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.

During the 19th century, the Czech lands underwent significant industrialization. Following the collapse of Austria-Hungary after World War I, most of the region became part of the First Czechoslovak Republic in 1918. 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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Great Moravia at its greatest extent during the reign of Svatopluk I, with a red dot marking the approximate location of its capital

Great Moravia, or simply Moravia, was the first major state that was predominantly West Slavic to emerge in the area of Central Europe, possibly including territories which are today part of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, Germany, Poland, Romania, Croatia, Serbia, Ukraine and Slovenia. The formations preceding it in these territories were Samo's tribal union (631–658) and the Pannonian Avar state (567–822).

Centered on the Morava River – which gave the realm its name – the core encompassed today’s Moravia in the eastern Czech Republic and adjacent western Slovakia. The kingdom saw the rise of the first-ever Slavic literary culture in the Old Church Slavonic language as well as the expansion of Christianity, first via missionaries from East Francia, and later after the arrival of Saints Cyril and Methodius in 863 and the creation of the Glagolitic alphabet, the first alphabet dedicated to a Slavic language. Glagolitic was subsequently replaced by the Cyrillic alphabet created in the First Bulgarian Empire. (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

5 April 1937 – Prague Václav Havel Airport (pictured) opens as Prague Ruzyně Airport
7 April 1348 – Charles University in Prague is founded
17 April 1969 – First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, Alexander Dubček, is replaced by Gustáv Husák
18 April 1920 – The first parliamentary elections are held in Czechoslovakia
26 April 1945 – The Red Army liberates the city of Brno at the end of World War II

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Portrait, c. 1650–1670

John Amos Comenius (/kəˈmiːniəs/; Czech: Jan Amos Komenský; German: Johann Amos Comenius; Polish: Jan Amos Komeński; Latinized: Ioannes Amos Comenius; 28 March 1592 – 15 November 1670) was a Czech philosopher, pedagogue and theologian who is considered the father of modern education. He served as the last bishop of the Unity of the Brethren (direct predecessor of the Moravian Church) before becoming a religious refugee and one of the earliest champions of universal education, a concept eventually set forth in his book Didactica Magna. As an educator and theologian, he led schools and advised governments across Protestant Europe through the middle of the seventeenth century.

Comenius introduced a number of educational concepts and innovations including pictorial textbooks written in native languages instead of Latin, teaching based in gradual development from simple to more comprehensive concepts, lifelong learning with a focus on logical thinking over dull memorization, equal opportunity for impoverished children, education for women, and universal and practical instruction. He also believed heavily in the connection between nature, religion, and knowledge, in which he stated that knowledge is born from nature and nature from God. (Full article...)

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Did you know?

...that the Sedlec Ossuary is a chapel decorated with the bones of 40,000 people?
... that the World War II idea of Polish-Czechoslovakian confederation was eventually discarded by the Czechs, whose leader chose instead to believe in the Soviet Union promises of alliance?
... that Czech international footballer Jan Suchopárek dislocated his shoulder while attempting a bicycle kick?
... that Czech actress Anna Letenská was killed by the Nazis for her alleged participation in the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich?

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General images

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

Image 1Cubist architecture in Prague (from Czech architecture)
Image 2Buděticko Nature Park with Rabí Castle (from Protected areas of the Czech Republic)
Image 3An 1892 map showing Bohemia proper outlined in pink, Moravia in yellow, and Austrian Silesia in orange (from Bohemia)
Image 4Obložené chlebíčky, a type of snack or appetizer (from Czech cuisine)
Image 5Řežabinec National Nature Monument (from Protected areas of the Czech Republic)
Image 6Svíčková na smetaně served with dumplings, whipped cream and cranberries (from Czech cuisine)
Image 7A panorama of Kłodzko, the capital city of Kłodzko Land, which is referred to as "Little Prague" (from Bohemia)
Image 8King George of Podebrady, one of the first promoters of united Europe (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 9Prague-style beef goulash (from Czech cuisine)
Image 10Saint Wenceslas, Czech prince (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 11Grand Café Orient in Prague (from Czech architecture)
Image 12Pilsner Urquell in a branded mug (from Czech cuisine)
Image 13Entrance to Moravian Karst PLA (from Protected areas of the Czech Republic)
Image 14Apple strudel with raisins (from Czech cuisine)
Image 15Bohemia as the heart of Europa regina; Sebastian Münster, Basel, 1570 (from Bohemia)
Image 16Svíčková na smetaně (marinated tenderloin), served here with dumplings and cream (from Czech cuisine)
Image 17Cubist lamp by Emil Králíček, Jungmannovo náměstí, next to the Gothic Church of Our Lady of the Snows (Prague) (from Czech architecture)
Image 18Fried bramboráky (potato pancakes) (from Czech cuisine)
Image 19Hroby Nature Monument in Radenín (from Protected areas of the Czech Republic)
Image 20Lands of the Bohemian Crown (until 1635), map by Josef Pekař, 1921 (from Bohemia)
Image 21The National Theater from 1881 (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 22Zelňačka (cabbage soup) (from Czech cuisine)
Image 23A panorama of Zittau (from Bohemia)
Image 24Bohemian city Karlovy Vary (from Bohemia)
Image 25The coat of arms of the Přemyslid dynasty (until 1253–1262) (from Bohemia)
Image 26Tomas Garrigue Masaryk, philosopher, Czechoslovak president in the years 1918–1935 (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 27The First Czechoslovak Republic (1918–1938) (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 28Library of Clementinum, a former Jesuit College, built in 1722 (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 29Vepřo knedlo zelo (roast pork with dumplings and sauerkraut) (from Czech cuisine)
Image 30Christmas cookies (vánoční cukroví) (from Czech cuisine)
Image 31Václav Havel, playwright, dissident and president from 1989 to 2003 (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 32Iconic brutalist Transgas building, demolished in 2019 (from Czech architecture)
Image 33John Amos Comenius (1592–1670), Czech philosopher and school reformer (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 34Russian occupation in 1968 (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 35Great Moravia during the reign of Svatopluk I (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 36Venus of Dolní Věstonice, the oldest ceramic article in the world (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 37A "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 38Detailed map of Bohemia, 1742 (from Bohemia)
Image 39Emperor Francis Joseph I. (reigned 1848–1916) (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 40Semi-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 41Kačina Castle in Chotkov (from Czech architecture)
Image 42Municipal House (from Czech architecture)
Image 43Territory under the control of the Přemyslids, c. 1301 (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 44Emperor and King Charles IV. Luxembourg (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 45Czech kings Ottokar II, Wenceslas II and Wenceslas III from the Přemyslid dynasty (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 46House of the Black Madonna (from Czech architecture)
Image 47Duchy of Bohemia, around 1029 (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 48Bronze sword, Urnfield culture, c. 1200 BC (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 49Frgál, a type of koláč baked in Moravian Wallachia (from Czech cuisine)
Image 50Church of Saint Agnes of Bohemia (Spořilov) (from Czech architecture)
Image 51Fried hermelín (Smažený hermelín) with tartar sauce (from Czech cuisine)
Image 52Bohemia (westernmost area) in Czechoslovakia 1918–1938 (from Bohemia)
Image 53Empress Maria Theresa (reignet 1740–1780) (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 54Beheading of 27 Bohemian nobles at the Old Town Square in Prague, 1621 (contemporary illustration) (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 55Adria Palace (Prague) (from Czech architecture)
Image 56The radical Hussites became known as Taborites, after the town of Tábor that became their center. (from Bohemia)
Image 57Copper engraving of the Second Defenestration of Prague from Theatrum Europaeum by Matthäus Merian. (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 58Korozluky Castle (from Czech architecture)
Image 59The coat of arms of the Kingdom of Bohemia (from Bohemia)
Image 60Dacian Influence over Bohemia (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 61Metro dessert (from Czech cuisine)
Image 62Nakládaný hermelín (marinated cheese) (from Czech cuisine)
Image 63Stone sculpture of a Celtic man, found in Mšecké Žehrovice (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 64The extent of the Protestant Reformation (1545–1620) (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 65Territories ruled by Ottokar II of Bohemia in 1273 (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 66Europe after the Congress of Vienna in 1815 (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 67Linguistic map of interwar Czechoslovakia (c. 1930) (from Bohemia)
Image 68Fried Edam Cheese (Smažený sýr) with potatoes and tartar sauce (from Czech cuisine)
Image 69Monument to the village of Lidice murdered by the Nazis (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 70Large-scale protected areas of the Czech Republic: national parks (brown) and protected landscape areas (green) (from Protected areas of the Czech Republic)
Image 71Baroque St. Nicholas Church in Malá Strana, built between 1704 and 1755 (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 72Monument to Master Jan Hus, a religious reformer and philosopher in Prague (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 73Rotunda of St. George from the beginning of the 12th century on Mount Říp (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 74Vladislaus Hall at the Prague Castle, built from 1490 to 1502 by Benedikt Rejt (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 75The Kingdom of Bohemia in 1618 with other Bohemian Crown lands within the Holy Roman Empire (1618) (from Bohemia)
Image 76Writer Božena Němcová (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 77St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague Castle, John of Luxembourg laid the foundation stone in 1344 (from History of the Czech lands)

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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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WikiProject Czech Republic

WikiProject Europe

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