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There are cracks in Prague's glass mosaics, and, if authorities don't act quickly, many will be lost forever, says conservation expert Tomáš Hájek. Made of tiny colored-glass tiles, or tesserae, the mosaics depict biblical scenes or Czech mythology on many of Prague's most ornate buildings. Fragile and prone to developing an ugly gray crust, the mosaics are high-maintenance public art, and government agencies are not providing the funding to playground equipment preserve them. "It is a great shame because the mosaics are a unique art form with a long history in the Czech lands," says Hájek, former director general of the National Heritage Institute. "If we lose them, we lose part of our history." The first glass mosaic north of the Alps was Czech, commissioned by Charles IV to decorate the South facade of St. Vitus' Cathedral. The mosaic depicts the Last Judgment; Christ, carried by a flock of curly-haired angels and flanked by the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist, raises the dead, while blue devils drag the damned to hell. At the time the mosaic was created, Italy was pressuring Charles to move his court south and resurrect the Roman Empire. Constructed in exquisite detail in the Italian style, the mosaic sent a political message: Prague could rival Rome. In the Renaissance, glass mosaics fell out of fashion in favor of murals and sgraffito, but were resurrected during the Austro-Hungarian Empire, peaking in popularity at the turn of the 20th century. In the 1930s, a new type of mosaic-glass, potash, was invented in Czechoslovakia. Under communism, glass mosaics continued to akoya pearl necklace thrive, and the number of potash colors swelled to 4,000, giving Czech mosaics extraordinary tonal subtlety. After the Velvet Revolution, the Center of Art Handicrafts, where Czechoslovakia's mosaic experts were trained, closed its doors. "The communist era was not a good time for people, but it was a good time for mosaics," Hájek says. "Since 1989, the knowledge of how to make and repair the mosaics has been lost, so we no longer have the experience or technology to preserve them." In addition to suffering from the effects of acid rain and pollution, the mosaics are corrodible and degenerate over time. When the tiles come into contact with water, potassium in the glass gradually rises to the surface, where it combines with pollutants in the air to create a gray layer of corrosion on the tile's surface. Removing this crust without harming the glass is a time-consuming and expensive process, and simply removing the corrosion is a short-term strategy, because decay begins again immediately. Conservationists apply an additional protective coating. While Hájek says Czech authorities fail to provide adequate funds to cultured pearl jewlery restore mosaics, there have recently been a few major success stories in mosaic conservation. With funding from the Getty Institute over eight years, the St. Vitus mosaic was repaired by an international team. In August, the National Technical Museum unveiled the restored Expo 58 glass mosaic fountain, created for the Czechoslovak pavilion at the Expo 58 world exhibition in Brussels, where it caused a sensation and won the main prize. Dana Hlobilová, a painter who worked on the fountain half a century ago, kept it in her back garden because she could not find anyone willing to repair it. While the fountain consisted of a corroded gray base when restoration began in 2007, it has now been restored to its former glory, with blue tiles and hand-blown glass bowls filled with cascading water. The Last Judgment mosaic and Expo 58 Fountain are two of the foremost Czech glass mosaics. But, Hájek claims, hundreds of lesser-known works are neglected and decaying, and the extent of the problem remains unknown as there is no comprehensive list of glass mosaics. "These artworks decorate the tops of dozens of buildings in Prague, yet very few people know about them; they walk by without seeing them," Hájek says. "I just want people to look up." | ||
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The ludicrously titled romantic comedy Ghosts of Girlfriends Past is not much of a movie, to be sure. But it has redeeming moments. Like the bastard child of a love affair between A Christmas Carol and Casanova, the story features the humbling of a philanderer by way of three spectral visitations over the course of one night, taking him along to view scenes of girlfriends (most of them wronged) past, present and future. We pick up with Connor Mead (Matthew McConaughey) as he makes a command performance at the rehearsal dinner for his brother's wedding. Also pearl jewelry attending is an old flame. Actually, he's bedded most of the women present at one point or another, but this one's different. Jenny Perotti (Jennifer Garner) knows all too well that Mead is a cad, but there is a special connection between them, tracing back to their shared childhood. Mead learned his tricks with women and his philosophy about the good life from a Hugh Hefner-like uncle, Wayne Mead (Michael Douglas, in a hilarious turn). "One day," his uncle tells the young Mead, "you'll find yourself spooning some woman and thinking about love." He cautions the boy that this is precisely the moment he must flee for his life, that however tempting relationships might seem, they are designed to emasculate and cause pain. Mead has taken such sentiments and made a religion of callousness out of them. But, these many years later, the now-deceased Wayne has had a change of heart. "Women love to be screwed," his ghost explains. "They just don't like to be screwed over." Realizing he has led his nephew astray, Wayne sets out from beyond the grave to set things right by showing him the error of his ways. He is assisted in his effort by the ghost of the brace-faced eccentric Allison Vandermeersh (Emma Stone), who took Mead's virginity in middle school. She leads Mead on a tour of gemstone necklace girlfriends past - a virtual festival of broken hearts - before turning him over to the ghost of Mead's assistant, Melanie (Noureen DeWulf), who takes him on a tour of girlfriends present. Finally, a mute angelic type (Olga Maliouk) details the bleak and loveless future he has in store for him if he keeps up his philandering ways. By film's end - as is inevitable with such a premise - Mead is singing a different tune. Power may indeed lie with he or she who cares the least, but, as our reformed whore humbly explains, "Power isn't love." Very noble, that - and very boring. There's a direct correlation between Mead's level of sincerity and the level of tedium onscreen. As he softens, the film lags, and the predictability of the plotting begins to take its toll. Mead's intrinsic interest lies in his ruthless and clear-eyed apprehension of certain truths about human nature. He may not get the more important things in life (love, fealty, respect), but he gets irreverence. And irreverence plays. As with W.H. Auden's poetic injunction, "If equal affection cannot be, let the more loving one be me," Mead commits himself, if not to selflessness, than to pearl wholesale a much deeper notion of love and relationship. If only the kinder, gentler Mead were as amusing a persona as the rogue. | ||
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While the public debate about the Lisbon Treaty saw protesters and counter protesters gather outside Prague Castle Oct. 19, the government of Prime Minister Jan Fischer and President Václav Klaus were crafting language designed to abate Klaus' concerns over a human rights protocol in the treaty, likely leading to Lisbon's ratification by the year's end. "The solution is now on the table," said pearl jewelry wholesale Petr Drulák, director of the Prague Institute for International Relations. For his part, Klaus has stepped back from earlier demands that a concrete exemption from the Lisbon's Charter on Fundamental Rights - meant to prevent the Czech Republic having to pay restitution to ethnic Germans expelled after World War II - be added directly to the treaty. Instead, an addendum will be added to Croatia's accession treaty clarifying the application of the charter to guarantee that Sudeten Germans expelled by the Beneš Decrees would not be able to seek compensation in EU courts. This is similar to the way the EU made compromises with Ireland before its public referendum Oct. 2 and prevents Lisbon from having to be re-approved by all EU member states. "I never said it would not be enough for me to have similar guarantees to the ones the European Council gave to Ireland," Klaus told daily Lidové noviny Oct. 17. Less than a week earlier, however, Klaus' private secretary was sending the opposite message on a Czech television talk show. "The path of Ireland is totally cultured pearl jewelry inadequate," Ladislav Jakl said Oct. 11. "The apparent Irish guarantees are essentially not guarantees." Now, Klaus sounds increasingly resigned to signing the treaty, assuming, as most do, that the Constitutional Court will rule that Lisbon falls in line with the Czech Constitution. "The train is already moving so quickly, and it is so far away that it might not be possible to stop or return," Klaus said. Klaus also concretely confirmed that UK Conservative leader David Cameron had sent a letter asking him to delay signing the Lisbon Treaty until next year, when the Conservatives are expected to win elections in the United Kingdom and are hoping to call for a public vote on the controversial accord. As to meeting Cameron's request, "I cannot and will not," Klaus said. "They would have to [hold a referendum] in the coming days or weeks." But, even as political leaders are building consensus, public opinion on the Lisbon Treaty remains divided, if not outright confused. About 150 anti-Klaus protesters gathered Oct. 19 outside Prague Castle, matched by about 50 Klaus supporters. ''The goal of the meeting is to send out a signal that most people definitely do not support the president's approach, that akoya pearl necklace they wish the treaty to be signed," protest organizer Jan Šinágl said. According to one public opinion poll, Šinágl is right. SANEP polling agency found that 58 percent of Czechs believe Klaus' Lisbon approach harms the country and that he should sign immediately. However, the Median polling agency found exactly the opposite with 65 percent of Czechs saying they supported Klaus' position on the Lisbon Treaty. "Foreign policy issues are not something on which people vote," Drulák said. "They don't really know that much and have one opinion one day and another the next day." While the Czech Republic is the last of 27 EU member states to ratify Lisbon - which reforms EU decision making and gives it a full time president - Slovakia has added an additional twist to the process. Slovakia, as it was part of Czechoslovakia, also has the Beneš Decrees on its books. "Everything that ought to be negotiated for the Czech Republic must be approved by everybody, including us," said Slovak Foreign Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajčák. "We're not going to approve or vote for something that would put us into a disadvantageous or subordinated situation." This at least raises the possibility that Slovak leaders with similar concerns to Klaus could end up blocking any compromise solution between Klaus and Fischer. "We cannot allow any legal uncertainty," Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said. But Fischer says Slovak opinion will be taken into account in formulating language for any exemption. "The formulation is going to be such that [Fico] would not have to pearl strand wholesale take this step," Fischer said at an Oct. 19 press conference. After weeks of tension and harsh rhetoric, EU leaders are beginning to rest easy and are likely to see the results of internal Czech negotiations at a summit Oct. 29-30. And, while he may reluctantly sign Lisbon, Klaus remains unapologetic about his stance. "Disputes about freedom and democracy in Europe will certainly continue. | ||
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Slovak workers who were enticed to wear "humiliating" T-shirts vented their anger by burying them under a pile of rubble Oct. 9. Other workers adamantly refused to wear them even though they had been originally told to put them on for three days starting Wednesday, Oct 7. The workers, many of them Roma, were laying communication lines on Štěpánská street just off Wenceslas Square, shouted abuse at a Prague Post photographer and tried to naughty castles take his camera when he photographed a worker attempting to hide the T-shirts. On Oct. 7, the workers had been offered cigarettes and beer in exchange for wearing the shirts with the words "Měl jsem se líp učit!" ("I should have studied more!") printed on them. Passers-by and drivers stopped to take photographs. The Web address Skoly.cz was also printed on the shirts. According to the Web site, which shows workers wearing the T-shirts, on sale for 300 Kč ($17), the event was to draw attention to the importance of education. Skoly.cz is overseen by the International Education Society in London. There is no telephone number on the society's Web site, which states its aim as "specializing in the certification of educational institutions within the international Certificate Project and in the certification of teachers of all types of schools, as well as other lecturers." The society's director expressed satisfaction at the campaign's results. "We had an 80 percent favorable response from the public," Executive Director Zuzana Zlámalová said. "We are satisfied with the campaign's results." The T-shirt campaign was organized by Czech media agency Underline. Director Marek Řídký was unapologetic, blaming the media and activists for creating the controversy. He said the workers found it funny, and he was "very satisfied" with the campaign. "The event was supposed to be from Wednesday to cultured freshwater pearl Friday," he said. "We had an agreement with the construction company. The workers were entertained by it. They took it with good grace. They were taking pictures with people and chatting with them." Then the media and some activist groups became involved, and we terminated the campaign, he said. "We are very satisfied with the event. The effect exceeded our expectations. On the other hand, we regret that some media and activist organizations tried to interpret it in another way." Human Rights and Ethnic Minorities Minister Michael Kocáb slammed the advertising campaign, saying it encourages xenophobia. "The cynicism and caginess of this is absolutely alarming," he said. "The campaign is contrary to the ethics of education, which should not lead our society to intolerance and xenophobia. I do not know of any previous case in which anyone would attempt to downgrade uneducated blue-collar Roma for commercial profit." Many Czechs, he said, had to take construction work when times were tough. "Let's remember the post-revolution immigrants, mostly university students, who had to work for construction companies," he said. And a lot of Czech dissidents, he added, were grateful to pearl earrings wholesale have blue-collar work at home or abroad. František Šlehofer, whose company employed the workers, was quoted in Czech daily Právo as saying the workers put on the T-shirts voluntarily and were "not intellectuals." "It met with a great response. The workers got beer and cigarettes for it. They did not mind at all. They were not intellectuals anyway," he said. A survey carried out by iDnes.cz revealed that more than 20,000 respondents found the T-shirts "funny" and only 3,000 found them "offensive." According to Romea, an organization established to protect the rights of Roma, however, the workers did not share Šlehofer's enthusiasm. "We are sorry about having been used for such a campaign. It is a shame," a worker told the organization. "It is humiliating," he said wholesale pearl jewelry. Another said, "We did attend school." Romea said the campaign degraded human dignity. "The advertisement had an impact - it was racial discrimination and lessened human dignity," Director Zdeněk Ryšavý said. "It is obvious that this provokes xenophobic instincts. The campaign creates the impression that Roma are uneducated and unable to do qualified jobs. It is ethnic defamation." | ||
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Before signing the Lisbon Treaty, President Václav Klaus demands an exemption for the Czech Republic from a human rights protocol he says could open the country up to restitution claims from Germans expelled after World War II. But the timing of his request and the increasingly intense rhetoric surrounding Lisbon is magnifying how political divisions, long plaguing the country internally, are damaging the Czech Republic's image on the European stage. At the same time, Klaus' request raises questions about the performance of Czech Lisbon negotiators in past years - as the United Kingdom and Poland both turquoise necklace received the exemption Klaus now seeks. "When there is an official Czech position, other countries can react to that," said Piotr Maciej Kaczyński of the Brussels-based European Center for Policy Studies. "They need to agree internally on what they want and how to solve this crisis situation. Without that, there will not be an external solution." European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek issued a similar statement Oct. 9. Poland ratified the Lisbon Treaty Oct. 10, leaving the Czechs as the last of 27 member states to approve the controversial agreement, which among other things would give Europe its first permanent president. Reaction on the Czech political scene to Klaus' request has run the gamut from demanding he be removed from office to full agreement with his proposal. Prime Minister Jan Fischer was slated to meet with European Commission President José Manuel Barroso Oct. 13 in Brussels. He said Oct. 12 he would negotiate on behalf of Klaus' request if the president would guarantee this is his last demand before signing Lisbon, though full compliance from the EU with Klaus' request remains a virtual impossibility. If the Czech Republic were to receive an opt-out clause from the European Charter on Fundamental Rights, it would be an alteration of the treaty, requiring all 26 member states that have already approved the document to vote again. A likely compromise solution is a guarantee forged in a fashion similar to pearl jewelry wholesale ones given to Ireland before its recent Lisbon vote. They will officially become EU law as part of the next accession treaty, likely to be that of Croatia. A more complete discussion of the issue is expected at an EU summit Oct. 29-30. Klaus has been silent on the idea of a guarantee for months, if not years, but raised similar concerns as early as 2002. Klaus sent a letter to then Prime Minister Miloš Zeman, who was negotiating the Czech Republic's accession to the EU, requesting a footnote eliminating possible restitution claims related to the Beneš Decrees. In a March 11, 2002, interview with Prima TV, Klaus said, "I very much hope in the accession to the European Union we are clearly told they would not change anything from the past, that there is no claim on our entry by the European Union to attempt and reinterpret history or change orders." In February, the Chamber of Deputies, before voting in favor of Lisbon, passed a resolution asking that any agreement on the Lisbon Treaty "ensure that this cannot act retroactively and to challenge the legal and property relations arising from the Czech legislation, especially from the years 1940 to 1946." Most interpretations of the charter, including those by attorneys tied to Fischer's government, indicate it could not be applied retroactively to events that happened more than 60 years ago. Ironically, the same legal principle scuttled early Czech elections that had been scheduled for the fall. "There is already a general rule that the court would never go to apply to twisted pearl necklace something as old as the Beneš Decrees," Kaczyński said. "That is not written in the treaty, so you cannot exclude it 100 percent, but the likelihood is minimal." Others take issue with the fundamentals of his request based on the idea that it seeks to exempt the country from guaranteeing certain human rights. "The new argument of Klaus about the Beneš Decrees cannot be taken seriously," said Green Party Chairman Ondřej Liška, who is proposing to freshwater pearl jewelry oust Klaus from office. "It is only a game on a string of primitive nationalism. It looks as if Klaus is initializing the campaign for a new right-wing extremist movement, of which he would like to take leadership." Bernd Posselt, a spokesman for Sudeten Germans, the group addressed by the Beneš Decrees and expelled from the Czech lands in the 1940s, called Klaus' demand "a cynical game involving the fate of millions of people who were stripped of their rights, expelled and many of them murdered, and their offspring." Klaus is empowered to negotiate international treaties by Article 63 of the Czech Constitution. He rescinded that right to Topolánek's government during the Lisbon process, but, "He can always re-enter negotiations," said Ondřej Rathouský, an attorney with the Prague-based Giese & Partners. While a guarantee similar to the ones Ireland received is the only likely way around this latest impasse, the lack of consensus domestically remains the key roadblock to any Czech ambitions at the European level. "The next step is to have some sort of internal Czech agreement," Kaczyński said. "Then Klaus needs to commit that he will sign if certain conditions are met." | ||
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