The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The Czech Republic has a hilly landscape that covers an area of 78,871 square kilometers (30,452 sq mi) with a mostly temperate continental and oceanic climate. The capital and largest city is Prague; other major cities and urban areas include Brno, Ostrava, Plzeň and Liberec.
Franz Kafka was a German-speaking Bohemian Jewish novelist and writer from Prague. He is widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It typically features isolated protagonists facing bizarre or surrealistic predicaments and incomprehensible socio-bureaucratic powers. It has been interpreted as exploring themes of alienation, existential anxiety, guilt, and absurdity. His best known works include the novella The Metamorphosis and novels The Trial and The Castle. The term Kafkaesque has entered English to describe absurd situations like those depicted in his writing.
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Situated on the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.4 million people. The city has a temperate oceanic climate, with relatively warm summers and chilly winters.
The president of the Czech Republic, officially the President of the Republic, is the head of state of the Czech Republic and the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic.
Tomáš Halík is a Czech Catholic priest, philosopher, and theologian. He is a professor of sociology at the Charles University in Prague, pastor of the Academic Parish by St. Salvator Church in Prague, and president of the Czech Christian Academy.
Cyril Svoboda is a Czech politician, who was leader of the Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party (KDU–ČSL) in 2001–2003 and 2009–2010, and a member of the Chamber of Deputies in 1998–2010. During his political career he held several ministerial positions, including Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs. He founded the Diplomatic Academy in Prague in 2011 and is currently lecturing at several universities in Prague.
The Kingdom of Bohemia, sometimes referenced in English literature as the Czech Kingdom, was a medieval and early modern monarchy in Central Europe. It was the predecessor of the modern Czech Republic.
The Dancing House, or Ginger and Fred, is the nickname given to the Nationale-Nederlanden building on the Rašínovo nábřeží in Prague, Czech Republic. It was designed by the Croatian-Czech architect Vlado Milunić in cooperation with Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry on a vacant riverfront plot. The building was designed in 1992. The construction, carried out by BESIX, was completed four years later in 1996.
Hyalite is a transparent form of opal with a glassy lustre. It may exhibit an internal play of colors if natural inclusions are present. It is also called Muller's glass, water opal, and jalite. Müller's glass is named after its discoverer, Franz-Joseph Müller von Reichenstein.
František Janák is a Czech glass artist. He creates glass sculptures and commission works, and also does series production design for different Czech glassworks.
The University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague is the largest university specializing in chemistry in the Czech Republic. Though founded in 1952, UCT Prague has origins dating back to the early nineteenth century and Prague Polytechnic, a precursor to the present-day Czech Technical University in Prague, and, since that time, it has been one of the leading chemistry research universities in Central Europe. More than 3,600 students are accepted every year. In 2014, UCT Prague had 510 academic staff and 361 research staff.
Josef Beran was a Czech Roman Catholic prelate who served as the Archbishop of Prague from 1946 until his death and was elevated into the cardinalate in 1965.
The Night of Wenceslas is the debut novel of British thriller and crime writer Lionel Davidson. This Bildungsroman describes the reluctant adventures of Nicolas Whistler, a dissolute young man of mixed English and Czech parentage who finds himself caught up against his will in Cold War espionage. The novel won the Crime Writers' Association's Gold Dagger Award in 1960, and the Author's Club First Novel Award. It was filmed in 1964 under the title Hot Enough for June.
Smíchov is a district of Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, and is part of Prague 5. It is on the west bank of the Vltava river.
Max Švabinský was a Czech painter, draughtsman, graphic artist, and professor in Academy of Graphic Arts in Prague. Švabinský is considered one of the more notable artists in the history of Czech painting and produced significant work during the first half of the 20th century. He was relatively unusual among modernist artists in that his work was accepted by the communist regime; this was due at least in part to his having formed his artistic personality prior to 1900, prior to the advent of cubism. His work was part of the painting event in the art competition at the 1932 Summer Olympics.
Stanislav Libenský and Jaroslava Brychtová were Czech contemporary artists. Their works are included in many major modern art collections, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Victoria & Albert Museum.
Moser a.s. is a luxury glass manufacturer based in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic. The company is known for manufacturing stemware, decorative glassware, glass gifts and various art engravings. Moser is one of the most collected of 20th century decorative glass and has been used everywhere from palaces to local restaurants. From its beginnings in 1857, as a polishing and glass engraving workshop, it developed into a lead-free glass manufacturer lasting through the 20th century until the present. It is considered as the most luxurious Czech brand as well as one of the world's most famous brands of luxury crystal. Every piece of glass that is made by Moser is hand made.
The Church of Saint Wenceslas is a Roman Catholic church in Vršovice in Prague 10, Czech Republic. The church was built in 1930 as a commemoration of the 1,000th anniversary of the death of St. Wenceslas.
The national symbols of the Czech Republic are flags, heraldry, cultural expressions and other symbols that represent the Czech Republic, Czech people and their history, culture and nationhood. There are six official symbols which are declared in the Constitution of the Czech Republic. However many other historical, cultural and geographical symbols of the Czech republic and Czech people do exist.
Frederick Bachstein and his thirteen companions were a collective group of members, both priests and lay brothers, of the Order of Friars Minor, who were murdered by a group of Protestants in the early 17th century.
