Portal:Czech Republic

Welcome to the Czech Portal!
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...)

View new selections below (purge)

Selected article - show another

Gate of the "family camp" at Auschwitz II–Birkenau

On the night of 5 April 1944, Siegfried Lederer, a Czech Jew, escaped from the Auschwitz concentration camp wearing an SS-TV uniform provided by SS-Rottenführer Viktor Pestek. Pestek opposed the Holocaust; he was a devout Catholic and was infatuated with Renée Neumann, a Jewish prisoner. Pestek accompanied Lederer out of the camp, and the two men traveled together to the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia to obtain false documents for Neumann and her mother.

Lederer, a former Czechoslovak Army officer and member of the Czech resistance, tried unsuccessfully to warn the Jews at Theresienstadt Ghetto about the mass murders at Auschwitz. He and Pestek returned to Auschwitz in an attempt to rescue Neumann and her mother. Pestek was arrested under disputed circumstances and later executed. Lederer returned to occupied Czechoslovakia, where he rejoined the resistance movement and attempted to smuggle a report on Auschwitz to the International Committee of the Red Cross in Switzerland. After the war he remained in Czechoslovakia. The story of the escape was retold by Lederer and writers including historian Erich Kulka. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

edit

Selected picture

The Maiden by Gustav Klimt, 1913. Collection of the National Gallery Prague.

Source: Národní Galerie v Praze, PD

More pictures...

edit

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

More anniversaries...

edit

Selected biography - show another

Vojtěch Jarník (Czech pronunciation: [ˈvojcɛx ˈjarɲiːk]; 22 December 1897 – 22 September 1970) was a Czech mathematician. He worked for many years as a professor and administrator at Charles University, and helped found the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. He is the namesake of Jarník's algorithm for minimum spanning trees.

Jarník worked in number theory, mathematical analysis, and graph algorithms. He has been called "probably the first Czechoslovak mathematician whose scientific works received wide and lasting international response". As well as developing Jarník's algorithm, he found tight bounds on the number of lattice points on convex curves, studied the relationship between the Hausdorff dimension of sets of real numbers and how well they can be approximated by rational numbers, and investigated the properties of nowhere-differentiable functions. (Full article...)

List of selected biographies
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 Vlastimil Koubek Petra Kvitová Martin Miller (actor) Vratislav Lokvenc Vladimír Remek Leoš Janáček Libor Michálek Markéta Vondroušová Zdeňka Wiedermannová-Motyčková

edit

Did you know?

...that, although Mozart never visited Kroměříž, much of the Academy Award-winning film Amadeus was filmed at the local episcopal residence?
... that in 2013, the Czech Republic plans to directly elect its president for the first time in its history?
... 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?

More did you know facts

Read more...

General images

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

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

Related portals

edit

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

edit

WikiProjects

WikiProject Czech Republic

WikiProject Europe

edit

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