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...)

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Bedřich Fritta's drawing of the barracks

Theresienstadt Ghetto was established by the SS during World War II in the fortress town of Terezín, in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (German-occupied Czechoslovakia). Theresienstadt served as a waystation to the extermination camps. Its conditions were deliberately engineered to hasten the death of its prisoners, and the ghetto also served a propaganda role. Unlike other ghettos, the exploitation of forced labor was not economically significant.

The ghetto was established by the transportation of Czech Jews in November 1941. The first German and Austrian Jews arrived in June 1942; Dutch and Danish Jews came at the beginning in 1943, and prisoners of a wide variety of nationalities were sent to Theresienstadt in the last months of the war. About 33,000 people died at Theresienstadt, mostly from malnutrition and disease. More than 88,000 people were held there for months or years before being deported to extermination camps and other killing sites; the role of the Jewish Council (Judenrat) in choosing those to be deported has attracted significant controversy. The total number of survivors was around 23,000, including 4,000 deportees who survived. (Full article...)

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Self Portrait by Giuseppe Arcimboldo, 1570. Collection of the National Gallery Prague.

Source: Národní Galerie v Praze, PD

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In this month

2 June 1541 – A fire destroys much of Malá Strana and the northern part of Prague Castle
10 June 1348 – The foundation stone of Karlštejn Castle (pictured) is laid
20 June 1976 – The Czechoslovakia national football team win UEFA Euro 1976
23 June 1955 – The first national Spartakiad is held, marking ten years after the nation's liberation at the end of World War II
30 June 1945 – State security service StB is established

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Vlastimil Koubek (March 17, 1927 – February 15, 2003) was an American architect who designed more than 100 buildings, most of them in the Washington metropolitan area, and whose total value topped $2 billion. Most of his work is Modernist in style, although he developed a few structures in other vernaculars. He created the site plan for the redevelopment of Rosslyn, Virginia, and his Ames Center anchored the area's economic recovery. He designed the World Building in Silver Spring, Maryland, which sparked redevelopment of that town's downtown; and the L'Enfant Plaza Hotel in Washington, D.C. In 1985, Washingtonian magazine called him one of 20 people "who in the past 20 years had the greatest impact on the way we live and who forever altered the look of Washington." In 1988, The Washington Post newspaper said his Willard Hotel renovation was one of 28 projects in the area that made a signal contribution to the "feel" and look of Washington, D.C. (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 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 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 Patrik Gedeon went to play club football in Liechtenstein in the middle of his career?
... that a 1926 voyage to Java inspired Czech poet Konstantin Biebl for the remainder of his life?

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General images

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

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