The pavilion exterior for Expo will be completed by the end of the year

Prague - The exterior of the Czech pavilion at the World Expo 2010 in China will be completed by the end of this year, and between late November and early December, 63,000 hockey pucks will also be attached to the white cladding. They will create a relief of Prague's Old Town. The pavilion is being prepared by Chinese builders under the supervision of a Czech preparatory team. In recent days, the builders have also started preparing the internal structure of the pavilion, said Jiří Potužník, spokesperson for the Czech exhibition, to ČTK.
    The preparatory office has also selected artists who will contribute to the Czech presentation by creating special exhibits for specific objects. These include Jakub Nepraš, Federico Díaz, David Solnický, Martin Kovářík, Roman Dušek, Maxim Velčovský, Jiří Černý, and Václav Mikule. "What exactly they will contribute will, however, remain a secret for now," Potužník stated. According to him, the creations must be on site by early February next year at the latest, so that everything is ready for trial operation by April 1. In the end, David Černý, whose participation was discussed, did not appear among the artists.
    The exhibition will also feature a presentation of Czech "pearls" in the categories of cities and places, discoveries and inventions, art and culture, firsts and records, and wonders of the Czech Republic. Visitors will be able to become acquainted with them through three-dimensional projection. So far, twenty wonders have been selected, including the Charles Bridge, Czech spas, Český Krumlov, and the Lednice-Valtice area, as well as contact lenses, a ship screw, and the word robot. There will be a total of 25 pearls, with the remaining five currently being chosen by people, among others on www.perly.idnes.cz. The wonders chosen by the public will be known around November 25.
    The Czech pavilion with the exhibition Urbanized Landscape, created by Film Dekor, aims to present the country as a modern state of the 3rd millennium at the crossroads of cultures, nations, and ideas. The interior of the pavilion will be a sort of fictional city full of technological experiences, design surprises, and various experiences: the viewer is to be enchanted, emotionally affected, and surprised.
    The World Expo 2010 in Shanghai will be inaugurated by the Chinese on May 1 next year, and the Czech national day at the exhibition will be on May 17. The government has allocated around half a billion crowns for the "economic and cultural Olympics of nations," but due to cuts in the state budget, the preparatory office had to save 29 million crowns. Potužník does not expect further savings.