On Saturday, May 16, 2009, the Office of the Government of the Czech Republic is holding an Open Day in Prague's Strakova Academy, the official seat of the Czech Government.
This event is accompanied by an exhibition of prints by the Czech graphic artist Oldřich Kulhánek and an exhibition entitled "Posters of the Velvet Revolution".
The Strakova Academy together with the gardens of the Office of the Government of the Czech Republic will be open to the public for the first time this year. On Saturday it will be opened to the general public from 10.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. Visitors may see selected premises of the Office of the Government, namely the Cabinet Room and the new Press Centre.
On display in the corridors of the Strakova Academy will be prints by the leading Czech painter, graphic artist and illustrator Oldřich Kulhánek. "My opinion, my conviction is that in their work artists should give a report on themselves, on the times and place they live in. Artists should be able to expose the pretence (or lies) of the establishment, expose what is happening to man, expose man's manipulation and dehumanization. Artists should be able to present a report on the soul of their contemporaries," Oldřich Kulhánek was quoted as saying at last January's preview of the exhibition. (More information on the exhibition).
The gardens of the Strakova Academy will also be open for the first time this year, presenting an exhibition called "Posters of the Velvet Revolution 1989". This display of Czech posters made in November and December 1989 is staged to mark the approaching 20th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, which led to the downfall of the communist regime in former Czechoslovakia. Visitors will have an opportunity to view almost three dozen posters conjuring up the atmosphere of those revolutionary days in 1989.
The exhibition of posters will be open to the public at the Office of the Government also in the months which follow, each weekend between 10.00 a.m. and 5.00 p.m. – entry to the exhibition in the following weeks will be from Kosárkovo Embankment behind the Strakova Academy.