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, 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 -
The Slavs or Slavic people are a group of peoples who speak Slavic languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout the northern parts of Eurasia; they predominantly inhabit Central Europe, Eastern Europe, and Southeastern Europe, though there is a large Slavic minority scattered across the Baltic states, Northern Asia, and Central Asia, and a substantial Slavic diaspora in the Americas, Western Europe, and Northern Europe.
Early Slavs lived during the Migration Period and the Early Middle Ages (approximately from the 5th to the 10th century AD), and came to control large parts of Central, Eastern and Southeast Europe between the sixth and seventh centuries. Beginning in the 7th century, they were gradually Christianized. By the 12th century, they formed the core population of a number of medieval Christian states: East Slavs in the Kievan Rus', South Slavs in the Bulgarian Empire, the Principality of Serbia, the Duchy of Croatia and the Banate of Bosnia, and West Slavs in the Principality of Nitra, Great Moravia, the Duchy of Bohemia, and the Kingdom of Poland. (Full article...)Selected picture
Photographer: Milan Nykodym, Czech Republic; License: Creative Commons CC-BY-SA
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
Categories
Selected biography -
Jaromír Jágr (Czech pronunciation: [ˈjaromiːr ˈjaːɡr̩] ; born 15 February 1972) is a Czech professional ice hockey right winger and owner of Rytíři Kladno of the Czech Extraliga (ELH). He previously played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, Dallas Stars, Boston Bruins, New Jersey Devils, Florida Panthers and Calgary Flames, serving as captain of the Penguins and the Rangers, between 1990 and 2008.
After leaving the Rangers in 2008, he played three seasons in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) with Avangard Omsk. He returned to the NHL in 2011 with the Flyers and remained in the league for seven more years before being assigned by the Flames in 2018 to HC Kladno. Having played in 37 professional seasons (as of 2024) and over 2,000 professional games, Jágr has had the longest playing career in professional ice hockey history. He is the most productive European player who has ever played in the NHL and is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. (Full article...)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 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 Miroslav Tyrš, the founder of Czech national sport movement Sokol, was born into a German family?
General images
- Bohemia (westernmost area) in Czechoslovakia 1918–1938 (from
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Korozluky Castle (from Czech architecture)
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Congress of Vienna in 1815 (from History of the Czech lands)Europe after the
- Christmas cookies (vánoční cukroví) (from
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Přemyslids, c. 1301 (from History of the Czech lands)Territory under the control of the
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Beheading of 27 Bohemian nobles at the Old Town Square in Prague, 1621 (contemporary illustration) (from History of the Czech lands)
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Moravian Wallachia (from Czech cuisine)Frgál, a type of koláč baked in
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Prague, consisting of roast duck, roast pork, beer sausage, smoked meat, red and white cabbage, bread, bacon and potato dumplings. (from Czech cuisine)A "traditional Bohemian platter" at a restaurant in central
- The extent of the Protestant Reformation (1545–1620) (from
- Lands of the Bohemian Crown (until 1635), map by Josef Pekař, 1921 (from
- Fried cheese, served with tartar sauce and side salad (from
- An 1892 map showing Bohemia proper outlined in pink,
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Pilsner Urquell in a branded mug (from Czech cuisine)
- Cubist architecture in Prague (from
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John Amos Comenius (1592-1670), Czech philosopher and school reformer (from History of the Czech lands)
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First Czechoslovak Republic (1918-1938) (from History of the Czech lands)The
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Tomas Garrigue Masaryk, philosopher, Czechoslovak president in the years 1918-1935 (from History of the Czech lands)
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Obložené chlebíčky, a type of snack or appetizer (from Czech cuisine)
- Monument to
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Karlovy Vary (from Bohemia)Bohemian city
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Vladislaus Hall at the Prague Castle, built from 1490 to 1502 by Benedikt Rejt (from History of the Czech lands)
- The coat of arms of the Kingdom of Bohemia (from
- Vepřo-knedlo-zelo (Roast
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George of Podebrady, one of the first promoters of united Europe (from History of the Czech lands)King
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Václav Havel, playwright, dissident and president from 1989 to 2003 (from History of the Czech lands)
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Kingdom of Bohemia in 1618 with other Bohemian Crown lands within the Holy Roman Empire (1618). (from Bohemia)The
- Zelňačka (from
- Buděticko Nature Park with
- The radical Hussites became known as
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Ottokar II of Bohemia in 1273 (from History of the Czech lands)Territories ruled by
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hermelín (marinated cheese) (from Czech cuisine)Nakládaný
- Prague-style beef goulash (from
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Baroque St. Nicholas Church in Malá Strana, built between 1704 and 1755 (from History of the Czech lands)
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Clementinum, a former Jesuit College, built in 1722 (from History of the Czech lands)Library of
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Maria Theresa (reignet 1740–1780) (from History of the Czech lands)Empress
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Francis Joseph I. (reigned 1848–1916) (from History of the Czech lands)Emperor
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Venus of Dolní Věstonice, the oldest ceramic article in the world (from History of the Czech lands)
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Přemyslid dynasty (until 1253–1262) (from Bohemia)The coat of arms of the
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Urnfield culture, c. 1200 BC (from History of the Czech lands)Bronze sword,
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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)Semi-detached villa in
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Rotunda of St. George from the beginning of the 12th century on Mount Říp (from History of the Czech lands)
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potato pancakes) (from Czech cuisine)Fried bramboráky (
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Kačina Castle in Chotkov (from Czech architecture)
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Emil Králíček, Jungmannovo náměstí, next to the Gothic Church of Our Lady of the Snows (Prague) (from Czech architecture)Cubist lamp by
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Transgas building, demolished in 2019 (from Czech architecture)Iconic brutalist
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Lidice murdered by the Nazis (from History of the Czech lands)Monument to the village of
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Saint Wenceslas, Czech prince (from History of the Czech lands)
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strudel with raisins (from Czech cuisine)Apple
- Dacian Influence over Bohemia (from
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1930) (from Bohemia)Linguistic map of interwar Czechoslovakia (c.
- Hroby Nature Monument in
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National Theater from 1881 (from History of the Czech lands)The
- Great Moravia during the reign of
- Grand Café Orient in Prague (from
- Bohemia as the heart of
- A panorama of
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Ottokar II, Wenceslas II and Wenceslas III from the Přemyslid dynasty (from History of the Czech lands)Czech kings
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Řežabinec a Řežabinecké tůně National Nature Reserve (from Protected areas of the Czech Republic)
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Svíčková na smetaně (Marinated tenderloin), served here with dumplings and cream (from Czech cuisine)
- Emperor and King
- Map of protected areas of the Czech Republic: national parks (grey) and protected landscape areas (green) (from
- A panorama of
- Adria Palace (Prague) (from
- Detailed map of Bohemia, 1742 (from
- Russian occupation in 1968 (from
- Writer
- Duchy of Bohemia, around 1029 (from
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St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague Castle, John of Luxembourg laid the foundation stone in 1344 (from History of the Czech lands)
- Entrance to Moravian Karst PLA (from
- Copper engraving of the
- Church of Saint Agnes of Bohemia (Spořilov) (from
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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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