News

Around 30,000 people from Czechia and abroad took part in the 25th annual pilgrimage festival in the Moravian town of Velehrad in the Zlín Region on Friday, marking the legacy of Saints Cyril and Methodius, the Greek missionaries who brought Christianity to the Czech lands. The Days of the People of Goodwill, as the celebration is called, culminated on Friday with an open-air pilgrimage mass on the square in front of the Velehrad Basilica, celebrated by Olomouc Archbishop Josef Nuzík.

The two-day event officially began on Thursday evening with a prayer in the Velehrad Basilica and a charity benefit concert, which raised CZK 1.025 million and drew around 20,000 attendees. Every 5 July in Czechia is a public holiday commemorating the two saints.

Around 13,500 people performed in the second round of mass exercises at Prague’s Fortuna arena (formerly Eden Stadium) on Friday afternoon, officially closing the 17th All Sokol Slet, a gathering of Sokol branches from all around the world held every six years.

The mass performances, the first instalment of which took place on Thursday evening, are the culmination and highlight of Slet week, which began on Sunday with a parade through the Czech capital and a performance at the National Theatre, and continued with cultural and sporting events throughout the week. Both Thursday's and Friday's performances were aired live on Czech Television.

Sokol members opened the second round of performances on Friday by forming the word "spojujeme“ (we connect) in huge letters on the stadium grounds and ended it by coming together in the shape of a giant tree, meant to represent the tree of life.

Sokol is a Czech physical fitness movement with branches all over the world. Since its inception more than 160 years ago, it has been one of the main drivers of Czech social life. The Slets are the highlight of the Sokol calendar.

Czechia’s exports of military equipment reached CZK 48.9 billion last year, which represented a year-on-year increase of 60 percent, according to an annual report on foreign arms trade released on Thursday.

According to the report, the Ministry of Industry and Trade granted 1,580 licenses to export military material to 99 countries last year, amounting to nearly CZK 68.2 billion. The largest value of exports, worth over CZK 20 billion, was destined to Ukraine, which is facing a Russian military invasion.

The value of army material imported to Czechia in 2023 was over CZK 11.5 billion, almost triple the sum reported in 2022.

Retail sales in Czechia accelerated year-on-year by 4.4 percent in May, the Czech Statistics Office reported on Thursday, with sales increasing year-on-year for the sixth consecutive month. On a month-on-month basis, retail sales decreased by 0.1 percent.

Shoppers spent 5.1 percent more on non-food items and 4.2 percent more on food compared to May last year. Sales of fuel increased by 2.2 percent.