New attraction on the River Vltava in Prague

And staying on the high seas, or rather rivers, Prague has a brand new attraction: stand on Prague's Legie Bridge near the National Theatre tonight and you'll see a huge statue of a woman emerging from the river and sinking back again to the accompaniment of music and special light effects. Alena Skodova has the details:

The statue, made of metal coated with a nylon net, is 25 metres long and weighs 1.6 tons. It was designed by the famous Czech sculptor Kurt Gebauer and symbolises the River Vltava as a woman. She pops out of the water each day at 9, 10 and 11 p.m. The statue lies on a specially-made pontoon which works like a submarine. The 20 minute performance ends with a special effect called The Water Gate, a stream of water created by a huge pump.

Elsewhere in Prague you can see the giant statue's siblings. Mala Strana's Vojanovy Sady garden is home to Gebauer's famed dwarfs sitting on the grass, watching some rather plump ladies swimming in the park pond.

The daily productions on the Legie Bridge are part of this year's biggest cultural project, Prague - A City on the River, part of the European City of Culture 2000. You can watch Mrs Vltava emerge from the river every evening until the end of September.