at first glance. To prepare the tartar, only fresh meat is taken, and in the classical version it is served with a lot of various spices, mustard, ketchup, finely chopped onions and garlic cloves. The meat hill is decorated with a yolk. Before use, the restaurant visitor mixes all this to his own taste and spreads on pieces of toasted bread, called "tops". Often waiters ask the guest if he wants to mix up the tatarak himself or the cook in the kitchen can do it for him according to the classic recipe. In some establishments, Tatra can immediately bring in the involved and already plastered on tops. And there was also an unusual way of serving, when instead of a raw yolk on a plate next to the stuffing there is fried eggs. Each restaurant tries to come up with its own original tataraka, so only this dish can be a real gastronomic tour of Prague.

2. The utopenci

Marinated shpikachki in a natural shell. These sausages are considered the most popular snack in the Czech Republic for beer. Most of all they resemble high-quality sausages with slices of fat in a fragrant island marinade, with the addition of pickled cucumbers, onion rings and garlic. In translation from the Czech "Utopians" means "drowned people" - it is believed that the name is due to the fact that the sausages are heated in a marinade, however, according to legend, the author of the recipe of this snack miller pan Shamanek drowned, repairing the mill wheel, and since This dish got such a grim name.

3. Cheeses (syry)

This is a separate passion of the Czechs. Types of cheese in the Bohemian Sea, but it is necessary to distinguish two types. First, Hermelin, reminiscent of the French Camembert, which is served both in fried in breading, and marinated "Germelin" (Nákladaný hermelín) in olive oil, with the addition of garlic, hot red pepper or chile, pepper of fereoni and onions . Each restaurant has its own recipe for "homemade Germelin" - somewhere it is marinated more strongly, somewhere weaker, and some chefs add so much pepper that only the swallowers of fire can eat this cheese. And the second kind of cheeses, on which it is worth paying attention, is "Olomouc" curds, which are intended for frying - then their specific smell disappears, and the amazing taste is supplemented with black bread and onions.

4. Bramboraki (bramboráky)

Potato pancakes or pancakes in Czech. But they have one important feature - in the batter based on grated potatoes must be added marjoram, due to which they acquire a unique taste. Bramboraki served as a separate dish or as a side dish to meat. And you can try them not only in restaurants, but also at all kinds of city fairs, where they are fried directly under the open sky and washed down with beer, of course.

5. Sekana (sekaná)

Meatloaf, for the preparation of which different kinds of meat are used - from pork and beef to chicken and turkey, with the addition of various spices and fillings: in the sauce all kinds of vegetables, eggs, cheese and even nuts can be found. This roll is so popular in the Czech Republic that you can buy it not only in restaurants, but as a semi-finished product in any supermarket.

Klementinum

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Klementinum

One of the most beautiful libraries in the world is located in the historic building of the Prague Jesuit collegium, built in the baroque style. She began work in 1772 by the decision of Maria Theresa and until today serves the readers. The library's collection includes more than 7 million publications, among which there are rare books, and ancient manuscripts, and rare folios.

In addition to the library, the Clementinum complex includes an astronomical observatory, a mathematical museum and a weather station, which, incidentally, is considered to be the oldest in Central Europe. The library hall is designed in the Baroque style, its main attractions are the frescoes of the painter Joseph Dibel and numerous ancient globes.

Czech, who advised Nobel to give awards to fighters for peace

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Czech, who advised Nobel to give awards to 

fighters for peace

At the end of June, one hundred years have passed since the death of the world's first woman, who became the Nobel Peace Prize winner - Bertha von Sutner, in the nephew of Countess Kinski. Berta von Sutner lived a bright and fruitful life and only a few days did not live up to the outbreak of the First World War. She did not learn that her prediction about a new war, which would be "much worse than all the previous ones," came true, and did not see that the efforts of her whole life had collapsed like a house of cards.

The future pacifist and world-famous writer Berta Sofia Felichita Kinsky was born on June 9, 1843 in the very center of Prague, on the street In the pit. Her father, Count Frans Kinski, died shortly before the birth of his daughter, and his relatives eschewed the mother of the girl, who came from the burgher class and who was passionate about playing roulette. The mother's addiction to visiting the casino led to the fact that Berta Kinski remained a homeless girl, well educated, proficient in many languages ​​and musical talent, but still a loser. After unsuccessful attempts to marry, the girl hires a governess in the family of Viennese barons von Sutter and falls in love with the son of Baron Arthur, who was seven years younger than her. And at the moment when the governess is shamed out of the family with disgrace, she responds to an announcement in the newspaper given by a certain rich gentleman who is looking for a secretary owning foreign languages. This is how the young countess gets acquainted with one of the most important people in her life: the Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, the future founder of the Nobel Prize.

Nobel took her to work as her assistant in 1873. After she broke up with her future husband - baron von Zutner, she went to Paris to Nobel. Nobel did not accidentally chose Bert: she was a perfectly educated woman, she knew many languages, their opinions coincided on many issues, which became clear even during their correspondence. But in Paris she did not stay long. Nobel left for Sweden, and Arthur Zutner wrote to her that he can not live without her. And she immediately returned to Vienna, combined with him a secret marriage, and they fled to the Caucasus together, where Bertha had connections. A few years later, the couple returned to Europe, and Bertha again resumed cooperation with Nobel. And he even financed the pacifist activities of her and her husband. They say that Alfred Nobel was in love with Bertha, but was refused. Anyway, after the return of the Baroness to Europe, her correspondence with the inventor of dynamite continues.

It was Berta Zutner who prompted Nobel that the prizes could be given not only for achievements in the field of exact sciences, but also for the fighters for peace. Indeed, in one of his letters the Swedish industrialist promises the Baroness to establish a prize for achievements in the field of peace consolidation. And it was this award in 1905 that was awarded to Bertha von Sutner herself. She became the first woman to become the winner of this award.

In 1891, she founded the first pacifist organization in Austria - the Austrian Society for Peace, with her participation, the Berne Peace Bureau was created, which coordinated the activities of pacifist groups that were established in many European countries. In 1899, as the first woman not representing a specific government, she took part in the organized by Nicholas II Hague Peace Conference.

Even during her life with her husband in the Caucasus, in Georgian Tiflis, Berta von Sutner first started writing - stories, essays, novels. Many of them were related to the military theme, since during their life in Georgia, Zutner's wife witnessed the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. The most famous book of the Baroness "Down with Arms!" Was published in 1889. She talked about a young woman whose fate was crippled by the European wars of the 1860s. Scenes of military violence shocked the reading public around the world. Leo Tolstoy compared the novel of Bertha Zutner with the book Harriet Beecher Stowe "Uncle Tom's Cabin".

What else was Baroness Zutner known? She advocated for women's rights, above all, for equal opportunities for education for men and women. In the US, it has become the idol of the women's movement. In addition, it is known that she sharply opposed anti-Semitism, in which it supported and Nobel. It is known that the Baroness used her connections with the Russian Emperor Nicholas II to help his friend, the founder of the World Zionist Organization, Theodor Herzl. And she was also a vegetarian.

Czech Republic has developed a project to provide residence permit for investment

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Czech Republic has developed a project to provide residence permit for investment

In July, the Czech government will consider the project of the Ministry of Industry and Trade on granting residence permits for investments. It is proposed to issue a residence permit for up to two years to those who invest 75 million kroons (about three million US dollars) and create at least 20 jobs. At the same time, there is no automatic procedure for obtaining a residence permit for investment. Foreigners must provide the Czech authorities with a business plan that is real and credible. In addition, they will require knowledge of the local market and the conditions for doing business. It is also possible to get a residence permit if there is at least a 30 percent share in the firm that is going to do business in the Czech Republic.

Applications will be considered by the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the CzechInvest agency. The final decision for the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Czech Republic. If the bill is approved, then it can enter into force already in August. From it there is an indirect benefit - foreigners with residence permit, according to the authors of the initiative, will less take out profits from the Czech Republic and will have an incentive to invest it here. In Germany, to obtain a residence permit you need to invest 1 million euros and create 10 jobs. A similar program exists in France, where the minimum amount of a long-term investment is up to 300 thousand euros, provided that new jobs are created, and the residence permit is issued for a different period depending on the amount of investment.

The Devil's Head

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The Devil's Head

Like any self-respecting country that earns on attracting tourists, the Czech Republic has many attractions. One famous landmark of the Czech Republic is located 37 km from Prague, not far from the small village of Zelizy with a population of less than 500 people. These are two huge, carved in rock formations of sandstone, the head of demons. Or people with faces of demons. The sculptor Václav Leva, who created this architectural complex 170 years ago, said that the heads are a figurative expression of the character of local residents. True, the question remains, why are the goals two, and the complex is called the "Devil's Head" (Čertova hlava)?