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.
Czech Republic Česká republika (Czech) | |
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Flag Coat of arms | |
Motto: Pravda vítězí (Czech) "Truth prevails" | |
Anthem: Kde domov můj (Czech) "Where My Home Is" | |
Capital and largest city | Prague 50°05′N 14°28′E / 50.083°N 14.467°E |
Official language | Czech |
Ethnic groups (2021) |
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Religion (2021) |
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Demonym(s) | Czech |
Government | Unitary parliamentary republic |
• President | Petr Pavel |
• Prime Minister | Petr Fiala |
Legislature | Parliament |
Senate | |
Chamber of Deputies | |
Establishment | |
• Duchy of Bohemia | c. 870 |
• Kingdom of Bohemia | 1198 |
• Czechoslovakia | 28 October 1918 |
• Czech Republic | 1 January 1993 |
Area | |
• Total | 78,871 km2 (30,452 sq mi) (115th) |
• Water (%) | 2.16 (as of 2022) |
Population | |
• 2024 estimate | 10,900,555 (85th) |
• 2021 census | 10,524,167 |
• Density | 133/km2 (344.5/sq mi) (91st) |
GDP (PPP) | 2024 estimate |
• Total | $619.881 billion (46th) |
• Per capita | $56,686 (38th) |
GDP (nominal) | 2024 estimate |
• Total | $342.992 billion (47th) |
• Per capita | $31,365 (38th) |
Gini (2023) | 24.4 low inequality |
HDI (2022) | 0.895 very high (32nd) |
Currency | Czech koruna (CZK) |
Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
Date format | d. m. yyyy |
Drives on | Right |
Calling code | +420 |
ISO 3166 code | CZ |
Internet TLD | .cz |
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.
In the 19th century, the Czech lands became more industrialized; further, in 1918, most of the country 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.
Etymology
The traditional English name "Bohemia" derives from Latin Boiohaemum, which means "home of the Boii" (a Gallic tribe). The current English name ultimately comes from the Czech word Čech. The name comes from the Slavic tribe (Czech: Češi, Čechové) and, according to legend, their leader Čech, who brought them to Bohemia, to settle on Říp Mountain. The etymology of the word Čech is uncertain, but according to the most common derivation 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 east, 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, Czechia, and the lands of the Crown of Saint Wenceslaus. 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 one country.
After Czechoslovakia dissolved on the last day of 1992, Česko was adopted as the Czech short name for the new state and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic recommended Czechia for the English-language equivalent. This form was not widely adopted at the time, leading to the long name Czech Republic being used in English in nearly all circumstances. The Czech government directed use of Czechia as the official English short name in 2016. The short name has been listed by the United Nations and is used by other organizations such as the European Union,NATO, the CIA,Google Maps, and the European Broadcasting Union. In 2022, the American AP Stylebook stated in its entry on the country that "both [Czechia and the Czech Republic] are acceptable. The shorter name Czechia is preferred by the Czech government. If using Czechia, clarify in the story that the country is more widely known in English as the Czech Republic."
History
Prehistory
Archaeologists have found evidence of prehistoric human settlements in the area, dating back to the Paleolithic era.[citation needed]
In the classical era, as a result of the 3rd century BC Celtic migrations, Bohemia became associated with the Boii. The Boii founded an oppidum near the site of modern Prague. Later in the 1st century, the Germanic tribes of the Marcomanni and Quadi settled there.
Slavs from the Black Sea–Carpathian region settled in the area (their migration was pushed by an invasion of peoples from Siberia and Eastern Europe into their area:Huns, Avars, Bulgars and Magyars). In the sixth century, the Huns had 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 documented Slavic state in Central Europe, Samo's Empire. The principality of Great Moravia, controlled by Moymir dynasty, arose in the 8th century. It reached its zenith in the 9th (during the reign of Svatopluk I of Moravia), holding off the influence of the Franks. Great Moravia was Christianized, with a role being played by the Byzantine mission of Cyril and Methodius. They codified the Old Church Slavonic language, the first literary and liturgical language of the Slavs, and the Glagolitic script.
Bohemia
The Duchy of Bohemia emerged in the late 9th century when it was unified by the Přemyslid dynasty. Bohemia was from 1002 until 1806 an Imperial Estate of the Holy Roman Empire.
In 1212, Přemysl Ottokar I extracted the Golden Bull of Sicily from the emperor, confirming Ottokar and his descendants' royal status; the Duchy of Bohemia was raised to a Kingdom.German immigrants settled in the Bohemian periphery in the 13th century. The Mongols in the invasion of Europe carried their raids into Moravia but were defensively defeated at Olomouc.
After a series of dynastic wars, the House of Luxembourg gained the Bohemian throne.
Efforts for a reform of the church in Bohemia started already in the late 14th century. Jan Hus' followers seceded from some practices of the Roman Church and in the Hussite Wars (1419–1434) defeated five crusades organized against them by Sigismund. During the next two centuries, 90% of the population in Bohemia and Moravia were considered Hussites. The pacifist thinker Petr Chelčický inspired the movement of the Moravian Brethren (by the middle of the 15th century) that completely separated from the Roman Catholic Church.
On 21 December 1421, Jan Žižka, a successful military commander and mercenary, led his group of forces in the Battle of Kutná Hora, resulting in a victory for the Hussites. He is honoured to this day as a national hero.
After 1526, Bohemia came increasingly under Habsburg control as the Habsburgs became first the elected and then in 1627 the hereditary rulers of Bohemia. Between 1583 and 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. 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 following era of 1620 to the late 18th century became known as the "Dark Age". During the Thirty Years' War, 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 the Great Plague of Vienna and an uprising of serfs.
There were peasant uprisings influenced by famine.Serfdom was abolished between 1781 and 1848. Several battles of the Napoleonic Wars took place on the current territory of the Czech Republic.
The end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 led to degradation of the political status of Bohemia which 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. During the 18th and 19th century the Czech National Revival began its rise, with the purpose to revive Czech language, culture, and national identity. The Revolution of 1848 in Prague, striving for liberal reforms and autonomy of the Bohemian Crown within the Austrian Empire, was suppressed.
It seemed that some concessions would be made also to Bohemia, but in the end, the Emperor Franz Joseph I affected 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 disappointment of some Czech politicians. The Bohemian Crown lands became part of the so-called Cisleithania.
The Czech Social Democratic and progressive politicians started the fight for universal suffrage. The first elections under universal male suffrage were held in 1907.
Czechoslovakia
In 1918, during the collapse of the Habsburg monarchy at the end of World War I, the independent republic of Czechoslovakia, which joined the winning Allied powers, was created, with Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk in the lead. This new country incorporated the Bohemian Crown.
The First Czechoslovak Republic comprised only 27% of the population of the former Austria-Hungary, but nearly 80% of the industry, which enabled it to compete with Western industrial states. In 1929 compared to 1913, the gross domestic product increased by 52% and industrial production by 41%. In 1938 Czechoslovakia held 10th place in the world industrial production. Czechoslovakia was the only country in Central and Eastern Europe to remain a liberal democracy throughout the entire interwar period. Although the First Czechoslovak Republic was a unitary state, it provided certain rights to its minorities, the largest being Germans (23.6% in 1921), Hungarians (5.6%) and Ukrainians (3.5%).
Western Czechoslovakia was occupied by Nazi Germany, which placed most of the region into the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. The Protectorate was proclaimed part of the Third Reich, and the president and prime minister were subordinated to Nazi Germany's Reichsprotektor. One Nazi concentration camp was located within the Czech territory at Terezín, north of Prague. The vast majority of the Protectorate's Jews were murdered in Nazi-run concentration camps. The Nazi Generalplan Ost called for the extermination, expulsion, Germanization or enslavement of most or all Czechs for the purpose of providing more living space for the German people. There was Czechoslovak resistance to Nazi occupation as well as reprisals against the Czechoslovaks for their anti-Nazi resistance. The German occupation ended on 9 May 1945, with the arrival of the Soviet and American armies and the Prague uprising. Most of Czechoslovakia's German-speakers were forcibly expelled from the country, first as a result of local acts of violence and then under the aegis of an "organized transfer" confirmed by the Soviet Union, the United States, and Great Britain at the Potsdam Conference.
In the 1946 elections, the Communist Party gained 38% of the votes and became the largest party in the Czechoslovak parliament, formed a coalition with other parties, and consolidated power. A coup d'état came in 1948 and a single-party government was formed. For the next 41 years, the Czechoslovak Communist state conformed to Eastern Bloc economic and political features. The Prague Spring political liberalization was stopped by the 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. Analysts believe that the invasion caused the communist movement to fracture, ultimately leading to the Revolutions of 1989.
Czech Republic
In November 1989, Czechoslovakia again became a liberal democracy through the Velvet Revolution. However, Slovak national aspirations strengthened (Hyphen War) and on 31 December 1992, the country peacefully split into the independent countries of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Both countries went through economic reforms and privatizations, with the intention of creating a market economy, as they have been trying to do since 1990, when Czechs and Slovaks still shared the common state. This process was largely successful; in 2006 the Czech Republic was recognized 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.
Until 2017, either the centre-left Czech Social Democratic Party or the centre-right Civic Democratic Party led the governments of the Czech Republic. In October 2017, the populist movement ANO 2011, led by the country's second-richest man, Andrej Babiš, won the elections with three times more votes than its closest rival, the Civic Democrats. In December 2017, Czech president Miloš Zeman appointed Andrej Babiš as the new prime minister.
In the 2021 elections, ANO 2011 was narrowly defeated and Petr Fiala became the new prime minister. He formed a government coalition of the alliance SPOLU (Civic Democratic Party, KDU-ČSL and TOP 09) and the alliance of Pirates and Mayors. In January 2023, retired general Petr Pavel won the presidential election, becoming new Czech president to succeed Miloš Zeman. Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the country took in half a million Ukrainian refugees, the largest number per capita in the world.
Geography
The Czech Republic lies mostly between latitudes 48° and 51° N and longitudes 12° and 19° E.
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 1,603 m (5,259 ft), is located here. Moravia, the eastern part of the country, is also hilly. It is drained mainly by the Morava River, but it also contains the source of the Oder River (Czech: Odra).
Water from the 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-meter (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 Western European broadleaf forests, Central European mixed forests, Pannonian mixed forests, and Carpathian montane conifer forests.
There are four national parks in the Czech Republic. The oldest is Krkonoše National Park (Biosphere Reserve), and the others are Šumava National Park (Biosphere Reserve), Podyjí National Park, and Bohemian Switzerland.
The three historical lands of the Czech Republic (formerly some countries of the Bohemian Crown) correspond with the river basins of the Elbe 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
The Czech Republic has a temperate climate, situated in the transition zone between the oceanic and continental climate types, with warm summers and cold, cloudy and snowy winters. The temperature difference between summer and winter is due to the landlocked geographical position.
Temperatures vary 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 factor is the distribution of the mountains.
At the highest peak of Sněžka (1,603 m or 5,259 ft), the average temperature is −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 snow in the mountains and sometimes in the cities and lowlands. During March, April, and May, the temperature usually increases, especially during April, when the temperature and weather tends to vary during the day. Spring is also characterized by higher 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 20–30 °C (36–54 °F) higher than during winter. Summer is also characterized by rain and storms.
Autumn generally begins in September, which is still 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 throughout the year (in Prague, the average number of days per month experiencing at least 0.1 mm (0.0039 in) of rain varies from 12 in September and October to 16 in November) but concentrated rainfall (days with more than 10 mm (0.39 in) per day) are more frequent in the months of May to August (average around two such days per month). Severe thunderstorms, producing damaging straight-line winds, hail, and occasional tornadoes occur, especially during the summer period.
Biodiversity and conservation
As of 2020, the Czech Republic ranks as the 21st most environmentally conscious country in the world in Environmental Performance Index. It had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 1.71/10, ranking it 160th globally out of 172 countries. The Czech Republic has four National Parks (Šumava National Park, Krkonoše National Park, České Švýcarsko National Park, Podyjí National Park) and 25 Protected Landscape Areas. The fauna of the Czech Republic includes a wide variety of animal species. Some species (especially endangered ones) are bred in reserves. Among the rare animals are, for example, eagles, ospreys, bustards, and storks.
Government and politics
The Czech Republic is a pluralist multi-party parliamentary representative democracy. 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 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 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. 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 president is a formal head of state with limited and specific powers, who 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 (Václav Havel and Václav Klaus were both elected twice). Since 2013, the president has been elected directly. Some commentators have argued that, with the introduction of direct election of the President, the Czech Republic has moved away from the parliamentary system and towards a semi-presidential one. The Government's exercise of executive power derives from the Constitution. The members of the government are the Prime Minister, Deputy prime ministers and other ministers. The Government is responsible to the Chamber of Deputies. The Prime Minister is the head of government and wields powers such as the right to set the agenda for most foreign and domestic policy and choose government ministers.
Office | Name | Party | Since |
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President | Petr Pavel | Independent | 9 March 2023 |
President of the Senate | Miloš Vystrčil | ODS | 19 February 2020 |
President of the Chamber of Deputies | Markéta Pekarová Adamová | TOP 09 | 10 November 2021 |
Prime Minister | Petr Fiala | ODS | 28 November 2021 |
Law
The Czech Republic is a unitary state, with a civil law system based on the continental type, rooted in Germanic legal culture. The basis of the legal system is the Constitution of the Czech Republic adopted in 1993. The Penal Code is effective from 2010. A new Civil code became effective in 2014. The court system includes district, county, and supreme courts and is divided into civil, criminal, and administrative branches. The Czech judiciary has a triumvirate of supreme courts. The Constitutional Court consists of 15 constitutional judges and oversees violations of the Constitution by either the legislature or by the government. The Supreme Court is formed of 67 judges and is the court of highest appeal for most legal cases heard in the Czech Republic. The Supreme Administrative Court decides on issues of procedural and administrative propriety. It also has jurisdiction over certain political matters, such as the formation and closure of political parties, jurisdictional boundaries between government entities, and the eligibility of persons to stand for public office. The Supreme Court and the Supreme Administrative Court are both based in Brno, as is the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office.
Foreign relations
The Czech Republic has ranked as one of the safest or most peaceful countries for the past few decades. It is a member of the United Nations, the European Union, NATO, OECD, Council of Europe and is an observer to the Organization of American States. The embassies of most countries with diplomatic relations with the Czech Republic are located in Prague, while consulates are located across the country.
The Czech passport is restricted by visas. According to the 2018 Henley & Partners Visa Restrictions Index, Czech citizens have visa-free access to 173 countries, which ranks them 7th along with Malta and New Zealand. The World Tourism Organization ranks the Czech passport 24th. The US Visa Waiver Program applies to Czech nationals.
The Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs have primary roles in setting foreign policy, although the President also has influence and represents the country abroad. Membership in the European Union and NATO is central to the Czech Republic's foreign policy. The Office for Foreign Relations and Information (ÚZSI) serves as the foreign intelligence agency responsible for espionage and foreign policy briefings, as well as protection of Czech Republic's embassies abroad.
The Czech Republic has ties with Slovakia, Poland and Hungary as a member of the Visegrád Group, as well as with Germany,Israel, the United States and the European Union and its members. After 2020, relations with Asian democratic states, such as Taiwan, are being strengthened. Conversely, the Czech Republic has long had bad relations with Russia; from 2021, the Czech Republic appears on Russia's official list of enemy countries. The Czech Republic also has problematic relations with China.
Czech officials have supported dissenters in Belarus, Moldova, Myanmar and Cuba.
Famous Czech diplomats of the past included Jaroslav Lev of Rožmitál, Humprecht Jan Czernin, Count Philip Kinsky of Wchinitz and Tettau, Wenzel Anton, Prince of Kaunitz-Rietberg, Prince Karl Philipp Schwarzenberg, Alois Lexa von Aehrenthal, Ottokar Czernin, Edvard Beneš, Jan Masaryk, Jiří Hájek, Jiří Dienstbier, Michael Žantovský, Petr Kolář, Alexandr Vondra, Prince Karel Schwarzenberg and Petr Pavel.
Military
The Czech armed forces consist of the Czech Land Forces, the Czech 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. Defence spending is approximately 1.28% of the GDP (2021). The armed forces are charged with protecting the Czech Republic and its allies, promoting global security interests, and contributing to NATO.
Currently, as a member of NATO, the Czech military are participating in the Resolute Support and KFOR operations and have soldiers in Afghanistan, Mali, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Egypt, Israel and Somalia. The Czech Air Force also served in the Baltic states and Iceland. The main equipment of the Czech military includes JAS 39 Gripen multi-role fighters, Aero L-159 Alca combat aircraft, AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters, armored vehicles (Pandur II, BVP-2) and tanks (T-72M4CZ and Leopard 2A4).
Human rights
Human rights in the Czech Republic are guaranteed by the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms and international treaties on human rights. Nevertheless, there were cases of human rights violations such as discrimination against Roma children, for which the European Commission asked the Czech Republic to provide an explanation, or the illegal sterilization of Roma women, for which the government apologized.
People of the same sex can enter into a "registered partnership" in the Czech Republic. Conducting same-sex marriage is not legal under current Czech law.
Administrative divisions
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 and 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.
The smallest administrative units are obce (municipalities). As of 2021, the Czech Republic is divided into 6,254 municipalities. Cities and towns are also municipalities. The capital city of Prague is a region and municipality at the same time.
Economy
The Czech Republic has a developed,high-incomeexport-oriented social market economy based in services, manufacturing and innovation, that maintains a welfare state and the European social model. The Czech Republic participates in the European Single Market as a member of the European Union and is therefore a part of the economy of the European Union, but uses its own currency, the Czech koruna, instead of the euro. It has a per capita GDP rate that is 91% of the EU average and is a member of the OECD. Monetary policy is conducted by the Czech National Bank, whose independence is guaranteed by the Constitution. The Czech Republic ranks 12th in the UN inequality-adjusted human development and 24th in World Bank Human Capital Index. It was described by The Guardian as "one of Europe's most flourishing economies".
As of 2023[update], the country's GDP per capita at purchasing power parity is $51,329 and $29,856 at nominal value. According to Allianz A.G., in 2018 the country was an MWC (mean wealth country), ranking 26th in net financial assets. The country experienced a 4.5% GDP growth in 2017. The 2016 unemployment rate was the lowest in the EU at 2.4%, and the 2016 poverty rate was the second lowest of OECD members. Czech Republic ranks 27th in the 2021 Index of Economic Freedom, 30th in the 2024 Global Innovation Index, 29th in the Global Competitiveness Report, and 25th in the Global Enabling Trade Report. The Czech Republic has a diverse economy that ranks 7th in the 2016 Economic Complexity Index. The industrial sector accounts for 37.5% of the economy, while services account for 60% and agriculture for 2.5%. The largest trading partner for both export and import is Germany and the EU in general. Dividends worth CZK 270 billion were paid to the foreign owners of Czech companies in 2017, which has become a political issue. 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 neighbors on 21 December 2007.
Industry
In 2018[update] the largest companies by revenue in the Czech Republic were: automobile manufacturer Škoda Auto, utility company ČEZ Group, conglomerate Agrofert, energy trading company EPH, oil processing company Unipetrol, electronics manufacturer Foxconn CZ and steel producer Moravia Steel. Other Czech transportation companies include: Škoda Transportation (tramways, trolleybuses, metro), Tatra (heavy trucks, the second oldest car maker in the world), Avia (medium trucks), Karosa and SOR Libchavy (buses), Aero Vodochody (military aircraft), Let Kunovice (civil aircraft), Zetor (tractors), Jawa Moto (motorcycles) and Čezeta (electric scooters).
Škoda Transportation is the fourth largest tram producer in the world; nearly one third of all trams in the world come from Czech factories. The Czech Republic is also the world's largest vinyl records manufacturer, with GZ Media producing about 6 million pieces annually in Loděnice.Česká zbrojovka is among the ten largest firearms producers in the world and five who produce automatic weapons.
In the food industry, Czech companies include Agrofert, Kofola and .
Energy
Production of Czech electricity exceeds consumption by about 10 TWh per year, the excess being 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 came from renewable sources, including hydropower. The largest Czech power resource is Temelín Nuclear Power Station, with another nuclear power plant in Dukovany.
The Czech Republic is reducing its dependence on highly polluting low-grade brown coal as a source of energy. Natural gas is purchased from Norwegian companies and as liquefied gas LNG from the Netherlands and Belgium. In the past, three-quarters of gas supplies came from Russia, but after the start of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the government gradually stopped these supplies. Gas consumption (approx. 100 TWh in 2003–2005) is almost double electricity consumption. South Moravia has small oil and gas deposits.
Transportation infrastructure
As of 2020,[update] the road network in the Czech Republic is 55,768.3 kilometers (34,652.82 mi) long, out of which 1,276.4 km (793.1 mi) are motorways. The speed limit is 50 km/h (31 mph) within towns, 90 km/h (56 mph) outside of towns and 130 km/h (81 mph) on motorways.
The Czech Republic has one of the densest rail networks in the world. As of 2020,[update] the country has 9,542 kilometers (5,929 mi) of lines. Of that number, 3,236 km (2,011 mi) is electrified, 7,503 km (4,662 mi) are single-line tracks and 2,040 km (1,270 mi) are double and multiple-line tracks. The length of tracks is 15,360 km (9,540 mi), out of which 6,917 km (4,298 mi) is electrified.
České dráhy (the Czech Railways) is the main railway operator in the country, with about 180 million passengers carried yearly. Maximum speed is limited to 160 km/h (99 mph).
Václav Havel Airport in Prague is the main international airport in the country. In 2019, it handled 17.8 million passengers. In total, the Czech Republic has 91 airports, six of which provide international air services. The public international airports are in Brno, Karlovy Vary, , Mošnov (near Ostrava), Pardubice and Prague. The non-public international airports capable of handling airliners are in Kunovice and Vodochody.
Russia (via pipelines through Ukraine) and, to a lesser extent, Norway (via pipelines through Germany) supply the Czech Republic with liquid and natural gas.
Communications and IT
The Czech Republic ranks in the top 10 countries worldwide with the fastest average internet speed. 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, 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 privatization of Český Telecom helped drive down prices.
On 1 July 2006, Český Telecom was acquired by globalized company (Spain-owned) Telefónica group and adopted the new name Telefónica O2 Czech Republic. As of 2017[update], VDSL and ADSL2+ are offered in variants, with download speeds of up to 50 Mbit/s and upload speeds of up to 5 Mbit/s. Cable internet is gaining more popularity with its higher download speeds ranging from 50 Mbit/s to 1 Gbit/s.
Two computer security companies, Avast and AVG, were founded in the Czech Republic. In 2016, Avast led by Pavel Baudiš bought rival AVG for US$1.3 billion, together at the time, these companies had a user base of about 400 million people and 40% of the consumer market outside of China. Avast is the leading provider of antivirus software, with a 20.5% market share.
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 the country's GNP and 9% of its overall export earnings. The industry employs more than 110,000 people – over 1% of the population. Guidebooks and tourists reporting overcharging by taxi drivers and pickpocketing problems talk mainly about Prague, though the situation has improved recently. 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. The Czech Republic's crime rate is described by the United States State department as "low".
The Czech Republic boasts 17 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, 3 of them being transnational. As of 2024[update], further 13 sites are on the tentative list.
Architectural heritage is an object of interest to visitors – it includes castles and châteaux from different historical epochs, namely Karlštejn Castle, Český Krumlov and the Lednice–Valtice Cultural Landscape. There are 12 cathedrals and 15 churches elevated to the rank of basilica by the Pope, as well as many monasteries.
Away from the towns, areas such as Bohemian Paradise, Bohemian Forest and the Giant Mountains attract visitors seeking outdoor pursuits.
The country is also known for its various museums, puppetry and marionette exhibitions that take part within larger puppet festivals, and beer festivals.Aquapalace Prague in Čestlice is the largest water park in the country.
Science
The Czech lands have a long and well-documented history of scientific innovation. Today, the Czech Republic has a highly sophisticated, developed, high-performing, innovation-oriented scientific community supported by the government, industry, and leading universities. Czech scientists are embedded members of the global scientific community. They contribute annually to multiple international academic journals and collaborate with their colleagues across boundaries and fields. The Czech Republic was ranked 24th in the Global Innovation Index in 2020 and 2021, up from 26th in 2019.
Historically, the Czech lands, especially Prague, have been the seat of scientific discovery going back to early modern times, including Tycho Brahe, Nicolaus Copernicus, and Johannes Kepler. In 1784 the scientific community was first formally organized under the charter of the Royal Czech Society of Sciences. Currently, this organization is known as the Czech Academy of Sciences. Similarly, the Czech lands have a well-established history of scientists, including Nobel laureates biochemists Gerty and Carl Ferdinand Cori, chemists Jaroslav Heyrovský and Otto Wichterle, physicists Ernst Mach and Peter Grünberg, physiologist Jan Evangelista Purkyně and chemist Antonín Holý.Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, was born in Příbor,Gregor Mendel, the founder of genetics, was born in Hynčice and spent most of his life in Brno, logician and mathematician Kurt Gödel was born in Brno.
Historically, most scientific research was recorded in Latin, but from the 18th century onwards increasingly in German and later in Czech, archived in libraries supported and managed by religious groups and other denominations as evidenced by historical locations of international renown and heritage such as the Strahov Monastery and the Clementinum in Prague. Increasingly, Czech scientists publish their work and that of their history in English.
The current important scientific institution is the already mentioned Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, the CEITEC Institute in Brno or the and centers with the most powerful laser in the world in Dolní Břežany. Prague is the seat of the administrative center of the GSA Agency operating the European navigation system Galileo and the European Union Agency for the Space Programme.
Demographics
The total fertility rate (TFR) in 2020 was estimated at 1.71 children per woman, which is below the replacement rate of 2.1. The Czech Republic's population has an average age of 43.3 years. The life expectancy in 2021 was estimated to be 79.5 years (76.55 years male, 82.61 years female). About 77,000 people immigrate to the Czech Republic annually.Vietnamese immigrants began settling in the country 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.
According to results of the 2021 census, the majority of the inhabitants of the Czech Republic are Czechs (57.3%), followed by Moravians (3.4%), Slovaks (0.9%), Ukrainians (0.7%), Viets (0.3%), Poles (0.3%), Russians (0.2%), Silesians (0.1%) and Germans (0.1%). Another 4.0% declared combination of two nationalities (3.6% combination of Czech and other nationality). As the 'nationality' was an optional item, a number of people left this field blank (31.6%). According to some estimates, there are about 250,000 Romani people in the Czech Republic. The Polish minority resides mainly in the Trans-Olza region.
There were 658,564 foreigners residing in the country in 2021, according to the Czech Statistical Office, with the largest groups being Ukrainian (22%), Slovak (22%), Vietnamese (12%), Russian (7%) and German (4%). Most of the foreign population lives in Prague (37.3%) and Central Bohemia Region (13.2%).
The Jewish population of Bohemia and Moravia, 118,000 according to the 1930 census, was nearly annihilated by the Nazi Germans during the Holocaust. There were approximately 3,900 Jews in the Czech Republic in 2021. The former Czech prime minister, Jan Fischer, is of Jewish faith.
Nationality of residents, who answered the question in the Census 2021:
Nationality | Share |
---|---|
Czech | 83.76% |
Moravian | 4.99% |
Czech and Moravian | 2.50% |
Slovak | 1.33% |
Ukrainian | 1.08% |
Czech and Slovak | 0.82% |
Vietnamese | 0.44% |
Polish | 0.37% |
Russian | 0.35% |
Other | 4.36% |
Largest cities
Largest municipalities in the Czech Republic Czech Statistical Office | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rank | Name | Region | Pop. | Rank | Name | Region | Pop. | ||
Prague Brno | 1 | Prague | Prague | 1,357,326 | 11 | Zlín | Zlín | 74,191 | Ostrava Plzeň |
2 | Brno | South Moravian | 396,101 | 12 | Havířov | Moravian-Silesian | 70,245 | ||
3 | Ostrava | Moravian-Silesian | 283,504 | 13 | Kladno | Central Bohemian | 68,436 | ||
4 | Plzeň | Plzeň | 181,240 | 14 | Most | Ústí nad Labem | 63,856 | ||
5 | Liberec | Liberec | 107,389 | 15 | Opava | Moravian-Silesian | 55,512 | ||
6 | Olomouc | Olomouc | 101,825 | 16 | Frýdek-Místek | Moravian-Silesian | 54,188 | ||
7 | České Budějovice | South Bohemian | 96,417 | 17 | Jihlava | Vysočina | 52,548 | ||
8 | Hradec Králové | Hradec Králové | 93,506 | 18 | Teplice | Ústí nad Labem | 50,843 | ||
9 | Pardubice | Pardubice | 92,149 | 19 | Karviná | Moravian-Silesian | 50,172 | ||
10 | Ústí nad Labem | Ústí nad Labem | 91,963 | 20 | Karlovy Vary | Karlovy Vary | 49,043 |
Religion
About 75% to 79% of residents of the Czech Republic do not declare having any religion or faith in surveys, and the proportion of convinced atheists (30%) is the third highest in the world behind those of China (47%) and Japan (31%).[unreliable source?] The Czech people have been historically characterized as "tolerant and even indifferent towards religion". The religious identity of the country has changed drastically since the first half of the 20th century, when more than 90% of Czechs were Christians.
Christianization in the 9th and 10th centuries introduced Christianity. After the Bohemian Reformation, most Czechs became followers of Jan Hus, Petr Chelčický and other regional Protestant Reformers. Taborites and Utraquists were Hussite groups. Towards the end of the Hussite Wars, the Utraquists changed sides and allied with the Roman Catholic Church. Following the joint Utraquist—Roman Catholic victory, Utraquism was accepted as a distinct form of Christianity to be practiced in Bohemia by the Roman Catholic Church while all remaining Hussite groups were prohibited. After the Reformation, some Bohemians went with the teachings of Martin Luther, especially Sudeten Germans. In the wake of the Reformation, Utraquist Hussites took a renewed increasingly anti-Catholic stance, while some of the defeated Hussite factions were revived. After the Habsburgs regained control of Bohemia, the whole population was forcibly converted to Roman Catholicism—even the Utraquist Hussites. Going forward, Czechs have become more wary and pessimistic of religion as such. A history of resistance to the Roman Catholic Church followed. It suffered a schism with the neo-Hussite Czechoslovak Hussite Church in 1920, lost the bulk of its adherents during the Communist era and continues to lose in the modern, ongoing secularization. Protestantism never recovered after the Counter-Reformation was introduced by the Austrian Habsburgs in 1620. Prior to the Holocaust, the Czech Republic had a sizable Jewish community of around 100,000. There are many historically important and culturally relevant Synagogues in the Czech Republic such as Europe's oldest active Synagogue, The Old New Synagogue and the second largest Synagogue in Europe, the Great Synagogue (Plzeň). The Holocaust decimated Czech Jewry and the Jewish population as of 2021 is 3,900.
According to the 2011 census, 34% of the population stated they had no religion, 10.3% were Roman Catholic, 0.8% were 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%. The Muslim population is estimated to be 20,000 representing 0.2% of the population.
The proportion of religious believers varies significantly across the country, from 55% in Zlín Region to 16% in Ústí nad Labem Region.
Education and health care
Education in the Czech Republic is compulsory for nine years and citizens have access to a free-tuition university education, while the average number of years of education is 13.1. Additionally, the Czech Republic has a "relatively equal" educational system in comparison with other countries in Europe. Founded in 1348, Charles University was the first university in Central Europe. Other major universities in the country are Masaryk University, Czech Technical University, Palacký University, Academy of Performing Arts and University of Economics.
The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks the Czech education system as the 15th most successful in the world, higher than the OECD average. The UN Education Index ranks the Czech Republic 10th as of 2013[update] (positioned behind Denmark and ahead of South Korea).
Health care in the Czech Republic is similar in quality to that of other developed nations. The Czech universal health care system is based on a compulsory insurance model, with fee-for-service care funded by mandatory employment-related insurance plans. According to the 2016 Euro health consumer index, a comparison of healthcare in Europe, the Czech healthcare is 13th, ranked behind Sweden and two positions ahead of the United Kingdom.
Culture
This section needs additional citations for verification.(May 2023) |
Art
Venus of Dolní Věstonice is an important example of prehistoric art unearthed in the Czech Republic. Theodoric of Prague was a painter in the Gothic era who decorated the castle Karlštejn. In the Baroque era, there were painters Wenceslaus Hollar, Jan Kupecký, Karel Škréta, Anton Raphael Mengs and Petr Brandl and sculptors Matthias Braun and Ferdinand Brokoff.
In the first half of the 19th century, Josef Mánes joined the romantic movement. In the second half the so-called "National Theatre generation" rose to prominence: sculptor Josef Václav Myslbek and painters Mikoláš Aleš, Václav Brožík, Vojtěch Hynais and Julius Mařák. At the end of the century came Art Nouveau, with Alfons Mucha becoming its main representative. He is known for his Art Nouveau posters and a cycle of 20 large canvases named the Slav Epic, which depicts the history of Czechs and other Slavs. As of 2012[update], it can be seen in the Veletržní Palace of the National Gallery in Prague, which manages the largest collection of art in the Czech Republic. Max Švabinský was another Art Nouveau painter.
The 20th century brought an avant-garde revolution, represented in the Czech lands mainly by expressionists and cubists: Josef Čapek, Emil Filla, Bohumil Kubišta or Jan Zrzavý. Surrealism emerged particularly through the work of Toyen, Josef Šíma and Karel Teige. In the world, however, the most well-known Czech avant-garde artist might be František Kupka, a pioneer of abstract painting. Illustrators and cartoonists to gain fame in the first half of the 20th century include Josef Lada, Zdeněk Burian or Emil Orlík. Art photography became a new field represented by František Drtikol, Josef Sudek, later Jan Saudek and Josef Koudelka.
The Czech Republic is also known for its individually made, mouth-blown, and decorated Bohemian glass.
Architecture
The earliest preserved stone buildings in Bohemia and Moravia date back to the time of the Christianization in the 9th and 10th centuries. Since the Middle Ages, the Czech lands have been using the same architectural styles as 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 architects from France and Germany, Matthias of Arras and Peter Parler, to his court in Prague. During the Middle Ages, some fortified castles were built by the king and aristocracy, as well as some monasteries.
The Renaissance style penetrated the Bohemian Crown in the late 15th century when the older Gothic style started to be mixed with Renaissance elements. An example of pure Renaissance architecture in Bohemia is the Queen Anne's Summer Palace, which was situated in the garden of Prague Castle. Evidence of the general reception of the Renaissance in Bohemia, involving an influx of Italian architects, can be found in spacious chateaus with arcade courtyards and geometrically arranged gardens. Emphasis was placed on comfort, and buildings that were built for entertainment purposes also appeared.
In the 17th century, the Baroque style spread throughout the Crown of Bohemia.
In the 18th century, Bohemia produced an architectural peculiarity – the Baroque Gothic style, a synthesis of the Gothic and Baroque styles.
During the 19th century stands the revival architectural styles. Some churches were restored to their presumed medieval appearance and there were constructed 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.
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.
Between World Wars I and II, Functionalism, with its sober, progressive forms, took over as the main architectural style.
After World War II and the Communist coup in 1948, art in Czechoslovakia became Soviet-influenced. The Czechoslovak avant-garde artistic movement is known as the came up in the time of political liberalization of Czechoslovakia in the 1960s. Brutalism dominated in the 1970s and 1980s.
The Czech Republic is not shying away from the more modern trends of international architecture, an example is the Dancing House (Tančící dům) in Prague, Golden Angel in Prague or Congress Centre in Zlín.
Literature
The literature from the area of today's Czech Republic was mostly written in Czech, but also in Latin and German or even Old Church Slavonic. Franz Kafka, although a competent user of Czech, wrote in his mother tongue, German. His works include The Trial and The Castle.
In the second half of the 13th century, the royal court in Prague became one of the centers of German Minnesang and courtly literature. The Czech German-language literature can be seen in the first half of the 20th century.
Bible translations played a role in the development of Czech literature. The oldest Czech translation of the Psalms originated in the late 13th century and the first complete Czech translation of the Bible was finished around 1360. The first complete printed Czech Bible was published in 1488. The first complete Czech Bible translation from the original languages was published between 1579 and 1593. The Codex Gigas from the 12th century is the largest extant medieval manuscript in the world.
Czech-language literature can be divided into several periods: the Middle Ages; the Hussite period; the Renaissance humanism; the Baroque period; the Enlightenment and Czech reawakening in the first half of the 19th century, modern literature in the second half of the 19th century; the avant-garde of the interwar period; the years under Communism; and the Czech Republic.
The antiwar comedy novel The Good Soldier Švejk is the most translated Czech book in history.
The international literary award the Franz Kafka Prize is awarded in the Czech Republic.
The Czech Republic has the densest network of libraries in Europe.
Czech literature and culture played a 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.
Music
The musical tradition of the Czech lands arose from the first church hymns, whose first evidence is suggested at the break of the 10th and 11th centuries. Some pieces of Czech music include two chorales, which in their time performed the function of anthems: "Lord, Have Mercy on Us" and the hymn "Saint Wenceslaus" or "Saint Wenceslaus Chorale". The authorship of the anthem "Lord, Have Mercy on Us" is ascribed by some historians to Saint Adalbert of Prague (sv.Vojtěch), bishop of Prague, living between 956 and 997.
The wealth of musical culture lies in the classical music tradition during all historical periods, especially in the Baroque, Classicism, Romantic, modern classical music and in the traditional folk music of Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia. Since the early era of artificial music, Czech musicians and composers have been influenced the folk music of the region and dance.
Czech music can be considered to have been "beneficial" in both the European and worldwide context, several times co-determined or even determined a newly arriving era in musical art, above all of Classical era, as well as by original attitudes in Baroque, Romantic and modern classical music. Some Czech musical works are The Bartered Bride, New World Symphony, Sinfonietta and Jenůfa.
A music festival in the country is Prague Spring International Music Festival of classical music, a permanent showcase for performing artists, symphony orchestras and chamber music ensembles of the world.
Theatre
The roots of Czech theatre can be found in the Middle Ages, especially in the cultural life of the Gothic period. In the 19th century, the theatre played a role in the national awakening movement and later, in the 20th century, it became a part of modern European theatre art. The original Czech cultural phenomenon came into being at the end of the 1950s. This project called Laterna magika, resulting in productions that combined theater, dance, and film in a poetic manner, considered the first multimedia art project in an international context.
One drama is Karel Čapek's play R.U.R., which introduced the word "robot".
The country has a tradition of puppet theater. In 2016, Czech and Slovak Puppetry was included on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists.
Film
The tradition of Czech cinematography started in the second half of the 1890s. Peaks of the production in the era of silent movies include the historical drama The Builder of the Temple and the social and erotic drama Erotikon directed by Gustav Machatý. The early Czech sound film era was productive, above all in mainstream genres, with the comedies of Martin Frič or Karel Lamač. There were dramatic movies sought internationally.[citation needed]
Hermína Týrlová was a prominent Czech animator, screenwriter, and film director. She was often called the mother of Czech animation. Over the course of her career, she produced over 60 animated children's short films using puppets and the technique of stop motion animation.[citation needed]
Before the German occupation, in 1933, filmmaker and animator citation needed]
established the first Czech animation studio "IRE Film" with her husband Karel Dodal.[After the period of Nazi occupation and early communist official dramaturgy of socialist realism in movies at the turn of the 1940s and 1950s with fewer exceptions such as Krakatit or Men without wings (awarded by Palme d'Or in 1946), an era of the Czech film began with animated films, performed in anglophone countries under the name "The Fabulous World of Jules Verne" from 1958, which combined acted drama with animation, and Jiří Trnka, the founder of the modern puppet film. This began a tradition of animated films (Mole etc.).
In the 1960s, the hallmark of Czechoslovak New Wave's films were improvised dialogues, black and absurd humor and the occupation of non-actors. Directors are trying to preserve natural atmosphere without refinement and artificial arrangement of scenes. A personality of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s with original manuscript and psychological impact is František Vláčil. Another international author is Jan Švankmajer, a filmmaker and artist whose work spans several media. He is a self-labeled surrealist known for animations and features.
The Barrandov Studios in Prague are the largest film studios with film locations in the country. 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.
The Czech Lion is the highest Czech award for film achievement. Karlovy Vary International Film Festival is one of the film festivals that have been given competitive status by the FIAPF. Other film festivals held in the country include Febiofest, Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival, One World Film Festival, Zlín Film Festival and Fresh Film Festival.
Media
Czech journalists and media enjoy a degree of freedom. There are restrictions against writing in support of Nazism, racism or violating Czech law. The Czech press was ranked as the 40th most free press in the World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders in 2021.Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has its headquarters in Prague.
Czech Television is the country's national public television broadcaster. It operates a number of channels, including ČT1, ČT2, and the 24-hour news channel ČT24, as well as the news website ct24.cz. As of 2020, it is the most watched broadcaster, followed by the private TV Nova and Prima TV. However, TV Nova features the most watched main news program and prime time program. Other public media services include the Czech Radio and the Czech News Agency.
The best-selling daily national newspapers in 2020/21 are Blesk (average 703,000 daily readers), Mladá fronta DNES (average 461,000 daily readers), Právo (average 182,000 daily readers), Lidové noviny (average 163,000 daily readers) and Hospodářské noviny (average 162,000 daily readers).
Most Czechs (87%) read their news online, with Seznam.cz, iDNES.cz, Novinky.cz, iPrima.cz and Seznam Zprávy.cz being the most visited as of 2021.
Cuisine
This section needs additional citations for verification.(July 2023) |
Czech cuisine is marked by an emphasis on meat dishes with pork, beef, and chicken. Goose, duck, rabbit, and venison are served. Fish is less common, with the occasional exception of fresh trout and carp, which is served at Christmas. One popular Czech menu item is smažený vepřový řízek (fried breaded pork filet), served with boiled potatoes.
There is a variety of local sausages, wurst, pâtés, and smoked and cured meats. Czech desserts include a variety of whipped cream, chocolate, and fruit pastries and tarts, crêpes, creme desserts and cheese, poppy-seed-filled and other types of traditional cakes such as buchty, koláče and štrúdl.
Czech beer has a history extending more than a millennium; the earliest known brewery existed in 993. Today, the Czech Republic has the highest beer consumption per capita in the world. The pilsner style beer (pils) originated in Plzeň, where the world's first blond lager Pilsner Urquell is still produced. It has served as the inspiration for more than two-thirds of the beer produced in the world today. The city of České Budějovice has similarly lent its name to its beer, known as Budweiser Budvar.
The South Moravian region has been producing wine since the Middle Ages; about 94% of vineyards in the Czech Republic are Moravian. Aside from beer, slivovitz and wine, the Czech Republic also produces two liquors, Fernet Stock and Becherovka. Kofola is a non-alcoholic domestic cola soft drink which competes with Coca-Cola and Pepsi.
Sport
The most watched and most attended sport in the Czech Republic are football and ice hockey. The most watched sporting events are the Ice hockey at the Olympic Games and the Ice Hockey World Championships. The most popular sports in the Czech Republic according to the size of the membership base of sports clubs are: football, tennis, ice hockey, volleyball, floorball, golf, ball hockey, athletics, basketball and skiing.
The country has won 15 gold medals in the Summer Olympics and nine in the Winter Games. (See Olympic history.) The Czech ice hockey team won the gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics and has won (along with the Czechoslovakian team) thirteen gold medals at the World Championships, including three straight from 1999 to 2001.
The Škoda Motorsport is engaged in competition racing since 1901 and has gained a number of titles with various vehicles around the world. MTX automobile company was formerly engaged in the manufacture of racing and formula cars since 1969.
Hiking is a popular sport. The word for 'tourist' in Czech, turista, also means 'trekker' or 'hiker'. For hikers, thanks to the more than 120-year-old tradition, there is the Czech Hiking Markers System of trail blazing, that has been adopted by countries worldwide. There is a network of around 40,000 km of marked short- and long-distance trails crossing the whole country and all the Czech mountains.
See also
- List of Czech Republic-related topics
- Outline of the Czech Republic
Explanatory notes
References
- "Czech language". Czech Republic – Official website. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic. Archived from the original on 6 November 2011. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
- Citizens belonging to minorities, which traditionally and on a long-term basis live within the territory of the Czech Republic, enjoy the right to use their language in communication with authorities and in courts of law (for the list of recognized minorities see National Minorities Policy of the Government of the Czech Republic Archived 7 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Belarusian and Vietnamese since 4 July 2013, see Česko má nové oficiální národnostní menšiny. Vietnamce a Bělorusy Archived 8 July 2013 at the Wayback Machine). Article 25 of the Czech Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms ensures the right of the national and ethnic minorities to education and communication with the authorities in their own language. Act No. 500/2004 Coll. (The Administrative Rule) in its paragraph 16 (4) (Procedural Language) ensures that a citizen of the Czech Republic who belongs to a national or an ethnic minority, which traditionally and on a long-term basis lives within the territory of the Czech Republic, has the right to address an administrative agency and proceed before it in the language of the minority. If the administrative agency has no employee with knowledge of the language, the agency is bound to obtain a translator at the agency's own expense. According to Act No. 273/2001 (Concerning the Rights of Members of Minorities) paragraph 9 (The right to use language of a national minority in dealing with authorities and in front of the courts of law) the same also applies to members of national minorities in the courts of law.
- The Slovak language may be considered an official language in the Czech Republic under certain circumstances, as defined by several laws – e.g. law 500/2004, 337/1992. Source: http://portal.gov.cz Archived 10 April 2005 at the Wayback Machine. Cited: "Například Správní řád (zákon č. 500/2004 Sb.) stanovuje: "V řízení se jedná a písemnosti se vyhotovují v českém jazyce. Účastníci řízení mohou jednat a písemnosti mohou být předkládány i v jazyce slovenském ..." (§ 16, odstavec 1). Zákon o správě daní a poplatků (337/1992 Sb.) "Úřední jazyk: Před správcem daně se jedná v jazyce českém nebo slovenském. Veškerá písemná podání se předkládají v češtině nebo slovenštině ..." (§ 3, odstavec 1). http://portal.gov.cz
- "Národnost". Census 2021 (in Czech). Czech Statistical Office. Archived from the original on 15 January 2022. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
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- "Land use (as at 31 December)". Public database. Czech Statistical Office. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
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- "World Economic Outlook Database, October 2024 Edition. (Czechia)". www.imf.org. International Monetary Fund. 22 October 2024. Retrieved 9 November 2024.
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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 Plzen and Liberec Czech RepublicCeska republika Czech Flag Coat of armsMotto Pravda vitezi Czech Truth prevails Anthem Kde domov muj Czech Where My Home Is source source track track track track track track track track track track track track track track track track track track track track track track track track Show globeShow map of the European UnionLocation of the Czech Republic dark green in Europe green amp dark gray in the European Union green Legend Capitaland largest cityPrague 50 05 N 14 28 E 50 083 N 14 467 E 50 083 14 467Official languageCzechEthnic groups 2021 89 Czechs3 3 Moravians0 9 Slovaks0 7 Ukrainians2 1 other4 0 two nationalitiesReligion 2021 56 9 no religion11 7 Christianity 9 3 Catholicism 2 4 other Christian1 2 other30 1 unansweredDemonym s CzechGovernmentUnitary parliamentary republic PresidentPetr Pavel Prime MinisterPetr FialaLegislatureParliament Upper houseSenate Lower houseChamber of DeputiesEstablishment Duchy of Bohemiac 870 Kingdom of Bohemia1198 Czechoslovakia28 October 1918 Czech Republic1 January 1993Area Total78 871 km2 30 452 sq mi 115th Water 2 16 as of 2022 Population 2024 estimate10 900 555 85th 2021 census10 524 167 Density133 km2 344 5 sq mi 91st GDP PPP 2024 estimate Total 619 881 billion 46th Per capita 56 686 38th GDP nominal 2024 estimate Total 342 992 billion 47th Per capita 31 365 38th Gini 2023 24 4 low inequalityHDI 2022 0 895 very high 32nd CurrencyCzech koruna CZK Time zoneUTC 1 CET Summer DST UTC 2 CEST Date formatd m yyyyDrives onRightCalling code 420ISO 3166 codeCZInternet TLD cz 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 Mohacs 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 In the 19th century the Czech lands became more industrialized further in 1918 most of the country 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 etat 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 Visegrad Group EtymologyThe traditional English name Bohemia derives from Latin Boiohaemum which means home of the Boii a Gallic tribe The current English name ultimately comes from the Czech word Cech The name comes from the Slavic tribe Czech Cesi Cechove and according to legend their leader Cech who brought them to Bohemia to settle on Rip Mountain The etymology of the word Cech is uncertain but according to the most common derivation can be traced back to the Proto Slavic root cel meaning member of the people kinsman thus making it cognate to the Czech word clovek a person The country has been traditionally divided into three lands namely Bohemia Cechy in the west Moravia Morava in the east 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 Czechia and the lands of the Crown of Saint Wenceslaus 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 one country After Czechoslovakia dissolved on the last day of 1992 Cesko was adopted as the Czech short name for the new state and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic recommended Czechia for the English language equivalent This form was not widely adopted at the time leading to the long name Czech Republic being used in English in nearly all circumstances The Czech government directed use of Czechia as the official English short name in 2016 The short name has been listed by the United Nations and is used by other organizations such as the European Union NATO the CIA Google Maps and the European Broadcasting Union In 2022 the American AP Stylebook stated in its entry on the country that both Czechia and the Czech Republic are acceptable The shorter name Czechia is preferred by the Czech government If using Czechia clarify in the story that the country is more widely known in English as the Czech Republic HistoryPrehistory Left Venus of Dolni Vestonice dated to 29 000 25 000 BCE is the oldest ceramic figurine in the world Right the stone head of a Celt is the most valuable Celtic sculpture in Europe and dates to the 3rd century BCE Archaeologists have found evidence of prehistoric human settlements in the area dating back to the Paleolithic era citation needed In the classical era as a result of the 3rd century BC Celtic migrations Bohemia became associated with the Boii The Boii founded an oppidum near the site of modern Prague Later in the 1st century the Germanic tribes of the Marcomanni and Quadi settled there Slavs from the Black Sea Carpathian region settled in the area their migration was pushed by an invasion of peoples from Siberia and Eastern Europe into their area Huns Avars Bulgars and Magyars In the sixth century the Huns had 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 documented Slavic state in Central Europe Samo s Empire The principality of Great Moravia controlled by Moymir dynasty arose in the 8th century It reached its zenith in the 9th during the reign of Svatopluk I of Moravia holding off the influence of the Franks Great Moravia was Christianized with a role being played by the Byzantine mission of Cyril and Methodius They codified the Old Church Slavonic language the first literary and liturgical language of the Slavs and the Glagolitic script Bohemia The Crown of Bohemia within the Holy Roman Empire 1600 The Czech lands were part of the Empire in 1002 1806 and Prague was the imperial seat in 1346 1437 and 1583 1611 The Duchy of Bohemia emerged in the late 9th century when it was unified by the Premyslid dynasty Bohemia was from 1002 until 1806 an Imperial Estate of the Holy Roman Empire In 1212 Premysl Ottokar I extracted the Golden Bull of Sicily from the emperor confirming Ottokar and his descendants royal status the Duchy of Bohemia was raised to a Kingdom German immigrants settled in the Bohemian periphery in the 13th century The Mongols in the invasion of Europe carried their raids into Moravia but were defensively defeated at Olomouc After a series of dynastic wars the House of Luxembourg gained the Bohemian throne Efforts for a reform of the church in Bohemia started already in the late 14th century Jan Hus followers seceded from some practices of the Roman Church and in the Hussite Wars 1419 1434 defeated five crusades organized against them by Sigismund During the next two centuries 90 of the population in Bohemia and Moravia were considered Hussites The pacifist thinker Petr Chelcicky inspired the movement of the Moravian Brethren by the middle of the 15th century that completely separated from the Roman Catholic Church Battle between Hussites and crusaders during the Hussite Wars Jena Codex 15th century On 21 December 1421 Jan Zizka a successful military commander and mercenary led his group of forces in the Battle of Kutna Hora resulting in a victory for the Hussites He is honoured to this day as a national hero After 1526 Bohemia came increasingly under Habsburg control as the Habsburgs became first the elected and then in 1627 the hereditary rulers of Bohemia Between 1583 and 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 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 following era of 1620 to the late 18th century became known as the Dark Age During the Thirty Years War 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 the Great Plague of Vienna and an uprising of serfs The 1618 Defenestration of Prague marked the beginning of the Bohemian Revolt against the Habsburgs and therefore the first phase of the Thirty Years War There were peasant uprisings influenced by famine Serfdom was abolished between 1781 and 1848 Several battles of the Napoleonic Wars took place on the current territory of the Czech Republic The end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 led to degradation of the political status of Bohemia which 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 During the 18th and 19th century the Czech National Revival began its rise with the purpose to revive Czech language culture and national identity The Revolution of 1848 in Prague striving for liberal reforms and autonomy of the Bohemian Crown within the Austrian Empire was suppressed It seemed that some concessions would be made also to Bohemia but in the end the Emperor Franz Joseph I affected 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 disappointment of some Czech politicians The Bohemian Crown lands became part of the so called Cisleithania The Czech Social Democratic and progressive politicians started the fight for universal suffrage The first elections under universal male suffrage were held in 1907 Czechoslovakia The First Czechoslovak Republic comprised 27 of the population of the former Austria Hungary and nearly 80 of the industry In 1918 during the collapse of the Habsburg monarchy at the end of World War I the independent republic of Czechoslovakia which joined the winning Allied powers was created with Tomas Garrigue Masaryk in the lead This new country incorporated the Bohemian Crown The First Czechoslovak Republic comprised only 27 of the population of the former Austria Hungary but nearly 80 of the industry which enabled it to compete with Western industrial states In 1929 compared to 1913 the gross domestic product increased by 52 and industrial production by 41 In 1938 Czechoslovakia held 10th place in the world industrial production Czechoslovakia was the only country in Central and Eastern Europe to remain a liberal democracy throughout the entire interwar period Although the First Czechoslovak Republic was a unitary state it provided certain rights to its minorities the largest being Germans 23 6 in 1921 Hungarians 5 6 and Ukrainians 3 5 Prague during the 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia Western Czechoslovakia was occupied by Nazi Germany which placed most of the region into the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia The Protectorate was proclaimed part of the Third Reich and the president and prime minister were subordinated to Nazi Germany s Reichsprotektor One Nazi concentration camp was located within the Czech territory at Terezin north of Prague The vast majority of the Protectorate s Jews were murdered in Nazi run concentration camps The Nazi Generalplan Ost called for the extermination expulsion Germanization or enslavement of most or all Czechs for the purpose of providing more living space for the German people There was Czechoslovak resistance to Nazi occupation as well as reprisals against the Czechoslovaks for their anti Nazi resistance The German occupation ended on 9 May 1945 with the arrival of the Soviet and American armies and the Prague uprising Most of Czechoslovakia s German speakers were forcibly expelled from the country first as a result of local acts of violence and then under the aegis of an organized transfer confirmed by the Soviet Union the United States and Great Britain at the Potsdam Conference In the 1946 elections the Communist Party gained 38 of the votes and became the largest party in the Czechoslovak parliament formed a coalition with other parties and consolidated power A coup d etat came in 1948 and a single party government was formed For the next 41 years the Czechoslovak Communist state conformed to Eastern Bloc economic and political features The Prague Spring political liberalization was stopped by the 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia Analysts believe that the invasion caused the communist movement to fracture ultimately leading to the Revolutions of 1989 Czech Republic Vaclav Havel one of the most important figures in Czech history during the 20th century leader of the Velvet Revolution the last president of Czechoslovakia and the first president of the Czech Republic In November 1989 Czechoslovakia again became a liberal democracy through the Velvet Revolution However Slovak national aspirations strengthened Hyphen War and on 31 December 1992 the country peacefully split into the independent countries of the Czech Republic and Slovakia Both countries went through economic reforms and privatizations with the intention of creating a market economy as they have been trying to do since 1990 when Czechs and Slovaks still shared the common state This process was largely successful in 2006 the Czech Republic was recognized 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 Visegrad 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 Until 2017 either the centre left Czech Social Democratic Party or the centre right Civic Democratic Party led the governments of the Czech Republic In October 2017 the populist movement ANO 2011 led by the country s second richest man Andrej Babis won the elections with three times more votes than its closest rival the Civic Democrats In December 2017 Czech president Milos Zeman appointed Andrej Babis as the new prime minister In the 2021 elections ANO 2011 was narrowly defeated and Petr Fiala became the new prime minister He formed a government coalition of the alliance SPOLU Civic Democratic Party KDU CSL and TOP 09 and the alliance of Pirates and Mayors In January 2023 retired general Petr Pavel won the presidential election becoming new Czech president to succeed Milos Zeman Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine the country took in half a million Ukrainian refugees the largest number per capita in the world GeographyTopographic map The Czech Republic lies mostly between latitudes 48 and 51 N and longitudes 12 and 19 E 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 Krkonose range of the Sudetes The highest point in the country Snezka at 1 603 m 5 259 ft is located here Moravia the eastern part of the country is also hilly It is drained mainly by the Morava River but it also contains the source of the Oder River Czech Odra Water from the 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 meter 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 Western European broadleaf forests Central European mixed forests Pannonian mixed forests and Carpathian montane conifer forests There are four national parks in the Czech Republic The oldest is Krkonose National Park Biosphere Reserve and the others are Sumava National Park Biosphere Reserve Podyji National Park and Bohemian Switzerland The three historical lands of the Czech Republic formerly some countries of the Bohemian Crown correspond with the river basins of the Elbe 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 Koppen climate classification types of the Czech Republic using the 0 C isotherm Humid continental climate Subarctic climateKoppen climate classification types of the Czech Republic using the 3 C isotherm Humid continental climate Oceanic climate Subarctic climate The Czech Republic has a temperate climate situated in the transition zone between the oceanic and continental climate types with warm summers and cold cloudy and snowy winters The temperature difference between summer and winter is due to the landlocked geographical position Temperatures vary 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 Bily Potok in Jizera Mountains and the driest region is the Louny District to the northwest of Prague Another factor is the distribution of the mountains At the highest peak of Snezka 1 603 m or 5 259 ft the average temperature is 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 snow in the mountains and sometimes in the cities and lowlands During March April and May the temperature usually increases especially during April when the temperature and weather tends to vary during the day Spring is also characterized by higher 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 30 C 36 54 F higher than during winter Summer is also characterized by rain and storms Autumn generally begins in September which is still 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 Litvinovice near Ceske Budejovice in 1929 at 42 2 C 44 0 F and the hottest measured was at 40 4 C 104 7 F in Dobrichovice in 2012 Most rain falls during the summer Sporadic rainfall is throughout the year in Prague the average number of days per month experiencing at least 0 1 mm 0 0039 in of rain varies from 12 in September and October to 16 in November but concentrated rainfall days with more than 10 mm 0 39 in per day are more frequent in the months of May to August average around two such days per month Severe thunderstorms producing damaging straight line winds hail and occasional tornadoes occur especially during the summer period Biodiversity and conservation As of 2020 the Czech Republic ranks as the 21st most environmentally conscious country in the world in Environmental Performance Index It had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 1 71 10 ranking it 160th globally out of 172 countries The Czech Republic has four National Parks Sumava National Park Krkonose National Park Ceske Svycarsko National Park Podyji National Park and 25 Protected Landscape Areas The fauna of the Czech Republic includes a wide variety of animal species Some species especially endangered ones are bred in reserves Among the rare animals are for example eagles ospreys bustards and storks Government and politicsPresident Petr PavelPrime Minister Petr Fiala The Chamber of Deputies lower house of the Parliament of the Czech Republic The Czech Republic is a pluralist multi party parliamentary representative democracy The Parliament Parlament Ceske republiky is bicameral with the Chamber of Deputies Czech Poslanecka snemovna 200 members and the Senate Czech Senat 81 members 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 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 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 president is a formal head of state with limited and specific powers who 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 Vaclav Havel and Vaclav Klaus were both elected twice Since 2013 the president has been elected directly Some commentators have argued that with the introduction of direct election of the President the Czech Republic has moved away from the parliamentary system and towards a semi presidential one The Government s exercise of executive power derives from the Constitution The members of the government are the Prime Minister Deputy prime ministers and other ministers The Government is responsible to the Chamber of Deputies The Prime Minister is the head of government and wields powers such as the right to set the agenda for most foreign and domestic policy and choose government ministers Main office holders Office Name Party SincePresident Petr Pavel Independent 9 March 2023President of the Senate Milos Vystrcil ODS 19 February 2020President of the Chamber of Deputies Marketa Pekarova Adamova TOP 09 10 November 2021Prime Minister Petr Fiala ODS 28 November 2021Law Interior of the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic in Brno The Czech Republic is a unitary state with a civil law system based on the continental type rooted in Germanic legal culture The basis of the legal system is the Constitution of the Czech Republic adopted in 1993 The Penal Code is effective from 2010 A new Civil code became effective in 2014 The court system includes district county and supreme courts and is divided into civil criminal and administrative branches The Czech judiciary has a triumvirate of supreme courts The Constitutional Court consists of 15 constitutional judges and oversees violations of the Constitution by either the legislature or by the government The Supreme Court is formed of 67 judges and is the court of highest appeal for most legal cases heard in the Czech Republic The Supreme Administrative Court decides on issues of procedural and administrative propriety It also has jurisdiction over certain political matters such as the formation and closure of political parties jurisdictional boundaries between government entities and the eligibility of persons to stand for public office The Supreme Court and the Supreme Administrative Court are both based in Brno as is the Supreme Public Prosecutor s Office Foreign relations Visa free entry countries for Czech citizens in green EU in blue see citizenship of the European Union The Czech Republic has ranked as one of the safest or most peaceful countries for the past few decades It is a member of the United Nations the European Union NATO OECD Council of Europe and is an observer to the Organization of American States The embassies of most countries with diplomatic relations with the Czech Republic are located in Prague while consulates are located across the country The Czech passport is restricted by visas According to the 2018 Henley amp Partners Visa Restrictions Index Czech citizens have visa free access to 173 countries which ranks them 7th along with Malta and New Zealand The World Tourism Organization ranks the Czech passport 24th The US Visa Waiver Program applies to Czech nationals Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Prague The Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs have primary roles in setting foreign policy although the President also has influence and represents the country abroad Membership in the European Union and NATO is central to the Czech Republic s foreign policy The Office for Foreign Relations and Information UZSI serves as the foreign intelligence agency responsible for espionage and foreign policy briefings as well as protection of Czech Republic s embassies abroad The Czech Republic has ties with Slovakia Poland and Hungary as a member of the Visegrad Group as well as with Germany Israel the United States and the European Union and its members After 2020 relations with Asian democratic states such as Taiwan are being strengthened Conversely the Czech Republic has long had bad relations with Russia from 2021 the Czech Republic appears on Russia s official list of enemy countries The Czech Republic also has problematic relations with China Czech officials have supported dissenters in Belarus Moldova Myanmar and Cuba Famous Czech diplomats of the past included Jaroslav Lev of Rozmital Humprecht Jan Czernin Count Philip Kinsky of Wchinitz and Tettau Wenzel Anton Prince of Kaunitz Rietberg Prince Karl Philipp Schwarzenberg Alois Lexa von Aehrenthal Ottokar Czernin Edvard Benes Jan Masaryk Jiri Hajek Jiri Dienstbier Michael Zantovsky Petr Kolar Alexandr Vondra Prince Karel Schwarzenberg and Petr Pavel Military General Staff of the Army of the Czech Republic in Prague The Czech armed forces consist of the Czech Land Forces the Czech 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 Defence spending is approximately 1 28 of the GDP 2021 The armed forces are charged with protecting the Czech Republic and its allies promoting global security interests and contributing to NATO Currently as a member of NATO the Czech military are participating in the Resolute Support and KFOR operations and have soldiers in Afghanistan Mali Bosnia and Herzegovina Kosovo Egypt Israel and Somalia The Czech Air Force also served in the Baltic states and Iceland The main equipment of the Czech military includes JAS 39 Gripen multi role fighters Aero L 159 Alca combat aircraft AH 1Z Viper attack helicopters armored vehicles Pandur II BVP 2 and tanks T 72M4CZ and Leopard 2A4 Human rights Human rights in the Czech Republic are guaranteed by the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms and international treaties on human rights Nevertheless there were cases of human rights violations such as discrimination against Roma children for which the European Commission asked the Czech Republic to provide an explanation or the illegal sterilization of Roma women for which the government apologized People of the same sex can enter into a registered partnership in the Czech Republic Conducting same sex marriage is not legal under current Czech law Administrative divisions 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 and 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 The smallest administrative units are obce municipalities As of 2021 the Czech Republic is divided into 6 254 municipalities Cities and towns are also municipalities The capital city of Prague is a region and municipality at the same time Map of the Czech Republic with traditional regions and current administrative regionsMap with court districtsEconomyReal GDP per capita in the Czech Republic from 1973 to 2018The Czech Republic is part of the European Single Market and the Schengen Area dark and light blue on the map above but uses its own currency the Czech koruna The Czech Republic has a developed high incomeexport oriented social market economy based in services manufacturing and innovation that maintains a welfare state and the European social model The Czech Republic participates in the European Single Market as a member of the European Union and is therefore a part of the economy of the European Union but uses its own currency the Czech koruna instead of the euro It has a per capita GDP rate that is 91 of the EU average and is a member of the OECD Monetary policy is conducted by the Czech National Bank whose independence is guaranteed by the Constitution The Czech Republic ranks 12th in the UN inequality adjusted human development and 24th in World Bank Human Capital Index It was described by The Guardian as one of Europe s most flourishing economies As of 2023 update the country s GDP per capita at purchasing power parity is 51 329 and 29 856 at nominal value According to Allianz A G in 2018 the country was an MWC mean wealth country ranking 26th in net financial assets The country experienced a 4 5 GDP growth in 2017 The 2016 unemployment rate was the lowest in the EU at 2 4 and the 2016 poverty rate was the second lowest of OECD members Czech Republic ranks 27th in the 2021 Index of Economic Freedom 30th in the 2024 Global Innovation Index 29th in the Global Competitiveness Report and 25th in the Global Enabling Trade Report The Czech Republic has a diverse economy that ranks 7th in the 2016 Economic Complexity Index The industrial sector accounts for 37 5 of the economy while services account for 60 and agriculture for 2 5 The largest trading partner for both export and import is Germany and the EU in general Dividends worth CZK 270 billion were paid to the foreign owners of Czech companies in 2017 which has become a political issue 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 neighbors on 21 December 2007 Industry Skoda Octavia RS iV In 2018 update the largest companies by revenue in the Czech Republic were automobile manufacturer Skoda Auto utility company CEZ Group conglomerate Agrofert energy trading company EPH oil processing company Unipetrol electronics manufacturer Foxconn CZ and steel producer Moravia Steel Other Czech transportation companies include Skoda Transportation tramways trolleybuses metro Tatra heavy trucks the second oldest car maker in the world Avia medium trucks Karosa and SOR Libchavy buses Aero Vodochody military aircraft Let Kunovice civil aircraft Zetor tractors Jawa Moto motorcycles and Cezeta electric scooters Skoda Transportation is the fourth largest tram producer in the world nearly one third of all trams in the world come from Czech factories The Czech Republic is also the world s largest vinyl records manufacturer with GZ Media producing about 6 million pieces annually in Lodenice Ceska zbrojovka is among the ten largest firearms producers in the world and five who produce automatic weapons In the food industry Czech companies include Agrofert Kofola and Energy Dukovany Nuclear Power Station Production of Czech electricity exceeds consumption by about 10 TWh per year the excess being 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 came from renewable sources including hydropower The largest Czech power resource is Temelin Nuclear Power Station with another nuclear power plant in Dukovany The Czech Republic is reducing its dependence on highly polluting low grade brown coal as a source of energy Natural gas is purchased from Norwegian companies and as liquefied gas LNG from the Netherlands and Belgium In the past three quarters of gas supplies came from Russia but after the start of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine the government gradually stopped these supplies Gas consumption approx 100 TWh in 2003 2005 is almost double electricity consumption South Moravia has small oil and gas deposits Transportation infrastructure Vaclav Havel Airport Prague As of 2020 update the road network in the Czech Republic is 55 768 3 kilometers 34 652 82 mi long out of which 1 276 4 km 793 1 mi are motorways The speed limit is 50 km h 31 mph within towns 90 km h 56 mph outside of towns and 130 km h 81 mph on motorways The Czech Republic has one of the densest rail networks in the world As of 2020 update the country has 9 542 kilometers 5 929 mi of lines Of that number 3 236 km 2 011 mi is electrified 7 503 km 4 662 mi are single line tracks and 2 040 km 1 270 mi are double and multiple line tracks The length of tracks is 15 360 km 9 540 mi out of which 6 917 km 4 298 mi is electrified Ceske drahy the Czech Railways is the main railway operator in the country with about 180 million passengers carried yearly Maximum speed is limited to 160 km h 99 mph Vaclav Havel Airport in Prague is the main international airport in the country In 2019 it handled 17 8 million passengers In total the Czech Republic has 91 airports six of which provide international air services The public international airports are in Brno Karlovy Vary Mosnov near Ostrava Pardubice and Prague The non public international airports capable of handling airliners are in Kunovice and Vodochody Russia via pipelines through Ukraine and to a lesser extent Norway via pipelines through Germany supply the Czech Republic with liquid and natural gas Communications and IT Founders and owners of the antivirus group Avast The Czech Republic ranks in the top 10 countries worldwide with the fastest average internet speed 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 O2 Vodafone and internet provider U fon Government owned Cesky 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 privatization of Cesky Telecom helped drive down prices On 1 July 2006 Cesky Telecom was acquired by globalized company Spain owned Telefonica group and adopted the new name Telefonica O2 Czech Republic As of 2017 update VDSL and ADSL2 are offered in variants with download speeds of up to 50 Mbit s and upload speeds of up to 5 Mbit s Cable internet is gaining more popularity with its higher download speeds ranging from 50 Mbit s to 1 Gbit s Two computer security companies Avast and AVG were founded in the Czech Republic In 2016 Avast led by Pavel Baudis bought rival AVG for US 1 3 billion together at the time these companies had a user base of about 400 million people and 40 of the consumer market outside of China Avast is the leading provider of antivirus software with a 20 5 market share Tourism Medieval castle Karlstejn 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 the country s GNP and 9 of its overall export earnings The industry employs more than 110 000 people over 1 of the population Guidebooks and tourists reporting overcharging by taxi drivers and pickpocketing problems talk mainly about Prague though the situation has improved recently Since 2005 Prague s mayor Pavel Bem has worked to improve this reputation by cracking down on petty crime and aside from these problems Prague is a safe city The Czech Republic s crime rate is described by the United States State department as low The Czech Republic boasts 17 UNESCO World Heritage Sites 3 of them being transnational As of 2024 update further 13 sites are on the tentative list Cesky Krumlov Architectural heritage is an object of interest to visitors it includes castles and chateaux from different historical epochs namely Karlstejn Castle Cesky Krumlov and the Lednice Valtice Cultural Landscape There are 12 cathedrals and 15 churches elevated to the rank of basilica by the Pope as well as many monasteries Away from the towns areas such as Bohemian Paradise Bohemian Forest and the Giant Mountains attract visitors seeking outdoor pursuits The country is also known for its various museums puppetry and marionette exhibitions that take part within larger puppet festivals and beer festivals Aquapalace Prague in Cestlice is the largest water park in the country Science Chemist Jaroslav Heyrovsky Nobel Prize winner The Czech lands have a long and well documented history of scientific innovation Today the Czech Republic has a highly sophisticated developed high performing innovation oriented scientific community supported by the government industry and leading universities Czech scientists are embedded members of the global scientific community They contribute annually to multiple international academic journals and collaborate with their colleagues across boundaries and fields The Czech Republic was ranked 24th in the Global Innovation Index in 2020 and 2021 up from 26th in 2019 Historically the Czech lands especially Prague have been the seat of scientific discovery going back to early modern times including Tycho Brahe Nicolaus Copernicus and Johannes Kepler In 1784 the scientific community was first formally organized under the charter of the Royal Czech Society of Sciences Currently this organization is known as the Czech Academy of Sciences Similarly the Czech lands have a well established history of scientists including Nobel laureates biochemists Gerty and Carl Ferdinand Cori chemists Jaroslav Heyrovsky and Otto Wichterle physicists Ernst Mach and Peter Grunberg physiologist Jan Evangelista Purkyne and chemist Antonin Holy Sigmund Freud the founder of psychoanalysis was born in Pribor Gregor Mendel the founder of genetics was born in Hyncice and spent most of his life in Brno logician and mathematician Kurt Godel was born in Brno Eli Beamlines Science Center with the most powerful laser in the world in Dolni Brezany Historically most scientific research was recorded in Latin but from the 18th century onwards increasingly in German and later in Czech archived in libraries supported and managed by religious groups and other denominations as evidenced by historical locations of international renown and heritage such as the Strahov Monastery and the Clementinum in Prague Increasingly Czech scientists publish their work and that of their history in English The current important scientific institution is the already mentioned Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic the CEITEC Institute in Brno or the and centers with the most powerful laser in the world in Dolni Brezany Prague is the seat of the administrative center of the GSA Agency operating the European navigation system Galileo and the European Union Agency for the Space Programme DemographicsThe total fertility rate TFR in 2020 was estimated at 1 71 children per woman which is below the replacement rate of 2 1 The Czech Republic s population has an average age of 43 3 years The life expectancy in 2021 was estimated to be 79 5 years 76 55 years male 82 61 years female About 77 000 people immigrate to the Czech Republic annually Vietnamese immigrants began settling in the country 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 According to results of the 2021 census the majority of the inhabitants of the Czech Republic are Czechs 57 3 followed by Moravians 3 4 Slovaks 0 9 Ukrainians 0 7 Viets 0 3 Poles 0 3 Russians 0 2 Silesians 0 1 and Germans 0 1 Another 4 0 declared combination of two nationalities 3 6 combination of Czech and other nationality As the nationality was an optional item a number of people left this field blank 31 6 According to some estimates there are about 250 000 Romani people in the Czech Republic The Polish minority resides mainly in the Trans Olza region There were 658 564 foreigners residing in the country in 2021 according to the Czech Statistical Office with the largest groups being Ukrainian 22 Slovak 22 Vietnamese 12 Russian 7 and German 4 Most of the foreign population lives in Prague 37 3 and Central Bohemia Region 13 2 The Jewish population of Bohemia and Moravia 118 000 according to the 1930 census was nearly annihilated by the Nazi Germans during the Holocaust There were approximately 3 900 Jews in the Czech Republic in 2021 The former Czech prime minister Jan Fischer is of Jewish faith Nationality of residents who answered the question in the Census 2021 Nationality ShareCzech 83 76 Moravian 4 99 Czech and Moravian 2 50 Slovak 1 33 Ukrainian 1 08 Czech and Slovak 0 82 Vietnamese 0 44 Polish 0 37 Russian 0 35 Other 4 36 Largest cities vte Largest municipalities in the Czech Republic Czech Statistical OfficeRank Name Region Pop Rank Name Region Pop Prague Brno 1 Prague Prague 1 357 326 11 Zlin Zlin 74 191 Ostrava Plzen2 Brno South Moravian 396 101 12 Havirov Moravian Silesian 70 2453 Ostrava Moravian Silesian 283 504 13 Kladno Central Bohemian 68 4364 Plzen Plzen 181 240 14 Most Usti nad Labem 63 8565 Liberec Liberec 107 389 15 Opava Moravian Silesian 55 5126 Olomouc Olomouc 101 825 16 Frydek Mistek Moravian Silesian 54 1887 Ceske Budejovice South Bohemian 96 417 17 Jihlava Vysocina 52 5488 Hradec Kralove Hradec Kralove 93 506 18 Teplice Usti nad Labem 50 8439 Pardubice Pardubice 92 149 19 Karvina Moravian Silesian 50 17210 Usti nad Labem Usti nad Labem 91 963 20 Karlovy Vary Karlovy Vary 49 043 Religion Religion in the Czech Republic 2011 Undeclared 44 7 Irreligion 34 5 Catholicism 10 5 Believers not members of other religions 6 8 Other Christian churches 1 1 Protestantism 1 Believers members of other religions 0 7 Other religions Unknown 0 7 About 75 to 79 of residents of the Czech Republic do not declare having any religion or faith in surveys and the proportion of convinced atheists 30 is the third highest in the world behind those of China 47 and Japan 31 unreliable source The Czech people have been historically characterized as tolerant and even indifferent towards religion The religious identity of the country has changed drastically since the first half of the 20th century when more than 90 of Czechs were Christians Saint Wenceslaus left patron saint of the Czech lands Christianization in the 9th and 10th centuries introduced Christianity After the Bohemian Reformation most Czechs became followers of Jan Hus Petr Chelcicky and other regional Protestant Reformers Taborites and Utraquists were Hussite groups Towards the end of the Hussite Wars the Utraquists changed sides and allied with the Roman Catholic Church Following the joint Utraquist Roman Catholic victory Utraquism was accepted as a distinct form of Christianity to be practiced in Bohemia by the Roman Catholic Church while all remaining Hussite groups were prohibited After the Reformation some Bohemians went with the teachings of Martin Luther especially Sudeten Germans In the wake of the Reformation Utraquist Hussites took a renewed increasingly anti Catholic stance while some of the defeated Hussite factions were revived After the Habsburgs regained control of Bohemia the whole population was forcibly converted to Roman Catholicism even the Utraquist Hussites Going forward Czechs have become more wary and pessimistic of religion as such A history of resistance to the Roman Catholic Church followed It suffered a schism with the neo Hussite Czechoslovak Hussite Church in 1920 lost the bulk of its adherents during the Communist era and continues to lose in the modern ongoing secularization Protestantism never recovered after the Counter Reformation was introduced by the Austrian Habsburgs in 1620 Prior to the Holocaust the Czech Republic had a sizable Jewish community of around 100 000 There are many historically important and culturally relevant Synagogues in the Czech Republic such as Europe s oldest active Synagogue The Old New Synagogue and the second largest Synagogue in Europe the Great Synagogue Plzen The Holocaust decimated Czech Jewry and the Jewish population as of 2021 is 3 900 According to the 2011 census 34 of the population stated they had no religion 10 3 were Roman Catholic 0 8 were 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 The Muslim population is estimated to be 20 000 representing 0 2 of the population The proportion of religious believers varies significantly across the country from 55 in Zlin Region to 16 in Usti nad Labem Region Education and health care The oldest part of Charles University founded in 1348 Education in the Czech Republic is compulsory for nine years and citizens have access to a free tuition university education while the average number of years of education is 13 1 Additionally the Czech Republic has a relatively equal educational system in comparison with other countries in Europe Founded in 1348 Charles University was the first university in Central Europe Other major universities in the country are Masaryk University Czech Technical University Palacky University Academy of Performing Arts and University of Economics The Programme for International Student Assessment coordinated by the OECD currently ranks the Czech education system as the 15th most successful in the world higher than the OECD average The UN Education Index ranks the Czech Republic 10th as of 2013 update positioned behind Denmark and ahead of South Korea Health care in the Czech Republic is similar in quality to that of other developed nations The Czech universal health care system is based on a compulsory insurance model with fee for service care funded by mandatory employment related insurance plans According to the 2016 Euro health consumer index a comparison of healthcare in Europe the Czech healthcare is 13th ranked behind Sweden and two positions ahead of the United Kingdom CultureThis section needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section Unsourced material may be challenged and removed May 2023 Learn how and when to remove this message Art Spring Summer Autumn and Winter 1896 by Art Nouveau artist Alphonse Mucha Venus of Dolni Vestonice is an important example of prehistoric art unearthed in the Czech Republic Theodoric of Prague was a painter in the Gothic era who decorated the castle Karlstejn In the Baroque era there were painters Wenceslaus Hollar Jan Kupecky Karel Skreta Anton Raphael Mengs and Petr Brandl and sculptors Matthias Braun and Ferdinand Brokoff In the first half of the 19th century Josef Manes joined the romantic movement In the second half the so called National Theatre generation rose to prominence sculptor Josef Vaclav Myslbek and painters Mikolas Ales Vaclav Brozik Vojtech Hynais and Julius Marak At the end of the century came Art Nouveau with Alfons Mucha becoming its main representative He is known for his Art Nouveau posters and a cycle of 20 large canvases named the Slav Epic which depicts the history of Czechs and other Slavs As of 2012 update it can be seen in the Veletrzni Palace of the National Gallery in Prague which manages the largest collection of art in the Czech Republic Max Svabinsky was another Art Nouveau painter The 20th century brought an avant garde revolution represented in the Czech lands mainly by expressionists and cubists Josef Capek Emil Filla Bohumil Kubista or Jan Zrzavy Surrealism emerged particularly through the work of Toyen Josef Sima and Karel Teige In the world however the most well known Czech avant garde artist might be Frantisek Kupka a pioneer of abstract painting Illustrators and cartoonists to gain fame in the first half of the 20th century include Josef Lada Zdenek Burian or Emil Orlik Art photography became a new field represented by Frantisek Drtikol Josef Sudek later Jan Saudek and Josef Koudelka The Czech Republic is also known for its individually made mouth blown and decorated Bohemian glass Architecture Historic center of Prague The earliest preserved stone buildings in Bohemia and Moravia date back to the time of the Christianization in the 9th and 10th centuries Since the Middle Ages the Czech lands have been using the same architectural styles as 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 architects from France and Germany Matthias of Arras and Peter Parler to his court in Prague During the Middle Ages some fortified castles were built by the king and aristocracy as well as some monasteries The Renaissance style penetrated the Bohemian Crown in the late 15th century when the older Gothic style started to be mixed with Renaissance elements An example of pure Renaissance architecture in Bohemia is the Queen Anne s Summer Palace which was situated in the garden of Prague Castle Evidence of the general reception of the Renaissance in Bohemia involving an influx of Italian architects can be found in spacious chateaus with arcade courtyards and geometrically arranged gardens Emphasis was placed on comfort and buildings that were built for entertainment purposes also appeared In the 17th century the Baroque style spread throughout the Crown of Bohemia In the 18th century Bohemia produced an architectural peculiarity the Baroque Gothic style a synthesis of the Gothic and Baroque styles Czech artists developed a distinct cubist style in architecture and applied arts It later evolved into national Czechoslovak style rondocubism During the 19th century stands the revival architectural styles Some churches were restored to their presumed medieval appearance and there were constructed 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 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 Between World Wars I and II Functionalism with its sober progressive forms took over as the main architectural style After World War II and the Communist coup in 1948 art in Czechoslovakia became Soviet influenced The Czechoslovak avant garde artistic movement is known as the came up in the time of political liberalization of Czechoslovakia in the 1960s Brutalism dominated in the 1970s and 1980s The Czech Republic is not shying away from the more modern trends of international architecture an example is the Dancing House Tancici dum in Prague Golden Angel in Prague or Congress Centre in Zlin Literature Franz Kafka The literature from the area of today s Czech Republic was mostly written in Czech but also in Latin and German or even Old Church Slavonic Franz Kafka although a competent user of Czech wrote in his mother tongue German His works include The Trial and The Castle In the second half of the 13th century the royal court in Prague became one of the centers of German Minnesang and courtly literature The Czech German language literature can be seen in the first half of the 20th century Bible translations played a role in the development of Czech literature The oldest Czech translation of the Psalms originated in the late 13th century and the first complete Czech translation of the Bible was finished around 1360 The first complete printed Czech Bible was published in 1488 The first complete Czech Bible translation from the original languages was published between 1579 and 1593 The Codex Gigas from the 12th century is the largest extant medieval manuscript in the world Jaroslav Seifert winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature Czech language literature can be divided into several periods the Middle Ages the Hussite period the Renaissance humanism the Baroque period the Enlightenment and Czech reawakening in the first half of the 19th century modern literature in the second half of the 19th century the avant garde of the interwar period the years under Communism and the Czech Republic The antiwar comedy novel The Good Soldier Svejk is the most translated Czech book in history The international literary award the Franz Kafka Prize is awarded in the Czech Republic The Czech Republic has the densest network of libraries in Europe Czech literature and culture played a 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 Music Antonin Dvorak The musical tradition of the Czech lands arose from the first church hymns whose first evidence is suggested at the break of the 10th and 11th centuries Some pieces of Czech music include two chorales which in their time performed the function of anthems Lord Have Mercy on Us and the hymn Saint Wenceslaus or Saint Wenceslaus Chorale The authorship of the anthem Lord Have Mercy on Us is ascribed by some historians to Saint Adalbert of Prague sv Vojtech bishop of Prague living between 956 and 997 The wealth of musical culture lies in the classical music tradition during all historical periods especially in the Baroque Classicism Romantic modern classical music and in the traditional folk music of Bohemia Moravia and Silesia Since the early era of artificial music Czech musicians and composers have been influenced the folk music of the region and dance Czech music can be considered to have been beneficial in both the European and worldwide context several times co determined or even determined a newly arriving era in musical art above all of Classical era as well as by original attitudes in Baroque Romantic and modern classical music Some Czech musical works are The Bartered Bride New World Symphony Sinfonietta and Jenufa A music festival in the country is Prague Spring International Music Festival of classical music a permanent showcase for performing artists symphony orchestras and chamber music ensembles of the world Theatre The National Theatre left and the Estates Theatre right The roots of Czech theatre can be found in the Middle Ages especially in the cultural life of the Gothic period In the 19th century the theatre played a role in the national awakening movement and later in the 20th century it became a part of modern European theatre art The original Czech cultural phenomenon came into being at the end of the 1950s This project called Laterna magika resulting in productions that combined theater dance and film in a poetic manner considered the first multimedia art project in an international context One drama is Karel Capek s play R U R which introduced the word robot The country has a tradition of puppet theater In 2016 Czech and Slovak Puppetry was included on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists Film Hermina Tyrlova animator and film director The tradition of Czech cinematography started in the second half of the 1890s Peaks of the production in the era of silent movies include the historical drama The Builder of the Temple and the social and erotic drama Erotikon directed by Gustav Machaty The early Czech sound film era was productive above all in mainstream genres with the comedies of Martin Fric or Karel Lamac There were dramatic movies sought internationally citation needed Hermina Tyrlova was a prominent Czech animator screenwriter and film director She was often called the mother of Czech animation Over the course of her career she produced over 60 animated children s short films using puppets and the technique of stop motion animation citation needed Before the German occupation in 1933 filmmaker and animator cs established the first Czech animation studio IRE Film with her husband Karel Dodal citation needed After the period of Nazi occupation and early communist official dramaturgy of socialist realism in movies at the turn of the 1940s and 1950s with fewer exceptions such as Krakatit or Men without wings awarded by Palme d Or in 1946 an era of the Czech film began with animated films performed in anglophone countries under the name The Fabulous World of Jules Verne from 1958 which combined acted drama with animation and Jiri Trnka the founder of the modern puppet film This began a tradition of animated films Mole etc Oscar winning director Milos Forman In the 1960s the hallmark of Czechoslovak New Wave s films were improvised dialogues black and absurd humor and the occupation of non actors Directors are trying to preserve natural atmosphere without refinement and artificial arrangement of scenes A personality of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s with original manuscript and psychological impact is Frantisek Vlacil Another international author is Jan Svankmajer a filmmaker and artist whose work spans several media He is a self labeled surrealist known for animations and features The Barrandov Studios in Prague are the largest film studios with film locations in the country 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 The Czech Lion is the highest Czech award for film achievement Karlovy Vary International Film Festival is one of the film festivals that have been given competitive status by the FIAPF Other film festivals held in the country include Febiofest Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival One World Film Festival Zlin Film Festival and Fresh Film Festival Media Headquarters of Czech Television Czech journalists and media enjoy a degree of freedom There are restrictions against writing in support of Nazism racism or violating Czech law The Czech press was ranked as the 40th most free press in the World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders in 2021 Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty has its headquarters in Prague Czech Television is the country s national public television broadcaster It operates a number of channels including CT1 CT2 and the 24 hour news channel CT24 as well as the news website ct24 cz As of 2020 it is the most watched broadcaster followed by the private TV Nova and Prima TV However TV Nova features the most watched main news program and prime time program Other public media services include the Czech Radio and the Czech News Agency The best selling daily national newspapers in 2020 21 are Blesk average 703 000 daily readers Mlada fronta DNES average 461 000 daily readers Pravo average 182 000 daily readers Lidove noviny average 163 000 daily readers and Hospodarske noviny average 162 000 daily readers Most Czechs 87 read their news online with Seznam cz iDNES cz Novinky cz iPrima cz and Seznam Zpravy cz being the most visited as of 2021 Cuisine This section needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section Unsourced material may be challenged and removed July 2023 Learn how and when to remove this message A mug of Pilsner Urquell the first pilsner type of pale lager beer brewed since 1842 Czech cuisine is marked by an emphasis on meat dishes with pork beef and chicken Goose duck rabbit and venison are served Fish is less common with the occasional exception of fresh trout and carp which is served at Christmas One popular Czech menu item is smazeny veprovy rizek fried breaded pork filet served with boiled potatoes There is a variety of local sausages wurst pates and smoked and cured meats Czech desserts include a 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 kolace and strudl Czech beer has a history extending more than a millennium the earliest known brewery existed in 993 Today the Czech Republic has the highest beer consumption per capita in the world The pilsner style beer pils originated in Plzen where the world s first blond lager Pilsner Urquell is still produced It has served as the inspiration for more than two thirds of the beer produced in the world today The city of Ceske Budejovice has similarly lent its name to its beer known as Budweiser Budvar The South Moravian region has been producing wine since the Middle Ages about 94 of vineyards in the Czech Republic are Moravian Aside from beer slivovitz and wine the Czech Republic also produces two liquors Fernet Stock and Becherovka Kofola is a non alcoholic domestic cola soft drink which competes with Coca Cola and Pepsi Sport Hockey player Jaromir Jagr has the second most points in NHL history after Wayne Gretzky The most watched and most attended sport in the Czech Republic are football and ice hockey The most watched sporting events are the Ice hockey at the Olympic Games and the Ice Hockey World Championships The most popular sports in the Czech Republic according to the size of the membership base of sports clubs are football tennis ice hockey volleyball floorball golf ball hockey athletics basketball and skiing The country has won 15 gold medals in the Summer Olympics and nine in the Winter Games See Olympic history The Czech ice hockey team won the gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics and has won along with the Czechoslovakian team thirteen gold medals at the World Championships including three straight from 1999 to 2001 The Skoda Motorsport is engaged in competition racing since 1901 and has gained a number of titles with various vehicles around the world MTX automobile company was formerly engaged in the manufacture of racing and formula cars since 1969 Hiking is a popular sport The word for tourist in Czech turista also means trekker or hiker For hikers thanks to the more than 120 year old tradition there is the Czech Hiking Markers System of trail blazing that has been adopted by countries worldwide There is a network of around 40 000 km of marked short and long distance trails crossing the whole country and all the Czech mountains See alsoCzech Republic portalEurope portalList of Czech Republic related topics Outline of the Czech RepublicExplanatory notesCode 42 was shared with Slovakia until 1997 Also eu shared with other European Union member states tʃ ɛ k CHEK Czech Ceska republika ˈtʃɛskaː ˈrɛpublɪka ˈ tʃ ɛ k i e CHEK ee e Czech Cesko ˈtʃɛsko References Czech language Czech Republic Official website Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic Archived from the original on 6 November 2011 Retrieved 14 November 2011 Citizens belonging to minorities which traditionally and on a long term basis live within the territory of the Czech Republic enjoy the right to use their language in communication with authorities and in courts of law for the list of recognized minorities see National Minorities Policy of the Government of the Czech Republic Archived 7 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine Belarusian and Vietnamese since 4 July 2013 see Cesko ma nove oficialni narodnostni mensiny Vietnamce a Belorusy Archived 8 July 2013 at the Wayback Machine Article 25 of the Czech Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms ensures the right of the national and ethnic minorities to education and communication with the authorities in their own language Act No 500 2004 Coll The Administrative Rule in its paragraph 16 4 Procedural Language ensures that a citizen of the Czech Republic who belongs to a national or an ethnic minority which traditionally and on a long term basis lives within the territory of the Czech Republic has the right to address an administrative agency and proceed before it in the language of the minority If the administrative agency has no employee with knowledge of the language the agency is bound to obtain a translator at the agency s own expense According to Act No 273 2001 Concerning the Rights of Members of Minorities paragraph 9 The right to use language of a national minority in dealing with authorities and in front of the courts of law the same also applies to members of national minorities in the courts of law The Slovak language may be considered an official language in the Czech Republic under certain circumstances as defined by several laws e g law 500 2004 337 1992 Source http portal gov cz Archived 10 April 2005 at the Wayback Machine Cited Napriklad Spravni rad zakon c 500 2004 Sb stanovuje V rizeni se jedna a pisemnosti se vyhotovuji v ceskem jazyce Ucastnici rizeni mohou jednat a pisemnosti mohou byt predkladany i v jazyce slovenskem 16 odstavec 1 Zakon o sprave dani a poplatku 337 1992 Sb Uredni jazyk Pred spravcem dane se jedna v jazyce ceskem nebo slovenskem Veskera pisemna podani se predkladaji v cestine nebo slovenstine 3 odstavec 1 http portal gov cz Narodnost Census 2021 in Czech Czech Statistical Office Archived from the original on 15 January 2022 Retrieved 13 January 2022 Nabozenska vira Census 2021 in 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