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.[18][19][20] 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 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).[21]
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.[22] 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,[23] 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.[24]
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.[25] 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.[26] The short name has been listed by the United Nations[27] and is used by other organizations such as the European Union,[28]NATO,[29] the CIA,[30]Google Maps,[31] and the European Broadcasting Union.[32] 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."[33]
Left: Venus of Dolní Věstonice, dated to 29,000–25,000 BCE, is the oldest ceramic figurine in the world.[34] Right: the stone head of a Celt is the most valuable Celtic sculpture in Europe and dates to the 3rd century BCE.[35]
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.[36] The Boii founded an oppidum near the site of modern Prague.[37] Later in the 1st century, the Germanic tribes of the Marcomanni and Quadi settled there.[38]
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:[39]Huns, Avars, Bulgars and Magyars).[40] In the sixth century, the Huns had moved westwards into Bohemia, Moravia, and some of present-day Austria and Germany.[40]
During the 7th century, the Frankish merchant Samo, supporting the Slavs fighting against nearby settled Avars,[41] 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.[42] 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.[43]
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.
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.[49]
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.[50]
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.[51] The Habsburgs prohibited all Christian confessions other than Catholicism.[52] The flowering of Baroque culture shows the ambiguity of this historical period. Ottoman Turks and Tatars invaded Moravia in 1663.[53] In 1679–1680 the Czech lands faced the Great Plague of Vienna and an uprising of serfs.[54]
There were peasant uprisings influenced by famine.[55]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.[56] 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.[57]
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.[57] 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.[58]
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.[59] 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.[62] Czechoslovakia was the only country in Central and Eastern Europe to remain a liberal democracy throughout the entire interwar period.[63] 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%).[64]
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.[65] 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.[66] 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.[67]
In the 1946 elections, the Communist Party gained 38%[68] 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.[69] 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.
Václav 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",[70] and in 2009 the Human Development Index ranked it as a nation of "Very High Human Development".[71]
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.[72]
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.[73] In December 2017, Czech president Miloš Zeman appointed Andrej Babiš as the new prime minister.[74]
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 1,603m (5,259ft), 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.
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).
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.[80]
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 (1,603m or 5,259ft), 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.[81]
Most rain falls during the summer. Sporadic rainfall is throughout the year (in Prague, the average number of days per month experiencing at least 0.1mm (0.0039in) of rain varies from 12 in September and October to 16 in November) but concentrated rainfall (days with more than 10mm (0.39in) per day) are more frequent in the months of May to August (average around two such days per month).[82] Severe thunderstorms, producing damaging straight-line winds, hail, and occasional tornadoes occur, especially during the summer period.[83][84]
The Czech Republic is a pluralist multi-party parliamentaryrepresentative 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).[87] 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.[88] 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.[89] 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.[90] 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.[91]
The Czech Republic is a unitary state,[92] 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.[93] 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.[93] 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.[93] The Supreme Court and the Supreme Administrative Court are both based in Brno, as is the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office.[93]
The Czech Republic has ties with Slovakia, Poland and Hungary as a member of the Visegrád Group,[98] as well as with Germany,[99]Israel,[100] the United States[101] and the European Union and its members. After 2020, relations with Asian democratic states, such as Taiwan, are being strengthened.[102] 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.[103] The Czech Republic also has problematic relations with China.
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).[105] The armed forces are charged with protecting the Czech Republic and its allies, promoting global security interests, and contributing to NATO.
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,[107] for which the European Commission asked the Czech Republic to provide an explanation,[108] or the illegal sterilization of Roma women,[109] for which the government apologized.[110]
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.[112]
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 regions
Real 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.
Škoda Transportation is the fourth largest tram producer in the world; nearly one third of all trams in the world come from Czech factories.[133] The Czech Republic is also the world's largest vinyl records manufacturer, with GZ Media producing about 6 million pieces annually in Loděnice.[134]Česká zbrojovka is among the ten largest firearms producers in the world and five who produce automatic weapons.[135]
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.[136] Gas consumption (approx. 100 TWh in 2003–2005) is almost double electricity consumption. South Moravia has small oil and gas deposits.
As of 2020,[update] the road network in the Czech Republic is 55,768.3 kilometers (34,652.82mi) long, out of which 1,276.4km (793.1mi) are motorways.[137] The speed limit is 50km/h (31mph) within towns, 90km/h (56mph) outside of towns and 130km/h (81mph) on motorways.[138]
The Czech Republic has one of the densest rail networks in the world. As of 2020,[update] the country has 9,542 kilometers (5,929mi) of lines. Of that number, 3,236km (2,011mi) is electrified, 7,503km (4,662mi) are single-line tracks and 2,040km (1,270mi) are double and multiple-line tracks.[139] The length of tracks is 15,360km (9,540mi), out of which 6,917km (4,298mi) is electrified.[140]
České dráhy (the Czech Railways) is the main railway operator in the country, with about 180million passengers carried yearly. Maximum speed is limited to 160km/h (99mph).
Russia (via pipelines through Ukraine) and, to a lesser extent, Norway (via pipelines through Germany) supply the Czech Republic with liquid and natural gas.[144]
The Czech Republic ranks in the top 10 countries worldwide with the fastest average internet speed.[145] By the beginning of 2008, there were over 800 mostly local WISPs,[146][147] 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 50Mbit/s and upload speeds of up to 5Mbit/s. Cable internet is gaining more popularity with its higher download speeds ranging from 50Mbit/s to 1Gbit/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$1.3billion, together at the time, these companies had a user base of about 400 million people and 40% of the consumer market outside of China.[148][149] Avast is the leading provider of antivirus software, with a 20.5% market share.[150]
Prague is the fifth most visited city in Europe after London, Paris, Istanbul and Rome.[151] In 2001, the total earnings from tourism reached 118billion 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.[152] Guidebooks and tourists reporting overcharging by taxi drivers and pickpocketing problems talk mainly about Prague, though the situation has improved recently.[153][154] Since 2005, Prague's mayor, Pavel Bém, has worked to improve this reputation by cracking down on petty crime[154] and, aside from these problems, Prague is a "safe" city.[155] The Czech Republic's crime rate is described by the United States State department as "low".[156]
The Czech lands have a long and well-documented history of scientific innovation.[159][160] Today, the Czech Republic has a highly sophisticated, developed, high-performing, innovation-oriented scientific community supported by the government,[161] industry,[162] and leading universities.[163] Czech scientists are embedded members of the global scientific community.[164] They contribute annually to multiple international academic journals and collaborate with their colleagues across boundaries and fields.[165][166][167][168] The Czech Republic was ranked 24th in the Global Innovation Index in 2020 and 2021, up from 26th in 2019.[169][170][171]
Eli Beamlines Science Center with the most powerful laser in the world in Dolní Břežany
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.[178][179]
The total fertility rate (TFR) in 2020 was estimated at 1.71 children per woman, which is below the replacement rate of 2.1.[180] The Czech Republic's population has an average age of 43.3 years.[181] The life expectancy in 2021 was estimated to be 79.5 years (76.55 years male, 82.61 years female).[182] About 77,000 people immigrate to the Czech Republic annually.[183]Vietnamese immigrants began settling in the country during the Communist period, when they were invited as guest workers by the Czechoslovak government.[184] In 2009, there were about 70,000 Vietnamese in the Czech Republic.[185] Most decide to stay in the country permanently.[186]
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%).[2] According to some estimates, there are about 250,000 Romani people in the Czech Republic.[187][188] The Polish minority resides mainly in the Trans-Olza region.[189]
There were 658,564 foreigners residing in the country in 2021,[190] 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%).[191]
The Jewish population of Bohemia and Moravia, 118,000 according to the 1930 census, was nearly annihilated by the Nazi Germans during the Holocaust.[192] There were approximately 3,900 Jews in the Czech Republic in 2021.[193] The former Czech prime minister, Jan Fischer, is of Jewish faith.[194]
Nationality of residents, who answered the question in the Census 2021:[195][196]
About 75%[199] to 79%[200] 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%).[201][unreliable source?] The Czech people have been historically characterized as "tolerant and even indifferent towards religion".[202] 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.[203]
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.[204]
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),[205] 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.[198] 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%.[206] The Muslim population is estimated to be 20,000 representing 0.2% of the population.[207]
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 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.[214] Emphasis was placed on comfort, and buildings that were built for entertainment purposes also appeared.[215]
In the 17th century, the Baroque style spread throughout the Crown of Bohemia.[216]
In the 18th century, Bohemia produced an architectural peculiarity – the Baroque Gothic style, a synthesis of the Gothic and Baroque styles.[214]
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.[214]
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 Brussels style 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.[214]
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.[217][218] 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.[219]
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.[220]
The Czech Republic has the densest network of libraries in Europe.[221]
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.[222]
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".[223] 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.[224]
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.
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.
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.
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.[228] 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 Irena Dodalová[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 Jiří Trnka, the founder of the modern puppet film.[229] 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.[230]
The Barrandov Studios in Prague are the largest film studios with film locations in the country.[231] 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.[232]
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.[233]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.[234] 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).[235]
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.[239][240] One popular Czech menu item is smažený vepřový řízek (fried breaded pork filet), served with boiled potatoes.[241]
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.[242]
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.
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.[249]
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 40,000km of marked short- and long-distance trails crossing the whole country and all the Czech mountains.[250][251]
Bohemia is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohemian kings, including Moravia and Czech Silesia, in which case the smaller region is referred to as Bohemia proper as a means of distinction.
Moravia is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia.
The Sudetenland is the historical German name for the northern, southern, and western areas of former Czechoslovakia which were inhabited primarily by Sudeten Germans. These German speakers had predominated in the border districts of Bohemia, Moravia, and Czech Silesia since the Middle Ages. Since the 9th century the Sudetenland had been an integral part of the Czech state both geographically and politically.
The history of the Czech lands – an area roughly corresponding to the present-day Czech Republic – starts approximately 800 years BCE. A simple chopper from that age was discovered at the Red Hill archeological site in Brno. Many different primitive cultures left their traces throughout the Stone Age, which lasted approximately until 2000 BCE. The most widely known culture present in the Czech lands during the pre-historical era is the Únětice Culture, leaving traces for about five centuries from the end of the Stone Age to the start of the Bronze Age. Celts – who came during the 5th century BCE – are the first people known by name. One of the Celtic tribes were the Boii (plural), who gave the Czech lands their first name Boiohaemum – Latin for the Land of Boii. Before the beginning of the Common Era the Celts were mostly pushed out by Germanic tribes. The most notable of those tribes were the Marcomanni and traces of their wars with the Roman Empire were left in south Moravia.
The Czechs, or the Czech people, are a West Slavic ethnic group and a nation native to the Czech Republic in Central Europe, who share a common ancestry, culture, history, and the Czech language.
The Czech lands or the Bohemian lands is a historical-geographical term which, in a historical context, denotes the three historical regions of Bohemia, Moravia, and Czech Silesia out of which Czechoslovakia, and later the Czech Republic, were formed. Together the three have formed the Czech part of Czechoslovakia since 1918, and the Czech Republic since 1 January 1993.
Regions of the Czech Republic are higher-level territorial self-governing units of the Czech Republic.
Czech nobility consists of the noble families from historical Czech lands, especially in their narrow sense, i.e. nobility of Bohemia proper, Moravia and Austrian Silesia – whether these families originated from those countries or moved into them through the centuries. These are connected with the history of Great Moravia, Duchy of Bohemia, later Kingdom of Bohemia, Margraviate of Moravia, the Duchies of Silesia and the Crown of Bohemia, the constitutional predecessor state of the modern-day Czech Republic.
The Lands of the Bohemian Crown were the states in Central Europe during the medieval and early modern periods with feudal obligations to the Bohemian kings. The crown lands primarily consisted of the Kingdom of Bohemia, an electorate of the Holy Roman Empire according to the Golden Bull of 1356, the Margraviate of Moravia, the Duchies of Silesia, and the two Lusatias, known as the Margraviate of Upper Lusatia and the Margraviate of Lower Lusatia, as well as other territories throughout its history. This agglomeration of states nominally under the rule of the Bohemian kings was referred to simply as Bohemia. They are now sometimes referred to in scholarship as the Czech lands, a direct translation of the Czech abbreviated name.
The Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren (ECCB) (Czech: Českobratrská církev evangelická; ČCE) is the largest Czech Protestant church and the second-largest church in the Czech Republic after the Catholic Church. It was formed in 1918 in Czechoslovakia through the unification of the Protestant churches of the Lutheran and Calvinist confessions.
The Czech Republic's official long and short names at the United Nations are Česká republika and Česko in Czech, and the Czech Republic and Czechia in English. All these names derive from the name of the Czechs, the West Slavic ethnolinguistic group native to the Czech Republic. Czechia, the official English short name specified by the Czech government, is used by many international organisations.
The Catholic Church in the Czech Republic is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope, curia in Rome, and the Conference of Czech Bishops.
This article discusses the structure of football leagues in the Czech Republic. These leagues are organised by The Football Association of the Czech Republic (FAČR). Football is the most popular sport in the Czech Republic.
The history of the Jews in the Czech lands, historically the Lands of the Bohemian Crown, including the modern Czech Republic, goes back many centuries. There is evidence that Jews have lived in Moravia and Bohemia since as early as the 10th century. Jewish communities flourished here specifically in the 16th and 17th centuries, and again in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Local Jews were mostly murdered in the Holocaust, or exiled at various points. As of 2021, there were only about 2,300 Jews estimated to be living in the Czech Republic.
In the Czech Republic, 47.8% of population is irreligious, while 21.3% of the population are believers. 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. As of 2021, 11.7% of the population identified with Christianity ; 10.8% identified with other religious identities or beliefs. According to sociologist Jan Spousta, not all the irreligious people are atheists; indeed, since the late 20th century there has been an increasing distancing from both Christian dogmatism and atheism, and at the same time ideas and non-institutional models similar to those of Eastern religions have become widespread through movements started by various gurus, and hermetic and mystical paths.
Poland and the Czech Republic are both members of the European Union and of NATO. Both joined the EU simultaneously on 1 May 2004. They also both joined NATO on 12 March 1999. Both countries, together with Slovakia and Hungary, form the Visegrád Group, which is an important regional group in Central Europe. Both countries are also members of the Bucharest Nine, Three Seas Initiative, OECD, OSCE, Council of Europe and the World Trade Organization.
Czech Gothic architecture refers to the architectural period primarily of the Late Middle Ages in the area of the present-day Czech Republic.
The Bohemian Reformation, preceding the Reformation of the 16th century, was a Christian movement in the late medieval and early modern Kingdom and Crown of Bohemia striving for a reform of the Catholic Church. Lasting for more than 200 years, it had a significant impact on the historical development of Central Europe and is considered one of the most important religious, social, intellectual and political movements of the early modern period. The Bohemian Reformation produced the first national church separate from Roman authority in the history of Western Christianity, the first apocalyptic religious movement of the early modern period, and the first pacifist Protestant church.
The Unity of the Brethren is the ecclesiastical province of the Moravian Church in the Czech Republic. Due to a schism in the province in 2000, eight of its original congregations comprise the so-called Herrnhut Seniorate of the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren.
↑ Mlsna, Petr; Šlehofer, F.; Urban, D. (2010). "The Path of Czech Constitutionality"(PDF). 1st edition (in Czech and English). Praha: Úřad Vlády České Republiky (The Office of the Government of the Czech Republic). pp.10–11. Archived(PDF) from the original on 16 January 2013. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
↑ Čumlivski, Denko (2012). "800 let Zlaté buly sicilské" (in Czech). National Archives of the Czech Republic (Národní Archiv České Republiky). Archived from the original on 28 November 2012. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
↑ Dijk, Ruud van; Gray, William Glenn; Savranskaya, Svetlana; Suri, Jeremi; Zhai, Qiang (2013). Encyclopedia of the Cold War. Routledge. p.76. ISBN978-1135923112. Archived from the original on 22 November 2018. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
↑ "The Cambridge economic history of Europe: The economic organization of early modern Europe". E. E. Rich, C. H. Wilson, M. M. Postan (1977). p.614. ISBN0-521-08710-4
↑ Hlavačka, Milan (2009). "Formování moderního českého národa 1815–1914". Historický Obzor (in Czech). 20 (9/10): 195.
↑ Dijk, Ruud van; Gray, William Glenn; Savranskaya, Svetlana; Suri, Jeremi; Zhai, Qiang (2013). Encyclopedia of the Cold War. Routledge. p.76. ISBN978-1135923112. Archived from the original on 22 November 2018. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
↑ Rothenbacher, Franz (2002). The European Population 1850–1945. Palgrave Macmillan, London. p.145. ISBN978-1-349-65611-0.
↑ Brandmeir, Kathrin; Grimm, Michaela; Heise, Michael; Holzhausen, Arne. "Allianz Global Wealth Report 2018"(PDF). Archived(PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
↑ Klicperová-Baker, M.; Hoskovcová, S.; Heller, D. (2020). "Psychology in the Czech lands: Bohemia, Czechoslovakia, and the Czech Republic". International Journal of Psychology. 55 (2): 133–143. doi:10.1002/ijop.12607. PMID31304980. S2CID196613980.
↑ "NÁBOŽENSKÁ VÍRA OBYVATEL PODLE VÝSLEDKŮ SČÍTÁNÍ LIDU". Czech Statistical Office. 27 February 2014. Archived from the original on 13 May 2018. Retrieved 27 December 2017. Chapter 1. "Změny struktury obyvatel podle náboženské víry v letech 1991, 2001 a 2011"; table "Struktura obyvatel podle náboženské víry (náboženského vyznání) v letech 1991 – 2011": believers 20,8%; non-believers 34,5%; no declared religion 44,7%
↑ "Czechia". World Jewish Congress. Retrieved 16 May 2022.
↑ The Czechoslovak Hussite Church contains mixed Protestant, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and national elements. Classifying it as either one is disputable. For more details and dispute about this, see Czechoslovak Hussite Church.
↑ Kotalík, Jiří (2002). Architektura barokní (in Czech) (Deset století architekturyed.). Prague: Správa Pražského hradu a DaDa. p.13. ISBN978-80-86161-38-9.
↑ The chronicles of Beneš Krabice of Veitmil – the hymn "Svatý Václave" mentioned there as old and well-known at the end of the 13th century Archived 5 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine
↑ Dějiny české hudby v obrazech (History of Czech music in pictures); in Czech
↑ "Czech Music". 27 June 2007. Archived from the original on 2 January 2016. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
↑ Roberts, Andrew (2005). "řízek." From Good King Wenceslaus to the Good Soldier Švejk: A Dictionary of Czech Popular Culture. Budapest, Hungary: Central European University Press. p.143. ISBN978-1-4237-3585-4.
Angi, János (1997). "A nyugati szláv államok" [Western Slavic states]. In Pósán, László; Papp, Imre; Bárány, Attila; Orosz, István; Angi, János (eds.). Európa a korai középkorban[Europe in the Early Middle Ages] (in Hungarian). Multiplex Media – Debrecen University Press. pp.358–365. ISBN978-963-04-9196-9.
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