The idea of this short film was a kind of "mute anthropology" of the town of Jáchymov. Confronted with a fieldwork withough mastering the local languages, Czech and German, we found that, in the end, the town spoke for itself.

Joachimsthal – situated in the north-west of the modern day Czech Republic –  grew following the discovery of silver in the region in the XVIth century, developing the Thaller coin – the precursor of the Dollar. When silver was discovered in other parts of the world, the town went into decline. However, the town rose to prominence again with the discovery of uranium in the Ore Mountains and new medical treatments using radioactivity: the first radon spa, Radium Palace, was founded here in 1906. But dark days came again. In 1929, it was discovered that uranium can cause cancer. After the Communist party took control of Czechoslovakia in 1948, a large prison camp was established in the town – now renamed Jáchymov. The town was closed for several years, uranium mining ceasing in 1964.

Read more about Jachymov and its story in "Jáchymov all inclusive"

Renovated in the beginning of the new millenium, the Radium Palace is the only place living up to the town's grand past. Going down the hill from the entrance of Jáchymov the town is first decrepit, with beautiful Renaissance houses abandoned and the remnants of the town's golden times fading; once at the Radium Palace, a glimpse of glory and luxury reappears.

This exercise is still a work in progress and could not have been realised without the involvement of Anneke Ingwersen and Neil Maclean.

Raluca Nagy is a Romanian anthropologist having just achieved her PhD at the Free University of Brussels and the National School of Politcal Science and Administration, Bucharest.