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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On 20–21 August 1968, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was jointly invaded by four Warsaw Pact countries: the Soviet Union, the Polish People's Republic, the People's Republic of Bulgaria and the Hungarian People's Republic. The invasion stopped Alexander Dubček's Prague Spring liberalisation reforms and strengthened the authoritarian wing of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ).
About 250,000 Warsaw Pact troops (afterwards rising to about 500,000), supported by thousands of tanks and hundreds of aircraft, participated in the overnight operation, which was code-named Operation Danube. The Socialist Republic of Romania and the People's Republic of Albania refused to participate, while East German forces, except for a small number of specialists, were ordered by Moscow not to cross the Czechoslovak border just hours before the invasion because of fears of greater resistance if German troops were involved, due to public perception of the previous German occupation three decades earlier. 137 Czechoslovaks were killed and 500 seriously wounded during the occupation. (Full article...)Selected picture
Source: www.bildindex.de; License: Public domain
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
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Markéta Šimková (née Vondroušová; Czech: [ˈmarkɛːta ˈvondrou̯ʃovaː]; born 28 June 1999) is a Czech professional tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 6 by the WTA. Vondroušová is the reigning Wimbledon champion, winning the tournament in 2023, the first unseeded woman to win the singles title. She was also the runner-up at the 2019 French Open, where she became the first teenage Major finalist in nearly a decade. She has won two singles titles out of six finals on the WTA Tour and a silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Vondroušová is a former junior world No. 1, having won two major doubles titles. She had a quick breakthrough on the WTA Tour, winning the 2017 Ladies Open Biel Bienne at age 17 in just her second career WTA Tour singles event. This helped her reach the top 100 of the WTA rankings before turning 18. Vondroušová struggled with injuries early in her career, most notably missing the second half of the 2019 season shortly after her French Open final. Her signature shot is the drop shot. She is one of the best returners on WTA Tour, having led the tour in percentage of return games won and percentage of return points won in 2019 among all players with at least ten matches. (Full article...)Did you know?
- ...that in 1990, Czech and Slovak politicians "fought" the Hyphen War, a political battle over whether "Czechoslovakia" should be spelled with a hyphen?
- ... 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 Czech international footballer Patrik Gedeon went to play club football in Liechtenstein in the middle of his career?
- ... that Czech Karel Robětín was not only an Olympian and national tennis champion but also an international paper industry tycoon?
General images
- Image 1Duchy of Bohemia, around 1029 (from History of the Czech lands)
- Image 2Baroque St. Nicholas Church in Malá Strana, built between 1704 and 1755 (from History of the Czech lands)
- Image 3Grand Café Orient in Prague (from Czech architecture)
- Image 5The coat of arms of the Kingdom of Bohemia (from Bohemia)
- Image 8Svíčková na smetaně (Marinated tenderloin), served here with dumplings and cream (from Czech cuisine)
- Image 9An 1892 map showing Bohemia proper outlined in pink, Moravia in yellow, and Austrian Silesia in orange (from Bohemia)
- Image 11Detailed map of Bohemia, 1742 (from Bohemia)
- Image 12A panorama of Kłodzko, the capital city of Kłodzko Land, which is referred to as "Little Prague" (from Bohemia)
- Image 15Czech kings Ottokar II, Wenceslas II and Wenceslas III from the Přemyslid dynasty (from History of the Czech lands)
- Image 16Map of protected areas of the Czech Republic: national parks (grey) and protected landscape areas (green) (from Protected areas of the Czech Republic)
- Image 18Václav Havel, playwright, dissident and president from 1989 to 2003 (from History of the Czech lands)
- Image 20Semi-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 22Christmas cookies (vánoční cukroví) (from Czech cuisine)
- Image 23Dacian Influence over Bohemia (from History of the Czech lands)
- Image 24Lands of the Bohemian Crown (until 1635), map by Josef Pekař, 1921 (from Bohemia)
- Image 25Russian occupation in 1968 (from History of the Czech lands)
- Image 27Rotunda of St. George from the beginning of the 12th century on Mount Říp (from History of the Czech lands)
- Image 28Vladislaus Hall at the Prague Castle, built from 1490 to 1502 by Benedikt Rejt (from History of the Czech lands)
- Image 30King George of Podebrady, one of the first promoters of united Europe (from History of the Czech lands)
- Image 35Cubist architecture in Prague (from Czech architecture)
- Image 37Copper engraving of the Second Defenestration of Prague from Theatrum Europaeum by Matthäus Merian. (from History of the Czech lands)
- Image 39The Kingdom of Bohemia in 1618 with other Bohemian Crown lands within the Holy Roman Empire (1618). (from Bohemia)
- Image 42Venus of Dolní Věstonice, the oldest ceramic article in the world (from History of the Czech lands)
- Image 43Bohemia (westernmost area) in Czechoslovakia 1918–1938 (from Bohemia)
- Image 44Prague-style beef goulash (from Czech cuisine)
- Image 45Library of Clementinum, a former Jesuit College, built in 1722 (from History of the Czech lands)
- Image 46The extent of the Protestant Reformation (1545–1620) (from History of the Czech lands)
- Image 51Stone sculpture of a Celtic man, found in Mšecké Žehrovice (from History of the Czech lands)
- Image 55Tomas Garrigue Masaryk, philosopher, Czechoslovak president in the years 1918-1935 (from History of the Czech lands)
- Image 56Beheading of 27 Bohemian nobles at the Old Town Square in Prague, 1621 (contemporary illustration) (from History of the Czech lands)
- Image 57Svíčková na smetaně served with dumplings, whipped cream and cranberries (from Czech cuisine)
- Image 58A "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 59John Amos Comenius (1592-1670), Czech philosopher and school reformer (from History of the Czech lands)
- Image 61St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague Castle, John of Luxembourg laid the foundation stone in 1344 (from History of the Czech lands)
- Image 62Church of Saint Agnes of Bohemia (Spořilov) (from Czech architecture)
- Image 65Zelňačka (from Czech cuisine)
- Image 68Adria Palace (Prague) (from Czech architecture)
- Image 70Cubist lamp by Emil Králíček, Jungmannovo náměstí, next to the Gothic Church of Our Lady of the Snows (Prague) (from Czech architecture)
- Image 71Entrance to Moravian Karst PLA (from Protected areas of the Czech Republic)
- Image 72Monument to Master Jan Hus, a religious reformer and philosopher in Prague (from History of the Czech lands)
- Image 73Fried cheese, served with tartar sauce and side salad (from Czech cuisine)
- Image 74Řežabinec a Řežabinecké tůně National Nature Reserve (from Protected areas of the Czech Republic)
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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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