Portal:Czech Republic

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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, the whole Crown of Bohemia was gradually integrated into the Habsburg monarchy. The Protestant Bohemian Revolt led to the Thirty Years' War. After the Battle of the White Mountain, the Habsburgs consolidated their rule. With the dissolution of the Holy 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 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 on 1 January 1993, Czechoslovakia was 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 12th in the UN inequality-adjusted human development , 32nd in the Human development index and 24th in the World Bank Human Capital Index. It ranks as the 8th safest and most peaceful country and 29th in democratic governance. The Czech Republic is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the European Union, the OECD, the OSCE, and the Council of Europe. (Full article...)

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The Battle of the Dukla Pass, also known as the Dukla, Carpatho–Dukla, Rzeszów–Dukla, or Dukla–Prešov offensive, was the battle for control over the Dukla Pass on the border between Poland and Slovakia on the Eastern Front of World War II between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in September–October 1944. It was part of the Soviet East Carpathian strategic offensive that also included the Carpathian–Uzhgorod offensive. The operation's primary goal, to provide support for the Slovak rebellion, was not achieved, but it concluded the full liberation of the Ukrainian SSR.

The German resistance in the eastern Carpathian region was much stronger than expected. The battle which began on 8 September would not see the Soviet forces on the other side of the pass until 6 October, and German forces would stop their heavy resistance in the region only around 10 October. Five days to Prešov turned into fifty days to Svidník alone with over 70,000 casualties on both sides. Prešov that was to be reached in six days remained beyond the Czechoslovaks' grasp for four months. The battle would be counted among the most bloody in the entire Eastern Front and the history of Slovakia; one of the valleys in the pass, near the villages of Kapišová, Chyrowa, Iwla and Głojsce, would become known as the "Valley of Death". (Full article...)

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Satellite image of the Czech Republic

Photographer: NASA; License: Public domain

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In this month

11 December 1949 – The Číhošť miracle takes place: during a church service of Josef Toufar in the village of Číhošť, the crucifix moves several times over the pulpit, prompting an intervention by the StB
15 December 1230 – Wenceslaus I succeeds Ottokar I as King of Bohemia
16 December 1992 – The Czech National Council adopts the Constitution of the Czech Republic
18 December 1935 – Edvard Beneš is elected second President of Czechoslovakia
22 December 1966 – Construction begins on the Stalin Monument (pictured), the largest representation of Stalin in the world

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Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It typically features isolated protagonists facing bizarre or surrealistic predicaments and incomprehensible socio-bureaucratic powers. It has been interpreted as exploring themes of alienation, existential anxiety, guilt, and absurdity. His best known works include the short story "The Metamorphosis" and novels The Trial and The Castle. The term Kafkaesque has entered English to describe absurd situations, like those depicted in his writing.

Kafka was born into a middle-class German-speaking Czech Jewish family in Prague, the capital of the Kingdom of Bohemia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, today the capital of the Czech Republic. He trained as a lawyer and after completing his legal education was employed full-time by an insurance company, forcing him to relegate writing to his spare time. Over the course of his life, Kafka wrote hundreds of letters to family and close friends, including his father, with whom he had a strained and formal relationship. He became engaged to several women but never married. He died in obscurity in 1924 at the age of 40 from tuberculosis. (Full article...)

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John Amos Comenius Petr Čech Dominik Hašek Jaromír Jágr Pavel Nedvěd Gregor Mendel Tomáš Rosický 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 Vojtěch Jarník Markéta Vondroušová Zdeňka Wiedermannová-Motyčková

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Did you know?

...that the Holy Trinity Column in Olomouc was inscribed on the World Heritage List as "one of the most exceptional examples of the apogee of Central European Baroque artistic expression"?
... that the Cross of Merit of the Minister of Defence of the Czech Republic is the highest award presented by the Czech Minister of Defence?
... that footballer Petr Vrabec won six Czechoslovak league titles with Sparta Prague?
... that Miroslav Tyrš, the founder of Czech national sport movement Sokol, was born into a German family?

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General images

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

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

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Topics

Czech lands: Bohemia • Moravia • Czech Silesia

History: Unetice 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 • Cabinet • Constitution • Elections • Foreign relations • Military • 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 gaming

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

Lists: Outline of the Czech Republic • Index of Czech Republic-related articles

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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