Portal:Czech Republic
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Welcome to the Czech Portal!
Vítejte na Českém portálu!
The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it 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 State of the Holy Roman Empire in 1002 and became a kingdom in 1198. Following the Battle of Mohács in 1526, all of the Crown lands of Bohemia 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, and in 1918 most of it 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...)
Selected article - show another
The Precious Legacy: Judaic Treasures from the Czechoslovak State Collections was one of the names for a travelling exhibition of Czech Jewish art and ritual objects that opened at The Whitworth in Manchester, in 1980. It subsequently toured the United States and Canada from 1983 to 1986. In 1990, part of the show was brought to Israel for a joint exhibition with the permanent collection of the Israel Museum. The travelling exhibition was relaunched in 1998 for a two-year tour of Sweden, New Zealand, and Australia.
The objects, dating from the early 17th to mid-20th centuries, included silverwork, pottery, textiles, paintings, drawings, and ritual and household items. The exhibition was noted for being a mixture of fine art, folk art, and anthropological study; for the irony by which fascists and communists had preserved the merits of the culture; and for showing a continuity of culture across multiple social upheavals. (Full article...)Selected picture
In this month
- 1 May 2004 – The Czech Republic joins the European Union
- 9 May 1974 – The Prague Metro begins operation
- 14 May 1855 – The book The Grandmother by Božena Němcová is released
- 27 May 1942 – An assassination attempt (pictured) on acting Reichsprotektor Reinhardt Heydrich in Prague as part of Operation Anthropoid results in him dying on 4 June – the villages of Lidice and Ležáky are razed to the ground in response
- 29 May 1975 – Gustáv Husák becomes President of Czechoslovakia, remaining in office until 1989
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Selected biography - show another
Gustav Mahler (German: [ˈɡʊstaf ˈmaːlɐ]; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism of the early 20th century. While in his lifetime his status as a conductor was established beyond question, his own music gained wide popularity only after periods of relative neglect, which included a ban on its performance in much of Europe during the Nazi era. After 1945 his compositions were rediscovered by a new generation of listeners; Mahler then became one of the most frequently performed and recorded of all composers, a position he has sustained into the 21st century.
Born in Bohemia (then part of the Austrian Empire) to Jewish parents of humble origins, the German-speaking Mahler displayed his musical gifts at an early age. After graduating from the Vienna Conservatory in 1878, he held a succession of conducting posts of rising importance in the opera houses of Europe, culminating in his appointment in 1897 as director of the Vienna Court Opera (Hofoper). During his ten years in Vienna, Mahler—who had converted to Catholicism to secure the post—experienced regular opposition and hostility from the anti-Semitic press. Nevertheless, his innovative productions and insistence on the highest performance standards ensured his reputation as one of the greatest of opera conductors, particularly as an interpreter of the stage works of Wagner, Mozart, and Tchaikovsky. Late in his life he was briefly director of New York's Metropolitan Opera and the New York Philharmonic. (Full article...)Did you know?
- ...that in 1990, Czech and Slovak politicians "fought" the Hyphen War, a political battle over whether "Czechoslovakia" should be spelled with a hyphen?
- ... that in 2013, the Czech Republic plans to directly elect its president for the first time in its history?
- ... that Czech international footballer Patrik Gedeon went to play club football in Liechtenstein in the middle of his career?
- ... that Miroslav Tyrš, the founder of Czech national sport movement Sokol, was born into a German family?
General images
- Image 1Semi-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 3The extent of the Protestant Reformation (1545–1620) (from History of the Czech lands)
- Image 5Svíčková na smetaně served with dumplings, whipped cream and cranberries (from Czech cuisine)
- Image 6Duchy of Bohemia, around 1029 (from History of the Czech lands)
- Image 8An 1892 map showing Bohemia proper outlined in pink, Moravia in yellow, and Austrian Silesia in orange (from Bohemia)
- Image 13Vladislaus Hall at the Prague Castle, built from 1490 to 1502 by Benedikt Rejt (from History of the Czech lands)
- Image 14Svíčková na smetaně (Marinated tenderloin), served here with dumplings and cream (from Czech cuisine)
- Image 18Czech kings Ottokar II, Wenceslas II and Wenceslas III from the Přemyslid dynasty (from History of the Czech lands)
- Image 19Copper engraving of the Second Defenestration of Prague from Theatrum Europaeum by Matthäus Merian. (from History of the Czech lands)
- Image 21Map of protected areas of the Czech Republic: national parks (grey) and protected landscape areas (green) (from Protected areas of the Czech Republic)
- Image 22Adria Palace (Prague) (from Czech architecture)
- Image 23Prague-style beef goulash (from Czech cuisine)
- Image 25Cubist architecture in Prague (from Czech architecture)
- Image 26Lands of the Bohemian Crown (until 1635), map by Josef Pekař, 1921 (from Bohemia)
- Image 27Russian occupation in 1968 (from History of the Czech lands)
- Image 32Rotunda of St. George from the beginning of the 12th century on Mount Říp (from History of the Czech lands)
- Image 36Church of Saint Agnes of Bohemia (Spořilov) (from Czech architecture)
- Image 37St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague Castle, John of Luxembourg laid the foundation stone in 1344 (from History of the Czech lands)
- Image 38Zelňačka (from Czech cuisine)
- Image 43Grand Café Orient in Prague (from Czech architecture)
- Image 44Library of Clementinum, a former Jesuit College, built in 1722 (from History of the Czech lands)
- Image 46Stone sculpture of a Celtic man, found in Mšecké Žehrovice (from History of the Czech lands)
- Image 47Baroque St. Nicholas Church in Malá Strana, built between 1704 and 1755 (from History of the Czech lands)
- Image 48Christmas cookies (vánoční cukroví) (from Czech cuisine)
- Image 51Beheading of 27 Bohemian nobles at the Old Town Square in Prague, 1621 (contemporary illustration) (from History of the Czech lands)
- Image 52Monument to Master Jan Hus, a religious reformer and philosopher in Prague (from History of the Czech lands)
- Image 53John Amos Comenius (1592-1670), Czech philosopher and school reformer (from History of the Czech lands)
- Image 55A panorama of Kłodzko, the capital city of Kłodzko Land, which is referred to as "Little Prague" (from Bohemia)
- Image 56Bohemia (westernmost area) in Czechoslovakia 1918–1938 (from Bohemia)
- Image 57Dacian Influence over Bohemia (from History of the Czech lands)
- Image 58A "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 60Řežabinec a Řežabinecké tůně National Nature Reserve (from Protected areas of the Czech Republic)
- Image 62Václav Havel, playwright, dissident and president from 1989 to 2003 (from History of the Czech lands)
- Image 64Entrance to Moravian Karst PLA (from Protected areas of the Czech Republic)
- Image 65Venus of Dolní Věstonice, the oldest ceramic article in the world (from History of the Czech lands)
- Image 67Fried cheese, served with tartar sauce and side salad (from Czech cuisine)
- Image 69Cubist lamp by Emil Králíček, Jungmannovo náměstí, next to the Gothic Church of Our Lady of the Snows (Prague) (from Czech architecture)
- Image 70King George of Podebrady, one of the first promoters of united Europe (from History of the Czech lands)
- Image 71Tomas Garrigue Masaryk, philosopher, Czechoslovak president in the years 1918-1935 (from History of the Czech lands)
- Image 72Detailed map of Bohemia, 1742 (from Bohemia)
- Image 73The Kingdom of Bohemia in 1618 with other Bohemian Crown lands within the Holy Roman Empire (1618). (from Bohemia)
- Image 74The coat of arms of the Kingdom of Bohemia (from Bohemia)
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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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