Czech Republic

This article is about the European country. For other uses, see Czech Republic (disambiguation).

Czech Republic Česká republika  (Czech)
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: "Pravda vítězí" (Czech) "Truth prevails"
Anthem:  Kde domov můj  (Czech) Where is my home?
Location of the  Czech Republic  (dark green) – in Europe  (green & dark grey) – in the European Union  (green)  –  [Legend]
Capital and largest city		Prague 50°05′N 14°28′E
Official language		Czech
Officially recognised		minority languages Slovak German Polish Belarusian Bulgarian Croatian Greek Hungarian Romani Russian Rusyn Serbian Ukrainian Vietnamese
Ethnic groups (2014)		64% Czechs 26% unspecified 5% Moravians 1.4% Slovaks 0.4% Poles
Religion		80% non-declared or non-religious 10.3% Roman Catholic
Demonym		Czech
Government		Unitary parliamentary constitutional republic
-	President	Miloš Zeman
-	Prime Minister	Bohuslav Sobotka
Legislature		Parliament
-	Upper house	Senate
-	Lower house	Chamber of Deputies
Formation
-	Duchy of Bohemia	c. 870
-	Kingdom of Bohemia	1198
-	Czechoslovakia	28 October 1918
-	Czech Socialist Republic	1 January 1969
-	Czech Republic	1 January 1993
-	Joined the European Union	1 May 2004
Area
-	Total	78,866 km2 (116th) 30,450 sq mi
-	Water (%)	2
Population
-	Sep 2014 estimate	10,538,275 (81st)
-	2011 census	10,436,560
-	Density	134/km2 (84th) 341/sq mi
GDP (PPP)		2015 estimate
-	Total	$325.285 billion (50th)
-	Per capita	$30,895 (39th)
GDP (nominal)		2015 estimate
-	Total	$180.789 billion (49th)
-	Per capita	$17,171 (41st)
Gini (2012)		24.9 low
HDI (2013)		0.861 very high · 28th
Currency		Czech koruna (CZK)
Time zone		CET (UTC+1)
-	Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Drives on the		right
Calling code		+420b
Patron saint		St Wenceslaus
ISO 3166 code		CZ
Internet TLD		.czc
a.	The question is rhetorical, implying "those places where my homeland lies".
b.	Code 42 was shared with Slovakia until 1997.
c.	Also .eu, shared with other European Union member states.

The Czech Republic (ⁱ/ˈtʃɛk rɨˈpʌblɪk/ CHEK-rə-PUB-lik; Czech: Česká republika [ˈt͡ʃɛskaː ˈrɛpuˌblɪka]), is a landlocked country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west, Austria to the south, Slovakia to the east and Poland to the northeast. The capital and largest city, Prague, has over 1.2 million residents. The Czech Republic includes the historical territories of Bohemia, Moravia, and Czech Silesia.

The Czech state was formed in the late 9th century as the Duchy of Bohemia under the Great Moravian Empire. After the fall of the Empire in 907, the centre of power transferred from Moravia to Bohemia under the Přemyslids. In 1004, the duchy was formally recognized as part of the Holy Roman Empire, becoming the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1212, and reaching its greatest territorial extent in the 14th century. The King of Bohemia ruled not only Bohemia itself, but also other lands, which together formed the so-called Crown of Bohemia, and he had a vote in the election of the Holy Roman Emperor. In the Hussite wars of the 15th century driven by the Bohemian Reformation, the kingdom faced economic embargoes and defeated five crusades proclaimed by the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church and organized mainly by the emperor and princes of the Holy Roman Empire.

Following the Battle of Mohács in 1526, the whole Crown of Bohemia was gradually integrated into the Habsburg Monarchy alongside the Archduchy of Austria and the Kingdom of Hungary. The Protestant Bohemian Revolt (1618–20) against the Catholic Habsburgs led to the Thirty Years' War, after which the monarchy consolidated its rule, reimposed Catholicism, and adopted a policy of gradual Germanization. With the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the Bohemian Kingdom became part of the Austrian Empire and the Czech language experienced its revival as a consequence of widespread romantic nationalism. In the 19th century, the Czech lands became the industrial powerhouse of the monarchy and were subsequently the core of the Republic of Czechoslovakia, which was formed in 1918 following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire after World War I.

Czechoslovakia was occupied by Germany in World War II, and was liberated in 1945 by Soviet and American forces. Most of the German-speaking inhabitants were expelled after the war and thus the country lost its sizeable minority and its bilingual character. The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia won the 1946 elections. Following the 1948 coup d'état, Czechoslovakia became a single-party communist state under Soviet influence. In 1968, increasing dissatisfaction with the regime culminated in a reform movement known as the Prague Spring, which ended in a Soviet-led invasion. Czechoslovakia remained occupied until the 1989 Velvet Revolution, when the communist regime collapsed and a multiparty parliamentary republic was formed. On 1 January 1993, Czechoslovakia peacefully dissolved, with its constituent states becoming the independent states of the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

The Czech Republic is a developed country with an advanced, high income economy and high living standards. The UNDP ranks the country 15th in inequality-adjusted human development. The Czech Republic also ranks as the 11th most peaceful country, while achieving strong performance in democratic governance. It is a member of the United Nations, the European Union, NATO, the OECD, the OSCE and the Council of Europe.

Etymology

Main article: Name of the Czech Republic

The traditional English name "Bohemia" derives from Latin "Boiohaemum", which means "home of the Boii". The current name comes from the endonym Čech, borrowed through Polish and spelled accordingly. The name comes from the Slavic tribe (Czechs, Czech: Čechové) and, according to legend, their leader Čech, who brought them to Bohemia, to settle on Říp Mountain. The etymology of the word Čech can be traced back to the Proto-Slavic root *čel-, meaning "member of the people; kinsman", thus making it cognate to the Czech word člověk (a person).

The country has been traditionally divided into three lands, namely Bohemia (Čechy) in the west, Moravia (Morava) in the southeast, and Czech Silesia (Slezsko; the smaller, south-eastern part of historical Silesia, most of which is located within modern Poland) in the northeast. Known as the lands of the Bohemian Crown since the 14th century, a number of other names for the country have been used, including Czech/Bohemian lands, Bohemian Crown, and the lands of the Crown of Saint Wenceslas. When the country regained its independence after the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian empire in 1918, the new name of Czechoslovakia was coined to reflect the union of the Czech and Slovak nations within the one country.

Following the dissolution of Czechoslovakia at the end of 1992, the Czech part of the former nation found itself without a common single-word name in English. In 1993, the Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs Jozef Zieleniec suggested referring to the new country in less formal contexts as "Czechland", singling it out as a traditional name of the dominion of the Czechs. He also offered the alternative "Czechia" /ˈtʃɛkiə/ (Česko Czech pronunciation: [ˈtʃɛsko] in Czech); while the Czech form has gained usage, the English version is still rare. The current Czech president Miloš Zeman uses the name Czechia in his official speeches and promotes its wider use. Nevertheless, in official documents and the full names of government institutions the term Czech Republic is always used.

History

Main article: History of the Czech lands

Diachronic distribution of Celtic peoples, showing expansion of the core territory into the Czech lands by the 270s BC

Great Moravia (pictured 9th century) was the first West Slavic state in Central Europe.

Historical affiliations

Samo's Empire 631–658
Great Moravia 830s–900s
Duchy of Bohemia 880s–1198
Kingdom of Bohemia 1198–1918

• part of the Holy Roman Empire 1002–1806
• part of the Austrian Empire 1804–1867
• part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire 1867–1918

Czechoslovakia 1918–1939
Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (protectorate of Nazi Germany) 1939–1945
Czechoslovakia 1945–1992
Czech Republic 1993 – present

Prehistory

Archaeologists have found evidence of prehistoric human settlements in the area, dating back to the Paleolithic era. The figurine Venus of Dolní Věstonice, together with a few others from nearby locations, found here is the oldest known ceramic article in the world.

In the classical era, from the 3rd century BC Celtic migrations, the Boii and later in the 1st century, Germanic tribes of Marcomanni and Quadi settled there. Their king Maroboduus is the first documented ruler of Bohemia. During the Migration Period around the 5th century, many Germanic tribes moved westwards and southwards out of Central Europe.

Slavic people from the Black Sea-Carpathian region settled in the area (a movement that was also stimulated by the onslaught of peoples from Siberia and Eastern Europe: Huns, Avars, Bulgars and Magyars). In the sixth century they moved westwards into Bohemia, Moravia and some of present-day Austria and Germany. During the 7th century, the Frankish merchant Samo, supporting the Slavs fighting against nearby settled Avars, became the ruler of the first known Slav state in Central Europe, the Samo's Empire. The Moravian principality Great Moravia arose in the 8th century and reached its zenith in the 9th, when it held off the influence of the Franks and won the protection of the Pope.

Bohemia

Přemysl Ottokar II, King of Bohemia (1253–1278) and Duke of Austria (1251–1278)

The Duchy of Bohemia emerged in the late 9th century, when it was unified by the Přemyslid dynasty. In 10th century Boleslaus I, Duke of Bohemia conquered Moravia, Silesia and expanded farther to the east. The Kingdom of Bohemia was, as the only kingdom in the Holy Roman Empire, a significant regional power during the Middle Ages. It was part of the Empire from 1002 till 1806, with the exception of the years 1440–1526. In 1212, King Přemysl Ottokar I (bearing the title "king" since 1198) extracted the Golden Bull of Sicily (a formal edict) from the emperor, confirming Ottokar and his descendants' royal status; the Duchy of Bohemia was raised to a Kingdom. The bull declared that the King of Bohemia would be exempt from all future obligations to the Holy Roman Empire except for participation in imperial councils. German immigrants settled in the Bohemian periphery in the 13th century. Germans populated towns and mining districts and, in some cases, formed German colonies in the interior of Bohemia. In 1235, the Mongols launched an invasion of Europe. After the Battle of Legnica, the Mongols carried their raids into Moravia. The Mongols subsequently invaded and defeated Hungary.

Coat of arms of Kingdom of Bohemia emerged in the 13th century

The Crown of Saint Wenceslas is the 4th oldest in Europe

Crown of Bohemia under Emperor Charles IV

Holy Roman Empire in 1600. It included the Czech lands from 1004 to 1806, and Prague was the imperial seat in 1346–1437 and 1583–1611.

King Přemysl Ottokar II earned the nickname Iron and Golden King because of his military power and wealth. He acquired Austria, Styria, Carinthia and Carniola, thus spreading the Bohemian territory to the Adriatic Sea. He met his death at the Battle on the Marchfeld in 1278 in a war with his rival, King Rudolph I of Germany. Ottokar's son Wenceslaus II acquired the Polish crown in 1300 for himself and the Hungarian crown for his son. He built a great empire stretching from the Danube river to the Baltic Sea. In 1306, the last king of Přemyslid line was murdered in mysterious circumstances in Olomouc while he was resting. After a series of dynastic wars, the House of Luxembourg gained the Bohemian throne.

The 14th century, in particular, the reign of the Czech king Charles IV (1316–1378), who also became the King of Italy, King of the Romans and Holy Roman Emperor, is considered the Golden Age of Czech history. Of particular significance was the founding of Charles University in Prague in 1348, Charles Bridge, Charles Square. Much of Prague Castle and the cathedral of Saint Vitus in Gothic style were completed during his reign. He unified Brandenburg (until 1415), Lusatia (until 1635), and Silesia (until 1742) under the Czech crown. The Black Death, which had raged in Europe from 1347 to 1352, decimated the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1380, killing about 10% of the population.

By the end of the 14th century started the process of the so-called Bohemian (Czech) Reformation. The religious and social reformer Jan Hus formed a reform movement later named after him. Although Hus was named a heretic and burnt in Constance in 1415, his followers seceded from the Catholic Church and in the Hussite Wars (1419–1434) defeated five crusades organized against them by the Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund. Petr Chelčický continued with the Hussite Reformation movement. During the next two centuries, 90% of the inhabitants became adherents of the Hussite Christian movement.

After 1526 Bohemia came increasingly under Habsburg control as the Habsburgs became first the elected and then in 1627 the hereditary rulers of Bohemia. The Austrian Habsburgs of the 16th century, the founders of the central European Habsburg Monarchy, were buried in Prague. Between 1583–1611 Prague was the official seat of the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II and his court.

The Defenestration of Prague and subsequent revolt against the Habsburgs in 1618 marked the start of the Thirty Years' War, which quickly spread throughout Central Europe. In 1620, the rebellion in Bohemia was crushed at the Battle of White Mountain, and the ties between Bohemia and the Habsburgs' hereditary lands in Austria were strengthened. The leaders of the Bohemian Revolt were executed in 1621. The nobility and the middle class Protestants had to either convert to Catholicism or leave the country.

The Defenestration of Prague sparked the Thirty Years' War

The following period, from 1620 to the late 18th century, has often been called colloquially the "Dark Age". The population of the Czech lands declined by a third through the expulsion of Czech Protestants as well as due to the war, disease and famine. The Habsburgs prohibited all Christian confessions other than Catholicism. The flowering of Baroque culture shows the ambiguity of this historical period. Ottoman Turks and Tatars invaded Moravia in 1663. In 1679–1680 the Czech lands faced a devastating plague and an uprising of serfs.

The reigns of Maria Theresa of Austria and her son Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor and co-regent from 1765, were characterized by enlightened absolutism. In 1742, most of Silesia (except the southernmost area), at that time the possession of the Bohemian crown, was seized by King Frederick II of Prussia in the Silesian Wars. In 1757 the Prussians invaded Bohemia and after the Battle of Prague (1757) occupied the city. More than one quarter of Prague was destroyed and St. Vitus Cathedral also suffered heavy damage. However, soon after, at the Battle of Kolín Frederick was defeated and had to leave Prague and retreat from Bohemia. In 1770 and 1771 Great Famine killed about one tenth of the Czech population, or 250,000 inhabitants, and radicalised the countryside leading to peasant uprisings. Serfdom was abolished (in two steps) between 1781 and 1848.

The fall of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 led to degradation of the political status of the Kingdom of Bohemia. Bohemia lost its position of an electorate of the Holy Roman Empire as well as its own political representation in the Imperial Diet. Bohemian lands became part of the Austrian Empire and later of Austria–Hungary. The Revolution of 1848 in Prague, striving for liberal reforms and autonomy of the Bohemian Crown within the Austrian Empire, was suppressed. In 1866 Austria was defeated by Prussia in the Austro-Prussian War. The Austrian Empire needed to redefine itself to maintain unity in the face of nationalism. At first it seemed that some concessions would be made also to Bohemia, but in the end the Emperor Franz Joseph I effected a compromise with Hungary only. The Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 and the never realized coronation of Franz Joseph as King of Bohemia led to a huge disappointment of Czech politicians. The Bohemian Crown lands became part of the so-called Cisleithania (officially "The Kingdoms and Lands represented in the Imperial Council"). The first elections under universal male suffrage were held in 1907. The last King of Bohemia was Blessed Charles of Austria who ruled in 1916–1918.

Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovak declaration of independence rally in Prague on Wenceslas Square, 28 October 1918

Main article: History of Czechoslovakia

An estimated 1.4 million Czech soldiers fought in World War I, of whom some 150,000 died. Although the majority of Czech soldiers fought for the Austro-Hungarian Empire, more than 90,000 Czech volunteers formed the Czechoslovak Legions in France, Italy and Russia, where they fought against the Central Powers and later against Bolshevik troops. In 1918, during the collapse of the Habsburg Empire at the end of World War I, the independent republic of Czechoslovakia, which joined the winning Allied powers, was created. This new country incorporated the Bohemian Crown (Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia) and parts of the Kingdom of Hungary (Slovakia and the Carpathian Ruthenia) with significant German, Hungarian, Polish and Ruthenian speaking minorities.

In 1929 compared to 1913, the gross domestic product increased by 52% and industrial production by 41%. In 1938 Czechoslovakia held a 10th place in the world industrial production.

Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (left), first president of Czechoslovakia, and Edvard Beneš (right), president before and after World War II.

Although Czechoslovakia was a unitary state, it provided what were at the time rather extensive rights to its minorities and remained the only democracy in this part of Europe in the interwar period. The effects of the Great Depression including high unemployment and massive propaganda from Nazi Germany, however, resulted in discontent and strong support among ethnic Germans for a break from Czechoslovakia.

Adolf Hitler took advantage of this opportunity and, using Konrad Henlein's separatist Sudeten German Party, gained the largely German speaking Sudetenland (and its substantial Maginot Line-like border fortifications) through the 1938 Munich Agreement (signed by Nazi Germany, France, Britain and Italy). Czechoslovakia was not invited to the conference and felt betrayed by the United Kingdom and France, so Czechs and Slovaks call the Munich Agreement the Munich Betrayal because the military alliance Czechoslovakia had with France proved useless.

The Munich Agreement between Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom resulted in German occupation of Czechoslovakia

Despite the mobilization of 1.2 million-strong Czechoslovak army and the Franco-Czech military alliance, Poland annexed the Zaolzie area around Český Těšín; Hungary gained parts of Slovakia and the Subcarpathian Rus as a result of the First Vienna Award in November 1938. The remainders of Slovakia and the Subcarpathian Rus gained greater autonomy, with the state renamed to "Czecho-Slovakia". After Nazi Germany threatened to annex part of Slovakia, allowing the remaining regions to be partitioned by Hungary and Poland, Slovakia chose to maintain its national and territorial integrity, seceding from Czecho-Slovakia in March 1939, and allying itself, as demanded by Germany, with Hitler's coalition.

The remaining Czech territory was occupied by Germany, which transformed it into the so-called Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. The protectorate was proclaimed part of the Third Reich, and the president and prime minister were subordinated to the Nazi Germany's Reichsprotektor. Subcarpathian Rus declared independence as the Republic of Carpatho-Ukraine on 15 March 1939 but was invaded by Hungary the same day and formally annexed the next day. Approximately 345,000 Czechoslovak citizens, including 277,000 Jews, were killed or executed while hundreds of thousands of others were sent to prisons and Nazi concentration camps or used as forced labour. Up to two-thirds of the citizens were in groups targeted by the Nazis for deportation or death. One concentration camp was located within the Czech territory at Terezín, north of Prague.

Prague liberated by Red Army in May 1945

There was Czech resistance to Nazi occupation, both at home and abroad, most notably with the assassination of Nazi German leader Reinhard Heydrich by Czechoslovakian soldiers Jozef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš in a Prague suburb on 27 May 1942. On 9 June 1942 Hitler ordered bloody reprisals against the Czechs as a response to the Czech anti-Nazi resistance. The Czechoslovak government-in-exile and its army fought against the Germans and were acknowledged by the Allies; Czech/Czechoslovak troops fought from the very beginning of the war in Poland, France, the UK, North Africa, the Middle East and the Soviet Union. The German occupation ended on 9 May 1945, with the arrival of the Soviet and American armies and the Prague uprising. An estimated 140,000 Soviet soldiers died in liberating Czechoslovakia from German rule.

In 1945–1946, almost the entire German-speaking minority in Czechoslovakia, about 3 million people, were expelled to Germany and Austria. During this time, thousands of Germans were held in prisons and detention camps or used as forced labour. In the summer of 1945, there were several massacres. The only Germans not expelled were some 250,000 who had been active in the resistance against the Nazi Germans or were considered economically important, though many of these emigrated later. Following a Soviet-organised referendum, the Subcarpathian Rus never returned under Czechoslovak rule but became part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, as the Zakarpattia Oblast in 1946.

Czechoslovakia uneasily tried to play the role of a "bridge" between the West and East. However, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia rapidly increased in popularity, with a general disillusionment with the West, because of the pre-war Munich Agreement, and a favourable popular attitude towards the Soviet Union, because of the Soviets' role in liberating Czechoslovakia from German rule. In the 1946 elections, the Communists gained 38% of the votes and became the largest party in the Czechoslovak parliament. They formed a coalition government with other parties of the National Front and moved quickly to consolidate power. A significant change came in 1948 with coup d'état by the Communist Party. The Communist People's Militias secured control of key locations in Prague, and a single party government was formed.

The Prague Spring political liberalization of the communist regime was stopped by the 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

For the next 41 years, Czechoslovakia was a Communist state within the Eastern Bloc. This period is characterized by lagging behind the West in almost every aspect of social and economic development. The country's GDP per capita fell from the level of neighboring Austria below that of Greece or Portugal in the 1980s. The Communist government completely nationalized the means of production and established a command economy. The economy grew rapidly during the 1950s but slowed down in the 1960s and 1970s and stagnated in the 1980s. The political climate was highly repressive during the 1950s, including numerous show trials and hundreds of thousands of political prisoners, but became more open and tolerant in the late 1960s, culminating in Alexander Dubček's leadership in the 1968 Prague Spring, which tried to create "socialism with a human face" and perhaps even introduce political pluralism. This was forcibly ended by invasion by all Warsaw Pact member countries with the exception of Romania and Albania on 21 August 1968.

The invasion was followed by a harsh program of "Normalization" in the late 1960s and the 1970s. Until 1989, the political establishment relied on censorship of the opposition. Dissidents published Charter 77 in 1977, and the first of a new wave of protests were seen in 1988. Between 1948 and 1989 more than 250,000 Czechs and Slovaks were sent to prison, and over 400,000 emigrated.

Velvet Revolution and independence

Main articles: Velvet Revolution and Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

Václav Havel, the main figure of the Velvet Revolution and later 1st Czech president honoring wounded in protests.

In November 1989, Czechoslovakia returned to a liberal democracy through the peaceful "Velvet Revolution". However, Slovak national aspirations strengthened and on 1 January 1993, the country peacefully split into the independent Czech Republic and Slovakia. Both countries went through economic reforms and privatisations, with the intention of creating a market economy. This process was largely successful; in 2006 the Czech Republic was recognised by the World Bank as a "developed country", and in 2009 the Human Development Index ranked it as a nation of "Very High Human Development".

From 1991, the Czech Republic, originally as part of Czechoslovakia and since 1993 in its own right, has been a member of the Visegrád Group and from 1995, the OECD. The Czech Republic joined NATO on 12 March 1999 and the European Union on 1 May 2004. On 21 December 2007 the Czech Republic joined the Schengen Area.

Government and politics

Main articles: Government of the Czech Republic and Politics of the Czech Republic

Prague Castle, seat of the Czech President

Straka Academy, seat of the Government

Thun Palace, seat of the Chamber of Deputies

The Czech Republic is a pluralist multi-party parliamentary representative democracy, with the Prime Minister as the head of government. The Parliament (Parlament České republiky) is bicameral, with the Chamber of Deputies (Czech: Poslanecká sněmovna) (200 members) and the Senate (Czech: Senát) (81 members).

The president is a formal head of state with limited and specific powers, most importantly to return bills to the parliament, appoint members to the board of the Czech National Bank, nominate constitutional court judges for the Senate's approval and dissolve the Chamber of Deputies under certain special and unusual circumstances. He also appoints the prime minister, as well the other members of the cabinet on a proposal by the prime minister. From 1993 until 2012, the President of the Czech Republic was selected by a joint session of the parliament for a five-year term, with no more than two consecutive terms. Since 2013 the presidential election is direct. Miloš Zeman was the first directly elected Czech President.

The Government of the Czech Republic's exercise of executive power derives from the Constitution. The members of the government are the Prime Minister, Deputy ministers and other ministers. The Government is responsible to the Chamber of Deputies.

The Prime Minister is the head of government and wields considerable powers, such as the right to set the agenda for most foreign and domestic policy and choose government ministers. The current Prime Minister of the Czech Republic is Bohuslav Sobotka, serving since 17 January 2014 as 11th Prime Minister.

The members of the Chamber of Deputies are elected for a four-year term by proportional representation, with a 5% election threshold. There are 14 voting districts, identical to the country's administrative regions. The Chamber of Deputies, the successor to the Czech National Council, has the powers and responsibilities of the now defunct federal parliament of the former Czechoslovakia.

The political system of the Czech Republic

The members of the Senate are elected in single-seat constituencies by two-round runoff voting for a six-year term, with one-third elected every even year in the autumn. The first election was in 1996, for differing terms. This arrangement is modeled on the U.S. Senate, but each constituency is roughly the same size and the voting system used is a two-round runoff. The Senate is unpopular among the public and suffers from low election turnout.

Main office holders

Office	Name	Party	Since
President	Miloš Zeman	SPOZ	8 March 2013
Prime Minister	Bohuslav Sobotka	ČSSD	17 January 2014
Chairman of the Chamber of Deputies	Jan Hamáček	ČSSD	27 November 2013
President of the Senate	Milan Štěch	ČSSD	24 November 2010

Foreign relations

Main article: Foreign relations of the Czech Republic

See also: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic

Countries with Embassies of the Czech Republic.

The Czech Republic has an established structure of foreign relations. It is a member of the United Nations, the European Union, NATO, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Council of Europe and is an observer to the Organization of American States. All countries with diplomatic relations with the Czech Republic have embassy located in Prague, and some of them have consulates across the country.

The Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs have primary roles in setting foreign policy. Membership in the European Union is central to the Czech Republic's foreign policy. The Czech Republic held the Presidency of the Council of the European Union for the first half of 2009.

The Czech Republic has strong ties with Slovakia, Poland and Hungary as member of Visegrad Group, as well as with Germany, Israel, United States and European Union and their members.

Czech officials have supported dissenters in Burma, Belarus, Moldova and Cuba.

Czech soldier in Afghanistan

Military

Main article: Military of the Czech Republic

The Czech armed forces consist of the Army, Air Force and of specialized support units. The armed forces are managed by the Ministry of Defence. The President of the Czech Republic is Commander-in-chief of the armed forces. In 2004 the army transformed itself into a fully professional organization and compulsory military service was abolished. The country has been a member of NATO since 12 March 1999. Defense spending is approximately 1.04% of the GDP (2015). The armed forces are charged with protecting the Czech Republic and it's allies, promoting global security interests, and contributing to NATO.

Currently, as a member of NATO, the Czech military are participating in ISAF and KFOR operations and have soldiers in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland and Israel. Main equipment includes: multi-role fighters JAS 39 Gripen, combat aircraft Aero L-159 Alca, modernized attack helicopters Mi-35, armored vehicles Pandur II, OT-64, OT-90, BVP-2 and Czech modernized tanks T-72 (T-72M4CZ).

Administrative divisions

See also: Regions of the Czech Republic and List of districts of the Czech Republic

Since 2000, the Czech Republic has been divided into thirteen regions (Czech: kraje, singular kraj) and the capital city of Prague. Every region has its own elected regional assembly (krajské zastupitelstvo) and hejtman (a regional governor). In Prague, the assembly and presidential powers are executed by the city council and the mayor.

The older seventy-six districts (okresy, singular okres) including three "statutory cities" (without Prague, which had special status) lost most of their importance in 1999 in an administrative reform; they remain as territorial divisions and seats of various branches of state administration.

Map of the Czech Republic with traditional regions and current administrative regions

Map with districts

Licence plate letter	Region name in English	Region name in Czech	Administrative seat	Population (2004 estimate)	Population (2011 estimate)
A	Prague a	Hlavní město Praha	n/a	1,170,571	1,268,796
S	Central Bohemian Region	Středočeský kraj	Pragueb	1,144,071	1,289,211
C	South Bohemian Region	Jihočeský kraj	České Budějovice	625,712	628,336
P	Plzeň Region	Plzeňský kraj	Plzeň	549,618	570,401
K	Karlovy Vary Region	Karlovarský kraj	Karlovy Vary	304,588	808,961
U	Ústí nad Labem Region	Ústecký kraj	Ústí nad Labem	822,133	835,814
L	Liberec Region	Liberecký kraj	Liberec	427,563	432,439
H	Hradec Králové Region	Královéhradecký kraj	Hradec Králové	547,296	547,916
E	Pardubice Region	Pardubický kraj	Pardubice	505,285	511,627
M	Olomouc Region	Olomoucký kraj	Olomouc	635,126	628,427
T	Moravian-Silesian Region	Moravskoslezský kraj	Ostrava	1,257,554	1,205,834
B	South Moravian Region	Jihomoravský kraj	Brno	1,123,201	1,163,508
Z	Zlín Region	Zlínský kraj	Zlín	590,706	579,944
J	Vysočina Region	Kraj Vysočina	Jihlava	517,153	505,565

^a Capital city.
^b Office location.

Geography

See also: Geography of the Czech Republic

Satellite image of the Czech Republic

The Czech Republic lies mostly between latitudes 48° and 51° N (a small area lies north of 51°), and longitudes 12° and 19° E.

The Czech landscape is exceedingly varied. Bohemia, to the west, consists of a basin drained by the Elbe (Czech: Labe) and the Vltava rivers, surrounded by mostly low mountains, such as the Krkonoše range of the Sudetes. The highest point in the country, Sněžka at 1,602 m (5,256 ft), is located here. Moravia, the eastern part of the country, is also quite hilly. It is drained mainly by the Morava River, but it also contains the source of the Oder River (Czech: Odra).

Podyjí National Park is one of four national parks.

Water from the landlocked Czech Republic flows to three different seas: the North Sea, Baltic Sea and Black Sea. The Czech Republic also leases the Moldauhafen, a 30,000-square-metre (7.4-acre) lot in the middle of the Hamburg Docks, which was awarded to Czechoslovakia by Article 363 of the Treaty of Versailles, to allow the landlocked country a place where goods transported down river could be transferred to seagoing ships. The territory reverts to Germany in 2028.

Phytogeographically, the Czech Republic belongs to the Central European province of the Circumboreal Region, within the Boreal Kingdom. According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, the territory of the Czech Republic can be subdivided into four ecoregions: the Central European mixed forests, Pannonian mixed forests, Western European broadleaf forests and Carpathian montane conifer forests.

There are four national parks in the Czech Republic. The oldest is Krkonoše National Park (Biosphere Reserve), Šumava National Park (Biosphere Reserve), Podyjí National Park, Bohemian Switzerland.

The three historical lands of the Czech Republic (formerly the core countries of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown) correspond almost prefectly with the river basins of the Elbe (Czech: Labe) and the Vltava basin for Bohemia, the Morava one for Moravia, and the Oder river basin for Czech Silesia (in terms of the Czech territory).

Climate

Moravian-Silesian Beskids

The Czech Republic has a temperate continental climate, with warm summers and cold, cloudy and snowy winters. The temperature difference between summer and winter is relatively high, due to the landlocked geographical position.

Within the Czech Republic, temperatures vary greatly, depending on the elevation. In general, at higher altitudes, the temperatures decrease and precipitation increases. The wettest area in the Czech Republic is found around Bílý Potok in Jizera Mountains and the driest region is the Louny District to the northwest of Prague. Another important factor is the distribution of the mountains; therefore, the climate is quite varied.

Rolling hills of Králický Sněžník

At the highest peak of Sněžka (1,602 m or 5,256 ft), the average temperature is only −0.4 °C (31 °F), whereas in the lowlands of the South Moravian Region, the average temperature is as high as 10 °C (50 °F). The country's capital, Prague, has a similar average temperature, although this is influenced by urban factors.

The coldest month is usually January, followed by February and December. During these months, there is usually snow in the mountains and sometimes in the major cities and lowlands. During March, April and May, the temperature usually increases rapidly, especially during April, when the temperature and weather tends to vary widely during the day. Spring is also characterized by high water levels in the rivers, due to melting snow with occasional flooding.

The warmest month of the year is July, followed by August and June. On average, summer temperatures are about 20 °C (68 °F) – 30 °C (86 °F) higher than during winter. Summer is also characterized by rain and storms.

Krkonoše National Park

Autumn generally begins in September, which is still relatively warm and dry. During October, temperatures usually fall below 15 °C (59 °F) or 10 °C (50 °F) and deciduous trees begin to shed their leaves. By the end of November, temperatures usually range around the freezing point.

The coldest temperature ever measured was in Litvínovice near České Budějovice in 1929, at −42.2 °C (−44.0 °F) and the hottest measured, was at 40.4 °C (104.7 °F) in Dobřichovice in 2012.

Most rain falls during the summer. Sporadic rainfall is relatively constant throughout the year (in Prague, the average number of days per month experiencing at least 0.1 mm of rain varies from 12 in September and October to 16 in November) but concentrated heavy rainfall (days with more than 10 mm per day) are more frequent in the months of May to August (average around two such days per month).

Environment

See also: Protected areas of the Czech Republic

Czech Republic ranks as fifth most environmentally conscious country in the world in Environmental Performance Index.

Map of Protected areas of the Czech Republic: National Parks (grey) and Protected Landscape Areas (green).

Eurasian eagle-owl is a protected predator.

Eurasian lynx was reintroduced and protected after extensive hunting in the past.

Economy

Main article: Economy of the Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is part of the EU single market and the Schengen Area.

Škoda Auto is one of the largest car manufacturers in Central Europe. In 2014, it sold a record number of 1,037,000 cars and said it aimed to double sales by 2018. (image of Škoda Superb)

The Czech Republic possesses a developed, high-income economy with a per capita GDP rate that is 84% of the European Union average. One of the most stable and prosperous of the post-Communist states, the Czech Republic saw growth of over 6% annually in the three years before the outbreak of the recent global economic crisis. Growth has been led by exports to the European Union, especially Germany, and foreign investment, while domestic demand is reviving.

Most of the economy has been privatised, including the banks and telecommunications. A 2009 survey in cooperation with the Czech Economic Association found that the majority of Czech economists favour continued liberalization in most sectors of the economy.

The country has been a member of the Schengen Area since 1 May 2004, having abolished border controls, completely opening its borders with all of its neighbours (Germany, Austria, Poland and Slovakia) on 21 December 2007. The Czech Republic became a member of the World Trade Organisation on 1 January 1995.

Czech Republic would become the 49th largest economy in the world by 2050 with a GDP of US$ $342 billion.

Monetary policy is conducted by the Czech National Bank, whose independence is guaranteed by the Constitution. The official currency is the Czech crown, and it had been floating until 7. 11. 2013, when the central bank temporarily pegged the exchange rate at 27 crowns per euro in order to fight deflation. When it joined EU, the Czech Republic obligated itself to adopt the euro, but the date of adoption has not been determined.

The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks the Czech education system as the 15th best in the world, higher than the OECD average. The Czech Republic is ranked 24th in the 2015 Index of Economic Freedom.

Treemap of exports from the Czech Republic in 2013, by product type

Leading Czech transportation companies include Škoda Auto (automobiles), Škoda Transportation (tramways, trolleybuses, metro), Tatra (the third oldest car maker in the world), Karosa (buses), Aero Vodochody (airplanes) and Jawa Motors (motorcycles). http://www.worlddiplomacy.org states that "Elections in 2013 brought a new government for the Czech republic. Although starting off 2013 rather weakly, the economy rebounded strongly in the coming quarters and most recently (Q1,2015) the economy has enjoyed the fastest GDP increase in the entire EU, clocking at 2.8% compared with Q4,2014, or 3.9% year-on-year."

On August 2015, Czech GDP growth was 4.4%, giving the Czech economy the highest growth rate in Europe.

Unemployment rate is at 4.9%, giving the Czech Republic the second lowest unemployment rate in the European Union after Germany.

Energy

Main article: Energy in the Czech Republic

Dukovany Nuclear Power Station

Production of Czech electricity exceeds consumption by about 10 TWh per year, which are exported. Nuclear power presently provides about 30 percent of the total power needs, its share is projected to increase to 40 percent. In 2005, 65.4 percent of electricity was produced by steam and combustion power plants (mostly coal); 30 percent by nuclear plants; and 4.6 percent from renewable sources, including hydropower. The largest Czech power resource is Temelín Nuclear Power Station, another nuclear power plant is in Dukovany.

The Czech Republic is reducing its dependence on highly polluting low-grade brown coal as a source of energy. Natural gas is procured from Russian Gazprom, roughly three-fourths of domestic consumption and from Norwegian companies, which make up most of the remaining one-fourth. Russian gas is imported via Ukraine (Druzhba pipeline), Norwegian gas is transported through Germany. Gas consumption (approx. 100 TWh in 2003–2005) is almost double electricity consumption. South Moravia has small oil and gas deposits.

Transportation infrastructure

Main article: Transport in the Czech Republic

The Czech railway network is largely electrified and is among the densest in Europe.

Václav Havel Airport in Prague is the main international airport in the country. In 2010, it handled 11.6 million passengers, which makes it the fifth busiest airport in Central and Eastern Europe. In total, the Czech Republic has 46 airports with paved runways, six of which provide international air services in Brno, Karlovy Vary, Mošnov (near Ostrava), Pardubice, Prague and Kunovice (near Uherské Hradiště).

České dráhy (the Czech Railways) is the main railway operator in the Czech Republic, with about 180 million passengers carried yearly. Its cargo division, ČD Cargo, is the fifth largest railway cargo operator in the European Union. With 9,505 km (5,906.13 mi) of tracks, the Czech Republic has one of the densest railway networks in Europe. Of that number, 2,926 km (1,818.13 mi) is electrified, 7,617 km (4,732.98 mi) are single-line tracks and 1,866 km (1,159.48 mi) are double and multiple-line tracks. In 2006 the new Italian tilting trains Pendolino ČD Class 680 entered service. They have reached a speed of 237 km/h setting a new Czech railway speed record.

Russia, via pipelines through Ukraine and to a lesser extent, Norway, via pipelines through Germany, supply the Czech Republic with liquid and natural gas.

The road network in the Czech Republic is 55,653 km (34,581.17 mi) long. There are 738,4 km of motorways and 439,1 km of expressways. The speed limit is 50 km/h within towns, 90 km/h outside of towns and 130 km/h on expressways.

Communications

Main article: Internet in the Czech Republic

The Czech Republic ranks in the top 10 countries worldwide with the fastest average internet speed. The Czech Republic has the most Wi-Fi subscribers in the European Union. By the beginning of 2008, there were over 800 mostly local WISPs, with about 350,000 subscribers in 2007. Plans based on either GPRS, EDGE, UMTS or CDMA2000 are being offered by all three mobile phone operators (T-Mobile, Telefónica O2, Vodafone) and internet provider U:fon. Government-owned Český Telecom slowed down broadband penetration. At the beginning of 2004, local-loop unbundling began and alternative operators started to offer ADSL and also SDSL. This and later privatisation of Český Telecom helped drive down prices.

On 1 July 2006, Český Telecom was acquired by globalized company (Spain owned) Telefónica group and adopted new name Telefónica O2 Czech Republic. As of June 2014, VDSL and ADSL2+ are offered in many variants, with download speeds of up to 40 Mbit/s and upload speeds of up to 2Mbit/s. Cable internet is gaining popularity with its higher download speeds ranging from 2 Mbit/s to 1 Gbit/s.

Science and technology

Otto Wichterle, inventor of the contact lens

The Czech lands have a long and rich scientific tradition. The research based on cooperation between universities, Academy of Sciences and specialised research centers brings new inventions and impulses in this area. Important inventions include the modern contact lens, the separation of modern blood types, and the production of Semtex plastic explosive. In March 1978, Czechoslovakian Vladimír Remek was the first person outside of the Soviet Union and the United States to go into space.

Prominent scientists who lived and worked in historically Czech lands include:

• John Amos Comenius (1592–1670), teacher, educator and the founder of modern education.
• Jan Marek Marci (1595–1667), mathematician, physicist and imperial physician, one of the founders of spectroscopy.
• Václav Prokop Diviš (1698–1765), inventor of the first grounded lightning rod.
• Bernard Bolzano (1781–1848), noted mathematician, logician, philosopher, and pacifist.
• Jan Evangelista Purkyně (1787–1869), anatomist and physiologist responsible for the discovery of Purkinje cells, Purkinje fibres and sweat glands, as well as Purkinje images and the Purkinje shift.
• Josef Ressel (1793–1857), inventor of the screw propeller and modern compass.
• Jakub Kryštof Rad (1799–1871), inventor of sugar cubes.
• Gregor Mendel (1822–1884), often called the "father of genetics", is famed for his research concerning the inheritance of genetic traits.
• Jakub Husník (1837–1916), improved the process of photolithography.
• Karel Klíč (1841–1926), painter and photographer, inventor of the photogravure.
• František Křižík (1847–1941), electrical engineer, inventor of the arc lamp.
• Jan Janský (1873–1921), serologist and neurologist, discovered the ABO blood groups.
• Bedřich Hrozný (1879–1952), deciphered the Hittite language.
• Josef Čapek (1887–1945) and Karel Čapek (1890–1938), brothers who originated the word robot.
• František Burian and Arnold Jirásek, founded the first plastic surgery in 1927.
• Jaroslav Heyrovský (1890–1967), inventor of polarography, electroanalytical chemistry and recipient of the Nobel Prize.
• Oldřich Homuta, inventor of Remoska oven in 1957.
• Otto Wichterle (1913–1998) and Drahoslav Lím (1925–2003), Czech chemists responsible for the invention of the modern contact lens and silon (synthetic fiber).
• Stanislav Brebera (1925–2012), inventor of the plastic explosive Semtex in 1966.
• Ladislav Mareš, inventor of the first machine producing nanofibres, "Nanospider".
• Antonín Holý (1936–2012), scientist and chemist, in 2009 was involved in creation of the most effective drug in the treatment of AIDS.

A number of other scientists are also connected in some way with the Czech lands, including astronomers Johannes Kepler and Tycho Brahe, the founder of the psychoanalytic school of psychiatry Sigmund Freud, physicists Christian Doppler, Ernst Mach, Nikola Tesla, Albert Einstein, engineer Viktor Kaplan and logician Kurt Gödel.

Tourism

Main article: Tourism in the Czech Republic

Prague is one of the most visited cities in Europe.

The Czech economy gets a substantial income from tourism. Prague is the fifth most visited city in Europe after London, Paris, Istanbul and Rome. In 2001, the total earnings from tourism reached 118 billion CZK, making up 5.5% of GNP and 9% of overall export earnings. The industry employs more than 110,000 people – over 1% of the population. The country's reputation has suffered with guidebooks and tourists reporting overcharging by taxi drivers and pickpocketing problems mainly in Prague. Since 2005, Prague's mayor, Pavel Bém, has worked to improve this reputation by cracking down on petty crime and, aside from these problems, Prague is a safe city. Also, the Czech Republic as a whole generally has a low crime rate. For tourists, the Czech Republic is considered a safe destination to visit. The low crime rate makes most cities and towns very safe to walk around.

Medieval castles such as Karlštejn are frequent tourist attractions.

There are several centres of tourist activity. The spa towns, such as Karlovy Vary, Mariánské Lázně and Františkovy Lázně and Jáchymov (very high radioactivity), are particularly popular relaxing holiday destinations. Architectural heritage is another object of visitor´s interest – it includes many castles and chateaux from different historical epoques, namely Karlštejn Castle, Český Krumlov and the Lednice–Valtice area. There are 12 cathedrals and 15 churches elevated to the rank of basilica by the Pope, calm monasteries, many modern and ancient churches – for example Pilgrimage Church of Saint John of Nepomuk is one of those inscribed on the World Heritage List. Away from the towns, areas such as Český ráj, Šumava and the Krkonoše Mountains attract visitors seeking outdoor pursuits.

The country is also known for its various museums. Puppetry and marionette exhibitions are very popular, with a number of puppet festivals throughout the country. Aquapalace Praha in Čestlice near Prague, is the biggest water park in central Europe.

The Czech Republic has a number of beer festivals, including: Czech Beer Festival (the biggest Czech beer festival, it is usually 17 days long and held every year in May in Prague), Pilsner Fest (every year in August in Plzeň), The "Olomoucký pivní festival" (in Olomouc) or festival "Slavnosti piva v Českých Budějovicích" (in České Budějovice).

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of the Czech Republic

Prague Brno Ostrava	Rank	City	Region	Population	Metropolitan area	Plzeň Liberec Olomouc
	1	Prague	Prague, the Capital City	1,268,796	2,300,000
	2	Brno	South Moravian	385,913	729,510
	3	Ostrava	Moravian-Silesian	304 357	1,164,328
	4	Plzeň	Plzeň	170,322	380,000
	5	Liberec	Liberec	102,754	270,000
	6	Olomouc	Olomouc	101,003	480,000
	7	Hradec Králové	Hradec Králové	94,314	-
	8	České Budějovice	South Bohemian	93,715	190,000
	9	Ústí nad Labem	Ústí nad Labem	93,000	-
	10	Pardubice	Pardubice	90,767	-
	11	Havířov	Moravian-Silesian	76,694	-
	12	Zlín	Zlín	75,318	450 000
	13	Kladno	Central Bohemian	68,103	-
	14	Most	Ústí nad Labem	65,193	95,316
	15	Opava	Moravian-Silesian	58,351	-
	16	Karviná	Moravian-Silesian	56,897	-
	17	Frýdek-Místek	Moravian-Silesian	56,356	-
	18	Jihlava	Vysočina	50,075	-
	19	Děčín	Ústí nad Labem	49,106	-
	20	Karlovy Vary	Karlovy Vary	48,639	-

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±%
1857	7,016,531	—
1869	7,617,230	+8.6%
1880	8,222,013	+7.9%
1890	8,665,421	+5.4%
1900	9,372,214	+8.2%
1910	10,078,637	+7.5%
1921	10,009,587	−0.7%
1930	10,674,386	+6.6%
1950	8,896,133	−16.7%
1961	9,571,531	+7.6%
1970	9,807,697	+2.5%
1980	10,291,927	+4.9%
1991	10,302,215	+0.1%
2001	10,230,060	−0.7%
2011	10,436,560	+2.0%
2014	10,528,477	+0.9%

According to preliminary results of the 2011 census, the majority of the inhabitants of the Czech Republic are Czechs (63.7%), followed by Moravians (4.9%), Slovaks (1.4%), Poles (0.4%), Germans (0.2%) and Silesians (0.1%). As the 'nationality' was an optional item, a substantial number of people left this field blank (26.0%). According to some estimates, there are about 250,000 Romani people in the Czech Republic.

There were 437,581 foreigners residing in the country in September 2013, according to the Czech Statistical Office, with the largest groups being Ukrainian (106,714), Slovak (89,273), Vietnamese (61,102), Russian (32,828), Polish (19,378), German (18,099), Bulgarian (8,837), American (6,695), Romanian (6,425), Moldovan (5,860), Chinese (5,427), British (5,413), Mongolian (5,308), Kazakh (4,850), Belarusian (4,562).

The Jewish population of Bohemia and Moravia, 118,000 according to the 1930 census, was virtually annihilated by the Nazi Germans during the Holocaust. There were approximately 4,000 Jews in the Czech Republic in 2005. The former Czech prime minister, Jan Fischer, is of Jewish origin and faith.

The total fertility rate (TFR) in 2013 was estimated at 1.29 children born/woman, which is below the replacement rate of 2.1, and one of the lowest in the world. In 2014, 46.7% of births were to unmarried women. The life expectancy in 2013 was estimated at 77.56 years (74.29 years male, 81.01 years female). Immigration increased the population by almost 1% in 2007. About 77,000 people immigrate to the Czech Republic annually. Vietnamese immigrants began settling in the Czech Republic during the Communist period, when they were invited as guest workers by the Czechoslovak government. In 2009, there were about 70,000 Vietnamese in the Czech Republic. Most decide to stay in the country permanently.

At the turn of the 20th century, Chicago was the city with the third largest Czech population, after Prague and Vienna. According to the 2010 US census, there are 1,533,826 Americans of full or partial Czech descent.

Religion

Main article: Religion in the Czech Republic

Religion in the Czech Republic (2011)
Undeclared			45%
Irreligion			34%
Roman Catholicism			10%
Other religions			9%
Protestantism			0.8%

The Czech Republic has one of the least religious populations in the world, being the country with the third most atheistic population by percentage, behind only China and Japan. Historically, the Czech people have been characterised as "tolerant and even indifferent towards religion". According to the 2011 census, 34% of the population stated they had no religion, 10.3% was Roman Catholic, 0.8% was Protestant (0.5% Czech Brethren and 0.4% Hussite), and 9% followed other forms of religion both denominational or not (of which 863 people answered they are Pagan). 45% of the population did not answer the question about religion. From 1991 to 2001 and further to 2011 the adherence to Roman Catholicism decreased from 39% to 27% and then to 10%; Protestantism similarly declined from 3.7% to 2% and then to 0.8%.

According to a Eurobarometer Poll in 2010, 16% of Czech citizens responded that "they believe there is a God" (the lowest rate among the countries of the European Union), whereas 44% answered that "they believe there is some sort of spirit or life force" and 37% said that "they do not believe there is any sort of spirit, God or life force".

Education

Main article: Education in the Czech Republic

Education in The Czech Republic is compulsory for 9 years.

Culture

Main article: Culture of the Czech Republic

Art

Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter (1896) by Art Nouveau artist Alphonse Mucha

The Czech Republic is known worldwide for its individually made, mouth blown and decorated art glass and crystal. One of the best Czech painters and decorative artists was Alphonse Mucha (1860–1939) mainly known for art nouveau posters and his cycle of 20 large canvases named the Slav Epic, which depicts the history of Czechs and other Slavs. As of 2012, the Slav Epic can be seen in Veletržní Palace of National Gallery in Prague, which manages the largest collection of art in the Czech Republic.

Other notable Czech artists include:

• Max Švabinský (1873–1962) – painter, illustrator, abstract art
• Emil Filla (1882–1953) – painter, cubism
• Josef Čapek (1887–1945) – painter, cubism
• Bohumil Kubišta (1884–1918) – painter, cubism
• Václav Špála (1885–1945) – painter, cubism
• František Kupka (1871–1954) – painter, abstract art
• Jan Zrzavý (1890–1977) – painter, graphic artist, illustrator
• Karel Teige (1900–1951) – painter, illustrator, surrealism
• Toyen (1902–1980) – painter, illustrator, surrealism
• Jiří Anderle (1936) – graphic artist

Architecture

Main articles: Czech Gothic architecture, Czech Renaissance architecture and Czech Baroque architecture

The earliest preserved stone buildings in Bohemia and Moravia date back to the time of the Christianization in the 9th and 10th century. Since the Middle Ages the Czech lands have been using the same architectural styles like most of Western and Central Europe. The oldest still standing churches were built in the Romanesque style. During the 13th century it was replaced by the Gothic style. In the 14th century Emperor Charles IV invited to his court in Prague talented architects from France and Germany, Matthias of Arras and Peter Parler. During the Middle Ages, many fortified castles were built by the king and aristocracy, as well as many monasteries. During the Hussite wars, many of them were damaged or destroyed.

Royal Summer Palace in Prague considered the purest Renaissance architecture outside Italy

The Renaissance style penetrated the Bohemian Crown in the late 15th century when the older Gothic style started to be slowly mixed with Renaissance elements (architects Matěj Rejsek, Benedikt Rejt). An outstanding example of the pure Renaissance architecture in Bohemia is the Royal Summer Palace, which was situated in a newly established garden of Prague Castle. Evidence of the general reception of the Renaissance in Bohemia, involving a massive influx of Italian architects, can be found in spacious chateaux with elegant arcade courtyards and geometrically arranged gardens. Emphasis was placed on comfort, and buildings that were built for entertainment purposes also appeared.

St. Nicholas’ Church in Prague, a magnificent exemplar of the Bohemian Baroque

In the 17th century, the Baroque style spread throughout the Crown of Bohemia. Very outstanding are the architectural projects of the Czech nobleman and imperial generalissimo Albrecht von Wallenstein from the 1620s. His architects Andrea Spezza and Giovanni Pieroni reflected the most recent Italian production and were very innovative at the same time. Czech Baroque architecture is considered to be a unique part of the European cultural heritage thanks to its extensiveness and extraordinariness. In the first third of the 18th century the Bohemian lands were one of the leading artistic centers of the Baroque style. In Bohemia there was completed the development of the Radical Baroque style created in Italy by Francesco Borromini and Guarino Guarini in a very original way. Leading architects of the Bohemian Baroque were Jean-Baptiste Mathey, František Maxmilián Kaňka, Christoph Dientzenhofer, and his son Kilian Ignaz Dientzenhofer.

Pilgrimage Church of Saint John of Nepomuk by Santini

In the 18th century Bohemia produced an architectural peculiarity – the Baroque Gothic style, a synthesis of the Gothic and Baroque styles. This was not a simple return to Gothic details, but rather an original Baroque transformation. The main representative and originator of this style was Jan Blažej Santini-Aichel, who used this style in renovating medieval monastic buildings.

During the 19th century, the revival architectural styles were very popular in the Bohemian monarchy. Many churches were restored to their presumed medieval appearance and there were constructed many new buildings in the Neo-Romanesque, Neo-Gothic and Neo-Renaissance styles. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries the new art style appeared in the Czech lands – Art Nouveau. The best-known representatives of Czech Art Nouveau architecture were Osvald Polívka, who designed the Municipal House in Prague, Josef Fanta, the architect of the Prague Main Railway Station, and Jan Kotěra.

Bohemia contributed an unusual style to the world’s architectural heritage when Czech architects attempted to transpose the Cubism of painting and sculpture into architecture. During the first years of the independent Czechoslovakia (after 1918), a specifically Czech architectural style, called ‘Rondo-Cubism’, came into existence. Together with the pre-war Czech Cubist architecture it is unparalleled elsewhere in the world. The first Czechoslovak president T. G. Masaryk invited the prominent Slovene architect Jože Plečnik to Prague, where he modernized the Castle and built some other buildings. Between World Wars I and II, Functionalism, with its sober, progressive forms, took over as the main architectural style in the newly established Czechoslovak Republic. In the city of Brno, one of the most impressive functionalist works has been preserved – Villa Tugendhat, designed by the architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. The most significant Czech architects of this era were Adolf Loos, Pavel Janák and Josef Gočár.

Dancing House in Prague

After the World War II and the Communist coup in 1948 the art in Czechoslovakia came under the strong Soviet influence. Hotel International in Prague is a brilliant example of the so-called Socialist realism, the Stalinistic art style of the 1950s. Czechoslovak avant-garde artistic movement known as the Brussels style (called after the Brussels World’s Fair Expo 58) became popular in the time of political liberalization of Czechoslovakia in the 1960s.

Even today, the Czech Republic is not shying away from the most modern trends of international architecture. This fact is attested to by a number of projects by world-renowned architects (Frank Gehry, Jean Nouvel, Ricardo Bofill, and John Pawson). There are also contemporary Czech architects whose works can be found all over the world (Eva Jiřičná, Jan Kaplický).

Literature

Main article: Czech literature

Franz Kafka

Czech literature is the literature written by Czechs, mostly in the Czech language, although other languages like Old Church Slavonic, Latin or German have been also used, such as by author Franz Kafka, who—while bilingual in Czech and German—wrote his works in German, during the era of Austrian rule.

Influential Czech authors who wrote in Latin include Cosmas of Prague († 1125), Peter of Zittau († 1339), John Hus († 1415), Bohuslav Hasištejnský z Lobkovic (1461–1510), Jan Dubravius (1486–1553), Tadeáš Hájek (1525–1600), Johannes Vodnianus Campanus (1572–1622), and Bohuslav Balbín (1621–1688). In the late 13th century the royal court in Prague was one of the centers of German Minnesang. The most famous Czech medieval German-language work is the Ploughman of Bohemia (Der Ackermann aus Böhmen), written around 1401 by Johannes von Tepl. The heyday of Czech German-language literature can be seen in the first half of the 20th century, which is represented by the well-known names of Franz Kafka, Max Brod, Franz Werfel, Rainer Maria Rilke, Egon Erwin Kisch, and others.

The Bible translations played an important role in the development of Czech literature and standard Czech language. The oldest Czech translation of the Psalms originated in the late 13th century and the first Czech translation of the whole Bible was finished around 1360. The first complete printed Czech Bible was published in 1488 (Prague Bible). The first complete Czech Bible translation from original languages was published between 1579–93 and is known as the Bible of Kralice.

Czech-language literature can be divided into several main time periods: the Middle Ages (Chronicle of Dalimil); the Hussite period (Tomáš Štítný ze Štítného, Jan Hus, Petr Chelčický); the Renaissance humanism (Henry the Younger of Poděbrady, Luke of Prague, Wenceslaus Hajek, Jan Blahoslav, Daniel Adam z Veleslavína); the Baroque period (John Amos Comenius, Adam Václav Michna z Otradovic, Bedřich Bridel, Jan František Beckovský); the Enlightenment and Czech reawakening in the 19th century (Václav Matěj Kramerius, Karel Hynek Mácha, Karel Jaromír Erben, Karel Havlíček Borovský, Božena Němcová, Jan Neruda, Alois Jirásek); the avant-garde of the interwar period (Karel Čapek, Jaroslav Hašek, Vítězslav Nezval, Jaroslav Seifert, Bohuslav Reynek); the years under Communism and the Prague Spring (Josef Škvorecký, Bohumil Hrabal, Milan Kundera, Arnošt Lustig, Václav Havel); and the literature of the post-Communist Czech Republic (Ivan Martin Jirous).

Jaroslav Seifert was the only Czech writer awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. A famous antiwar comedy novel The Good Soldier Švejk by Jaroslav Hašek is the most translated Czech book in history. It was depicted by Karel Steklý in two color films The Good Soldier Schweik in 1956 and 1957.

Czech literature and culture played a major role on at least two occasions, when Czechs lived under oppression and political activity was suppressed. On both of these occasions, in the early 19th century and then again in the 1960s, the Czechs used their cultural and literary effort to strive for political freedom, establishing a confident, politically aware nation.

Media

Since the Czech Republic is a democratic republic, journalists and media are free to write about everything, except supporting nazism, racism and violating the Czech law. The country was ranked as the 13th most free press in the World Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders in 2014.

The most trustful media in the Czech Republic are public services. Czech Television, the only national public television service, owns the 24-hour news channel ČT24. Other public services are Czech Radio and the Czech News Agency (ČTK). Privately owned television services such as TV Nova, Prima Family and TV Barrandov are also very popular, with TV Nova being the most popular channel in the Czech Republic.

Newspapers are quite popular in the Czech Republic. The best-selling daily national newspapers are Blesk (average 1.15M daily readers), Mladá fronta DNES (average 752,000 daily readers) and Daily (average 72,000 daily readers).

Music

Antonín Dvořák

Main articles: Music of the Czech Lands and Moravian traditional music

Music in the Czech lands has its roots in more than 1,000-year-old sacred music. The first surviving references Lord, Have Mercy on Us come from the end of the 10th century and in the traditional folk music of Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia and in the long-term high-culture classical music tradition. Since the early eras of artificial music, Czech musicians and composers have often been influenced by genuine folk music (such as polka which originated in Bohemia). Notable Czech composers include Antonín Dvořák, Bedřich Smetana, Gustav Mahler (he was born and grew up in the Czech lands), Adam Michna, Jan Dismas Zelenka, Josef Mysliveček, Leoš Janáček, Josef Suk, Bohuslav Martinů, Erwin Schulhoff and Petr Eben.

Theatre

Main article: Theatre of the Czech Republic

Theatre of the Czech Republic has rich tradition with roots in the Middle Ages. In the 19th century, the theatre played an important role in the national awakening movement and later, in the 20th century it became a part of the modern European theatre art.

Film

Main article: Cinema of the Czech Republic

Cinema of the Czech Republic includes films made in the area of the current Czech Republic. Czechoslovak New Wave received international acclaim in 1960s. It is linked with names of Miloš Forman, Věra Chytilová, Jiří Menzel and others such as Ján Kadár, Elmar Klos, Vojtěch Jasný. Films The Shop on Main Street (1965), Closely Watched Trains (1967) and Kolya (1996) won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film while six others earned a nomination: Loves of a Blonde (1966), The Fireman's Ball (1968), My Sweet Little Village (1986), The Elementary School (1991), Divided We Fall (2000) and Želary (2003). Marketa Lazarová was voted the all-time best Czech movie in a prestigious 1998 poll of Czech film critics and publicists. The Czech Lion is the highest award for Czech film achievement.

The Barrandov Studios in Prague are the largest film studios in country and one of the largest in Europe. The Czech Republic has many popular film locations. Filmmakers have come to Prague to shoot scenery no longer found in Berlin, Paris and Vienna. The city of Karlovy Vary was used as a location for the 2006 James Bond film Casino Royale.

Karlovy Vary International Film Festival is one of the oldest in the world and has become Central and Eastern Europe’s leading film event. It is also one of few film festivals have been given competitive status by the FIAPF. Other film festivals held in the Czech Republic include Febiofest, Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival, One World Film Festival, Zlín Film Festival and Fresh Film Festival.

Video games

Main article: Video gaming in the Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is home to several globally successful video game developers, including Illusion Softworks (2K Czech), Bohemia Interactive, Keen Software House, Amanita Design and Madfinger Games. The Czech video game development scene has a long history, and a number of Czech games were produced for the ZX Spectrum, PMD 85 and Atari systems in the 1980s. In the early 2000s, a number of Czech games achieved international acclaim, including Hidden & Dangerous, Operation Flashpoint, Vietcong and Mafia. Today, the most globally successful Czech games include ARMA, DayZ, Space Engineers, Machinarium, Shadowgun and BLACKHOLE. The Czech Game of the Year Awards are held annually at the Anifilm festival in Třeboň.

Cuisine

Main article: Czech cuisine

A mug of Budweiser Budvar

Svíčková na smetaně served with sirloin, dumplings (knedlíky), whipped cream and cranberries

Czech cuisine is marked by a strong emphasis on meat dishes. Pork is quite common; beef and chicken are also popular. Goose, duck, rabbit and wild game are served. Fish is rare, with the occasional exception of fresh trout and carp, which is served at Christmas.

Czech beer has a long and important history. The first brewery is known to have existed in 993 and the Czech Republic has the highest beer consumption per capita in the world. The famous "pilsner style beer" (pils) originated in the western Bohemian city of Plzeň, where world famous Pilsner Urquell is still being produced. Further south the town of České Budějovice, known as Budweis in German, lent its name to its beer, eventually known as Budweiser Budvar. Apart from these and other major brands, the Czech Republic also boasts a growing number of top quality small breweries and mini-breweries seeking to continue the age-old tradition of quality and taste, whose output matches the best in the world.

Tourism is slowly growing around the Southern Moravian region too, which has been producing wine since the Middle Ages; about 94% of vineyards in the Czech Republic are Moravian. Aside from slivovitz, Czech beer and wine, the Czechs also produce two unique liquors, Fernet Stock and Becherovka. Kofola is a non-alcoholic domestic cola soft drink which competes with Coca Cola and Pepsi in popularity.

Some popular Czech dishes include:

• Vepřo knedlo zelo: roast pork with bread dumplings and stewed cabbage
• Svíčková na smetaně: roast sirloin of beef with steamed dumplings and cream of vegetable sauce
• Rajská (omáčka): beef in tomato sauce, traditionally served with dumplings
• Koprovka: beef in dill sauce, traditionally served with dumplings
• Pečená kachna: roast duck with bread or potato dumplings and braised red cabbage
• Guláš: a variety of beef and pork goulash stews, served with dumplings or bread
• Smažený sýr: fried cheese, typically served with potatoes or french fries and tartar sauce
• Bramboráky: potato pancakes, traditionally served with sour cabbage

There is also a large variety of local sausages, wurst, pâtés, and smoked and cured meats. Czech desserts include a wide variety of whipped cream, chocolate, and fruit pastries and tarts, crepes, creme desserts and cheese, poppy seed filled and other types of traditional cakes such as buchty, koláče and štrůdl.

Sports

Ice hockey is one of the most popular sports in the Czech Republic and the Czech national team is one of the world's best teams

Main article: Sport in the Czech Republic

Sports play a part in the life of many Czechs, who are generally loyal supporters of their favorite teams or individuals. The two leading sports in the Czech Republic are ice hockey and football. Tennis is also a very popular sport in the Czech Republic. The many other sports with professional leagues and structures include basketball, volleyball, team handball, track and field athletics and floorball. The Czech ice hockey team won the gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics and has won six gold medals at the World Championships, including three straight from 1999 to 2001. In total the country has won 14 gold medals in summer (plus 49 as Czechoslovakia) and five gold medals (plus two as Czechoslovakia) in winter Olympic history.

Sport is a source of strong waves of patriotism, usually rising several days or weeks before an event. The events considered the most important by Czech fans are: the Ice Hockey World Championships, Olympic Ice hockey tournament, UEFA European Football Championship, UEFA Champions League, FIFA World Cup and qualification matches for such events. In general, any international match of the Czech ice hockey or football national team draws attention, especially when played against a traditional rival.

The Czech Republic also has great influence in tennis, with such players as Ivan Lendl, 8 times Grand Slam singles champion, 2010 Wimbledon Championships – Men's Singles finalist Tomáš Berdych, 2011 and 2014 Wimbledon Championships – Women's Singles champion Petra Kvitová, 1998 Wimbledon Women's Singles title Jana Novotná, 2015 French Open – Women's Singles finalist Lucie Safarova, 2011 Wimbledon Championships – Women's Doubles champion Květa Peschke and 18 time Grand Slam champion Martina Navratilova.

One of the most popular Czech sport is hiking, mainly in the Czech mountains. The word "tourist" in the Czech language also means a trekker or hiker. For beginners, thanks to the more than 100 years long tradition, there is a unique system of waymarking, one of the best in Europe. There is a network of around 40,000 km of perfectly marked short and long distance trails crossing the whole country and all the Czech mountains – not only in the Šumava Mountains, but also in the Vysočina, Krušné hory, Jizerské hory, Beskydy, Jeseníky, Orlické hory and Giant Mountains – Krkonoše.

See also

• List of Czech Republic-related topics
• Outline of the Czech Republic

References

Notes

Sources

• Angi, János (1997). "A nyugati szláv államok [=Western Slavic states]". In Pósán, László; Papp, Imre; Bárány, Attila; Orosz, István; Angi, János. Európa a korai középkorban ["Europe in the Early Middle Ages"]. Multiplex Media – Debrecen University Press. pp. 358–365. ISBN 963-04-9196-6. 

Further reading

• Hochman, Jiří. Historical dictionary of the Czech State (1998)

External links

• Czech Republic entry at The World Factbook
• Czech Republic information from the United States Department of State
• Portals to the World from the United States Library of Congress
• Czech Republic at UCB Libraries GovPubs
• Czech Republic at DMOZ
• Czech Republic profile from the BBC News
• Wikimedia Atlas of the Czech Republic
• Geographic data related to Czech Republic at OpenStreetMap
• Key Development Forecasts for the Czech Republic from International Futures
• Czech Republic
• History of Celts
• History of Czech Economic and Political Alignments Viewed as a Transition

Government

• Governmental website
• Presidential website
• Portal of the Public Administration
• Senate
• Chief of State and Cabinet Members

News

• The Prague Post
• CzechNews
• Czech News Agency News
• Prague Daily Monitor
• Radio Prague

Statistics

• Czech Statistical Office

Trade

• World Bank Summary Trade Statistics Czech Republic

Travel

• Czech Tourism official travel site of the Czech Republic
• Czech tourist club official webpage