By Kim Se-jeong
Staff Reporter
In the busy district of Hongdae in Seoul stands an old European building with a huge clock on the top. It is a Czech restaurant ― Castle Praha, which is owned by a Korean businessman.
For Czech diplomats, the restaurant has been more than a mere bistro to appease homesickness.
Ambassador Jaroslav Olsa, Jr. has invited guests for business meetings and socials, feeding them with the central European cuisine. It is also a spot for Czech delegations to visit when they are in town.
Last week, the embassy increased the value of the restaurant by opening the Czech Information Center.
The center is on the third floor of the building, neatly painted in white.
One bookshelf covers one side of the wall with almost a couple of hundred books arranged.
Crystal glasses and bowls, Czech national pride, are placed to the both sides. At the other end are a projector and a screen that show Czech landscapes.
Ambassador Olsa said he was thrilled to have the info center open. He thanked his predecessor Tomas Smetanka, who brainstormed the idea. He also thanked Han Tai-heon, the owner of the restaurant.
``We want this place to show more of Czech culture, such as literature, art and beer,'' Olsa told reporters at the center last Monday.
Although it's relatively small in size, especially when compared to other European cultural centers in Korea, the information center will have various uses.
The bookshelf will be gradually filled with Czech fiction and non-fiction.
Some books were purchased by the envoy himself back home during the summe, others were donated by the Hankuk University for Foreign Studies, for which he thanked.
Olsa said he hasn't decided whether books will be available to check-out.
The collection also has a book by the science-fiction loving ambassador himself. Titled ``Vampire and Other Science Stories from Czech Land,'' the book was edited by Olsa in 1994.
The ambassador is excited about being able to show Czech films.
Glad that Czech films have been included at a few film festivals in Korea, yet not totally satisfied, he said he'd try to show ones that aren't so known to the Korean public.
The space will also be a permanent Czech exhibition hall. The crystal exhibition will be followed by different exhibitions on a six to eight-week cycle.
A permanent desk on business opportunities in the Czech Republic will also start to provide Korean companies with information. ``It will play a significant role in creating business connections between Korea and the Czech Republic,'' said Nadezda Vlnasova, second secretary in charge of economic and commercial sections at the embassy.
The space will host business presentations for Czech companies as well, she continued, hoping Czech crystal products and beer appeal to prospective Korean businesses.
The center will also promote tourism.
The owner Han welcomed the center.
The restaurant building has a lot to reveal about the Czech Republic and Europe at large.
The building resembles the old city hall building, located at the old town square in Prague, the country's capital.
Iron statues of knights in the hall, wall decorations and a bar with a high open ceiling in the middle create the typical European atmosphere.
On the stairways are hung photos of the Czech-born composer Antonin Dvorak and his music notes.
The restaurant in Hongdae opened in 2007 and is the second branch to open after the one in Gangnam. A third branch opened recently in Itaewon in September.
On Wednesday, a special guest came to the opening reception: Vladimir Pucek, a Czech scholar on Korea.
With close-to-native Korean language skill, Pucek has translated quite a few Korean books into Czech, whose accurate number he didn't recall.
Four of his books were in display at the center during the opening reception.
The professor was appointed as an honorary citizen of Korea by the Seoul Metropolitan Government in 2002, and came back to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the city's Honorary Citizen Award.
What is so unique about him is that he came straight from Pyongyang, a city where he spent a significant amount of time in the 1960s. He refused to elaborate on his trip there, which was his first in over 20 years.