The Prague Castle is closed today as the Czech President Miloš Zeman will present the state decorations awarded in 2020 and 2021 at a gala evening in the Vladislav Hall of Prague Castle.
The ceremony to honor the most outstanding Czechs in many different fields of work takes place from 8 p.m. until 9:15 p.m.
The event will be aired on live television on CT24, as the common yearly tradition. Another alternative for watching it is IDNES TV.
The ceremony usually happens every 28th of October, on the occasion of the Independent Czechoslovak State Day. The awards include people from the fields of culture, science, and business. Traditionally, there are also war veterans.
There was some uncertainty regarding the event truly taking place, especially with the current war happening between Russia and Ukraine.
As the evening ceremony of the highest state honors in Vladislav Hall was not held in the past two years – in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic acting in full force and in 2021 due to the hospitalization of the Czech President Miloš Zeman, this evening the awards of both years will be given.
Some of the awardees for 2020 are Karel Gott (in memoriam, the most famous Czech singer that passed away on October 1st, 2019), Roman Prymula (former Czech minister of health). The full list of awardees can be found here.
Some of the awardees for 2021 are Jiřina Bohdalová (one of the most famous Czech actresses, present in movies like Klec (by movie director Jiri Strach), Petr Kellner (in memoriam, Czech billionaire entrepreneur, the founder and majority shareholder of the PPF Group who passed away in a ski trip on March 27th, 2021).
The full list of awardees for that year can be found here.
Past awardees are the family of Bat’a (Czech shoemaker famous in the world and responsible for the idealization of model cities in the countries he traveled and did business with) and Jaromir Jagr (the most famous and victorious Czech hockey player who played for many years in the United States and who currently owns KC Kladno).
The traditional reception that usually takes place after the ceremony in the Spanish Hall is not taking place this year.
Just as a reminder, Prague Castle will remain closed until this Wednesday due to operational reasons.
