Portal:Czech Republic

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Vítejte na Českém portálu!

The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The Czech Republic has a hilly landscape that covers an area of 78,871 square kilometers (30,452 sq mi) with a mostly temperate continental and oceanic climate. The capital and largest city is Prague; other major cities and urban areas include Brno, Ostrava, Plzeň and Liberec.

The Duchy of Bohemia was founded in the late 9th century under Great Moravia. It was formally recognized as an Imperial Estate of the Holy Roman Empire in 1002 and became a kingdom in 1198. Following the Battle of Mohács in 1526, all of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown were gradually integrated into the Habsburg monarchy. Nearly a hundred years later, the Protestant Bohemian Revolt led to the Thirty Years' War. After the Battle of White Mountain, the Habsburgs consolidated their rule. With the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the Crown lands became part of the Austrian Empire.

In the 19th century, the Czech lands became more industrialized; further, in 1918, most of the country became part of the First Czechoslovak Republic following the collapse of Austria-Hungary after World War I. Czechoslovakia was the only country in Central and Eastern Europe to remain a parliamentary democracy during the entirety of the interwar period. After the Munich Agreement in 1938, Nazi Germany systematically took control over the Czech lands. Czechoslovakia was restored in 1945 and three years later became an Eastern Bloc communist state following a coup d'état in 1948. Attempts to liberalize the government and economy were suppressed by a Soviet-led invasion of the country during the Prague Spring in 1968. In November 1989, the Velvet Revolution ended communist rule in the country and restored democracy. On 31 December 1992, Czechoslovakia was peacefully dissolved, with its constituent states becoming the independent states of the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

The Czech Republic is a unitary parliamentary republic and developed country with an advanced, high-income social market economy. It is a welfare state with a European social model, universal health care and free-tuition university education. It ranks 32nd in the Human Development Index. The Czech Republic is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the European Union, the OECD, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the Visegrád Group. (Full article...)

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Cover of the score, 1919

The Bartered Bride (Czech: Prodaná nevěsta, The Sold Bride) is a comic opera in three acts by the Czech composer Bedřich Smetana, to a libretto by Karel Sabina. The work is generally regarded as a major contribution towards the development of Czech music. It was composed during the period 1863 to 1866, and first performed at the Provisional Theatre, Prague, on 30 May 1866 in a two-act format with spoken dialogue. Set in a country village and with realistic characters, it tells the story of how, after a late surprise revelation, true love prevails over the combined efforts of ambitious parents and a scheming marriage broker.

The opera was not immediately successful, and was revised and extended in the following four years. In its final version, premiered in 1870, it rapidly gained popularity and eventually became a worldwide success. Until this time, the Czech national opera had only been represented by minor, rarely performed works. This opera, Smetana's second, was part of his quest to create a truly Czech operatic genre. Smetana's musical treatment made considerable use of traditional Bohemian dance forms, such as the polka and furiant, and, although he largely avoided the direct quotation of folksong, he nevertheless created music considered by Czechs to be quintessentially Czech in spirit. The overture, often played as a concert piece independently from the opera, was, unusually, composed before almost any of the other music had been written. (Full article...)

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The castle at Vranov nad Dyjí

Photographer: Jerzy Strzelecki; License: Dual (GNU Free Documentation License and Creative Commons CC-BY-SA)

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In this month

14 November 1960 – The deadliest rail disaster in Czech history takes place in Eastern Bohemia, resulting in 118 deaths
14 November 1918 – Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (pictured) becomes the first President of Czechoslovakia
17 November 1939 – Nazi Germany storms Czech universities, executing nine students and professors, later commemorated as International Students' Day
17 November 1989 – The Velvet Revolution starts in Prague, culminating in the end of 41 years of Communist rule in Czechoslovakia
24 November 1966 – The deadliest air disaster in Czechoslovakia takes place near Bratislava, killing all 82 on board

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Vojtěch Jarník (Czech pronunciation: [ˈvojcɛx ˈjarɲiːk]; 22 December 1897 – 22 September 1970) was a Czech mathematician. He worked for many years as a professor and administrator at Charles University, and helped found the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. He is the namesake of Jarník's algorithm for minimum spanning trees.

Jarník worked in number theory, mathematical analysis, and graph algorithms. He has been called "probably the first Czechoslovak mathematician whose scientific works received wide and lasting international response". As well as developing Jarník's algorithm, he found tight bounds on the number of lattice points on convex curves, studied the relationship between the Hausdorff dimension of sets of real numbers and how well they can be approximated by rational numbers, and investigated the properties of nowhere-differentiable functions. (Full article...)

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John Amos Comenius Petr Čech Dominik Hašek Jaromír Jágr Pavel Nedvěd Gregor Mendel Tomáš Rosický Franz Kafka Bedřich Smetana Emanuel Moravec Gustav Mahler Fredy Hirsch Antonín Kinský Vlastimil Koubek Petra Kvitová Martin Miller (actor) Vratislav Lokvenc Vladimír Remek Leoš Janáček Libor Michálek Markéta Vondroušová Zdeňka Wiedermannová-Motyčková

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Did you know?

...that, although Mozart never visited Kroměříž, much of the Academy Award-winning film Amadeus was filmed at the local episcopal residence?
... that the leftist Czechoslovak Chemical Workers' Union was expelled from the OSČ trade union centre in 1922?
... that footballer Petr Vrabec won six Czechoslovak league titles with Sparta Prague?
... that Josef Jiří Kolár was the first to begin a systematic translation of Shakespeare's plays into Czech?

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General images

The following are images from various Czech Republic-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Iconic brutalist Transgas building, demolished in 2019 (from Czech architecture)
Image 2Vepřo-knedlo-zelo (Roast pork with dumplings and sauerkraut) (from Czech cuisine)
Image 3Nakládaný hermelín (marinated cheese) (from Czech cuisine)
Image 4Tomas Garrigue Masaryk, philosopher, Czechoslovak president in the years 1918-1935 (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 5Writer Božena Němcová (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 6Fried bramboráky (potato pancakes) (from Czech cuisine)
Image 7Church of Saint Agnes of Bohemia (Spořilov) (from Czech architecture)
Image 8Kačina Castle in Chotkov (from Czech architecture)
Image 9Empress Maria Theresa (reignet 1740–1780) (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 10Linguistic map of interwar Czechoslovakia (c. 1930) (from Bohemia)
Image 11Stone sculpture of a Celtic man, found in Mšecké Žehrovice (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 12Dacian Influence over Bohemia (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 13Territory under the control of the Přemyslids, c. 1301 (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 14Map of protected areas of the Czech Republic: national parks (grey) and protected landscape areas (green) (from Protected areas of the Czech Republic)
Image 15Monument to Master Jan Hus, a religious reformer and philosopher in Prague (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 16Bohemia (westernmost area) in Czechoslovakia 1918–1938 (from Bohemia)
Image 17A panorama of Zittau (from Bohemia)
Image 18Cubist architecture in Prague (from Czech architecture)
Image 19Prague-style beef goulash (from Czech cuisine)
Image 20St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague Castle, John of Luxembourg laid the foundation stone in 1344 (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 21The extent of the Protestant Reformation (1545–1620) (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 22Řežabinec a Řežabinecké tůně National Nature Reserve (from Protected areas of the Czech Republic)
Image 23Grand Café Orient in Prague (from Czech architecture)
Image 24The radical Hussites became known as Taborites, after the town of Tábor that became their center (from Bohemia)
Image 25Svíčková na smetaně served with dumplings, whipped cream and cranberries (from Czech cuisine)
Image 26Monument to the village of Lidice murdered by the Nazis (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 27The coat of arms of the Přemyslid dynasty (until 1253–1262) (from Bohemia)
Image 28Pilsner Urquell in a branded mug (from Czech cuisine)
Image 29Russian occupation in 1968 (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 30A panorama of Kłodzko, the capital city of Kłodzko Land, which is referred to as "Little Prague" (from Bohemia)
Image 31Emperor Francis Joseph I. (reigned 1848–1916) (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 32Václav Havel, playwright, dissident and president from 1989 to 2003 (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 33The National Theater from 1881 (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 34Copper engraving of the Second Defenestration of Prague from Theatrum Europaeum by Matthäus Merian. (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 35Baroque St. Nicholas Church in Malá Strana, built between 1704 and 1755 (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 36Hroby Nature Monument in Radenín (from Protected areas of the Czech Republic)
Image 37King George of Podebrady, one of the first promoters of united Europe (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 38Saint Wenceslas, Czech prince (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 39Bohemia as the heart of Europa regina; Sebastian Münster, Basel, 1570 (from Bohemia)
Image 40Zelňačka (from Czech cuisine)
Image 41Rotunda of St. George from the beginning of the 12th century on Mount Říp (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 42Europe after the Congress of Vienna in 1815 (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 43Korozluky Castle (from Czech architecture)
Image 44Beheading of 27 Bohemian nobles at the Old Town Square in Prague, 1621 (contemporary illustration) (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 45Frgál, a type of koláč baked in Moravian Wallachia (from Czech cuisine)
Image 46Cubist lamp by Emil Králíček, Jungmannovo náměstí, next to the Gothic Church of Our Lady of the Snows (Prague) (from Czech architecture)
Image 47Christmas cookies (vánoční cukroví) (from Czech cuisine)
Image 48Lands of the Bohemian Crown (until 1635), map by Josef Pekař, 1921 (from Bohemia)
Image 49Territories ruled by Ottokar II of Bohemia in 1273 (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 50Venus of Dolní Věstonice, the oldest ceramic article in the world (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 51The coat of arms of the Kingdom of Bohemia (from Bohemia)
Image 52Bohemian city Karlovy Vary (from Bohemia)
Image 53Entrance to Moravian Karst PLA (from Protected areas of the Czech Republic)
Image 54Great Moravia during the reign of Svatopluk I (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 55Czech kings Ottokar II, Wenceslas II and Wenceslas III from the Přemyslid dynasty (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 56Svíčková na smetaně (Marinated tenderloin), served here with dumplings and cream (from Czech cuisine)
Image 57Fried cheese, served with tartar sauce and side salad (from Czech cuisine)
Image 58Obložené chlebíčky, a type of snack or appetizer (from Czech cuisine)
Image 59A "traditional Bohemian platter" at a restaurant in central Prague, consisting of roast duck, roast pork, beer sausage, smoked meat, red and white cabbage, bread, bacon and potato dumplings. (from Czech cuisine)
Image 60The Kingdom of Bohemia in 1618 with other Bohemian Crown lands within the Holy Roman Empire (1618). (from Bohemia)
Image 61Detailed map of Bohemia, 1742 (from Bohemia)
Image 62Bronze sword, Urnfield culture, c. 1200 BC (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 63Semi-detached villa in Brno by Otto Eisler, according to MoMA's Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson, is a defining building of the International style. (from Czech architecture)
Image 64Adria Palace (Prague) (from Czech architecture)
Image 65Buděticko Nature Park with Rabí Castle (from Protected areas of the Czech Republic)
Image 66Apple strudel with raisins (from Czech cuisine)
Image 67An 1892 map showing Bohemia proper outlined in pink, Moravia in yellow, and Austrian Silesia in orange (from Bohemia)
Image 68Duchy of Bohemia, around 1029 (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 69Emperor and King Charles IV. Luxembourg (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 70Vladislaus Hall at the Prague Castle, built from 1490 to 1502 by Benedikt Rejt (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 71The First Czechoslovak Republic (1918-1938) (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 72John Amos Comenius (1592-1670), Czech philosopher and school reformer (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 73Library of Clementinum, a former Jesuit College, built in 1722 (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 74House of the Black Madonna (from Czech architecture)

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Topics

Czech lands: Bohemia • Moravia • Czech Silesia

History: Únětice culture • Boii • Marcomanni • Samo • Great Moravia • Přemyslid dynasty • Lands of the Bohemian Crown • Czech lands (1526–1648) • 1648–1867 • 1867–1918) • Czechoslovakia • Czech Republic

Geography: Lakes • Protected areas • Regions • Rivers

Law: Judiciary • Law enforcement • Supreme Court of the Czech Republic

Politics: Administrative divisions • Government • Constitution • Elections • Foreign relations • Army • Parliament • Political parties • President • Prime Minister

Economy: Banks • Czech koruna • Energy • Oil and gas deposits • Stock Exchange • Tourism • Transport

Culture: Architecture • Art • Cinema • Cuisine • Demographics • Education • Language • Literature • Media • Music • Philosophy • Prostitution • Public holidays • Religion • Sport • Television • Video games

Symbols: Flag • Coat of arms • National anthem (Kde domov můj)

Lists: Outline of the Czech Republic • List of Czech Republic–related topics

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WikiProjects

WikiProject Czech Republic

WikiProject Europe

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Featured and good content

	Featured articles		Dominik Hašek • Earth-grazing meteoroid of 13 October 1990 • Franz Kafka • Gustav Mahler • Bedřich Smetana • The Bartered Bride
	Good articles		Patrik Berger • FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 • Reinhard Heydrich • Leoš Janáček • Vlastimil Koubek • Libor Michálek • Pavel Nedvěd • Panzer 35(t) • Polish minority in the Czech Republic • Prague Spring • Punch-up in Piestany • Randy Blythe manslaughter case • The Brothers Grimm (film) • Winton Train • Zaolzie