Portal:Czech Republic

Welcome to the Czech Portal!
Vítejte na Českém portálu!

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.

The Duchy of Bohemia was founded in the 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 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.

During the 19th century, the Czech lands underwent significant industrialization. Following the collapse of Austria-Hungary after World War I, most of the region became part of the First Czechoslovak Republic in 1918. 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 as the Third Czechoslovak Republic and three years later became an Eastern Bloc communist state following a coup d'état in 1948. Attempts to liberalize the government and economy were suppressed by a Soviet-led invasion of the country during the Prague Spring in 1968. In November 1989, the Velvet Revolution ended communist rule in the country and restored democracy. On 31 December 1992, Czechoslovakia was peacefully dissolved, with its constituent states becoming the independent states of the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

The Czech Republic is a unitary parliamentary republic and developed country with an advanced, high-income social market economy. It is a welfare state with a European social model, universal health care and free-tuition university education. It ranks 32nd in the Human Development Index. The Czech Republic is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the European Union, the OECD, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the Visegrád Group. (Full article...)

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The Holocaust in Bohemia and Moravia: Czech Initiatives, German Policies, Jewish Responses (German: Judenverfolgung im Protektorat Böhmen und Mähren. Lokale Initiativen, zentrale Entscheidungen, jüdische Antworten, "Persecution of Jews in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia: Local Initiatives, Central Decisions, Jewish Responses") is a book by the German historian Wolf Gruner on the Holocaust in Bohemia and Moravia, the Czech-majority parts of Czechoslovakia partially annexed into Nazi Germany during the German occupation of Czechoslovakia. Beginning before the Munich Agreement, Gruner's book covers the various stages of persecution of Jews which led to their deportation and murder. He argues that the role of Czech collaboration and local initiatives was greater than has been conventionally assumed, and also that Jewish resistance to persecution was substantial. The book has received mixed reviews; some Czech historians have disagreed with Gruner's conclusions while other reviewers generally praised the book with some reservations. The book was published in German in 2016 and in English and Czech in 2019. It received the 2017 Sybil Halpern Milton Memorial Book Prize of the German Studies Association. (Full article...)

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Panoramic view of Prague Castle

Photographer: Stefan Bauer; License: Creative Commons CC-BY-SA

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In this month

14 November 1960 – The deadliest rail disaster in Czech history takes place in Eastern Bohemia, resulting in 118 deaths
14 November 1918 – Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (pictured) becomes the first President of Czechoslovakia
17 November 1939 – Nazi Germany storms Czech universities, executing nine students and professors, later commemorated as International Students' Day
17 November 1989 – The Velvet Revolution starts in Prague, culminating in the end of 41 years of Communist rule in Czechoslovakia
24 November 1966 – The deadliest air disaster in Czechoslovakia takes place near Bratislava, killing all 82 on board

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Hašek in 2026

Dominik Hašek (Czech: [ˈdomɪnɪk ˈɦaʃɛk], audio; born 29 January 1965) is a Czech former professional ice hockey player who was a goaltender for 16 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL), mostly for the Buffalo Sabres. Widely considered to be among the greatest goaltenders in history, Hašek also played for the Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, and Ottawa Senators in his NHL career before finishing his career in Europe. While in Buffalo, he became one of the league's finest goaltenders, earning him the nickname "the Dominator". His strong play has been credited with establishing European goaltenders in a league previously dominated by North Americans. He is a two-time Stanley Cup champion, both with the Red Wings, winning his first as the starting goaltender in his first season with the team in 2002, and his second in 2008 as the team's backup in his last NHL season.

Hašek was one of the league's most successful goaltenders of the 1990s and early 2000s. From 1993 to 2001, he won six Vezina Trophies, the most under the award's current system of voting for the best individual goaltender. In 1998 he won his second consecutive Hart Memorial Trophy, the only goaltender to win that award more than once. During the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, he led the Czech national ice hockey team to its first and only Olympic gold medal. The feat made him a popular figure in his home country and prompted hockey legend Wayne Gretzky to call him "the best player in the game". While with the Red Wings in 2002, Hašek became the first European-trained starting goaltender to win the Stanley Cup. In the process, he set a record for shutouts in a postseason year. (Full article...)

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Did you know?

... that in 2005 UNESCO proclaimed the Moravian male recruit dance verbuňk as part of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Mankind?
... that the report Public Finance Balance of Smoking in the Czech Republic found that the "effect of smoking on the public finance balance in the Czech Republic in 1999 was positive"?
... that, having played 465 league matches, Jaroslav Šilhavý holds the record for the most appearances in top-flight Czech football?
... that Josef Jiří Kolár was the first to begin a systematic translation of Shakespeare's plays into Czech?

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General images

The following are images from various Czech Republic-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Monument to Master Jan Hus, a religious reformer and philosopher in Prague (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 2Semi-detached villa in Brno by Otto Eisler, according to MoMA's Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson, is a defining building of the International style. (from Czech architecture)
Image 3Fried bramboráky (potato pancakes) (from Czech cuisine)
Image 4Obložené chlebíčky, a type of snack or appetizer (from Czech cuisine)
Image 5Large-scale protected areas of the Czech Republic: national parks (brown) and protected landscape areas (green) (from Protected areas of the Czech Republic)
Image 6Iconic brutalist Transgas building, demolished in 2019 (from Czech architecture)
Image 7Stone sculpture of a Celtic man, found in Mšecké Žehrovice (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 8Detailed map of Bohemia, 1742 (from Bohemia)
Image 9Library of Clementinum, a former Jesuit College, built in 1722 (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 10Russian occupation in 1968 (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 11Řežabinec National Nature Monument (from Protected areas of the Czech Republic)
Image 12Fried Edam cheese (Smažený sýr) with potatoes and tartar sauce (from Czech cuisine)
Image 13Bohemian city Karlovy Vary (from Bohemia)
Image 14Cubist lamp by Emil Králíček, Jungmannovo náměstí, next to the Gothic Church of Our Lady of the Snows (Prague) (from Czech architecture)
Image 15Municipal House (from Czech architecture)
Image 16Bohemia as the heart of Europa regina; Sebastian Münster, Basel, 1570 (from Bohemia)
Image 17A panorama of Zittau (from Bohemia)
Image 18Cubist architecture in Prague (from Czech architecture)
Image 19The coat of arms of the Přemyslid dynasty (until 1253–1262) (from Bohemia)
Image 20Dacian Influence over Bohemia (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 21Svíčková na smetaně (marinated tenderloin), served here with dumplings and cream (from Czech cuisine)
Image 22A "traditional Bohemian platter" at a restaurant in central Prague, consisting of roast duck, roast pork, beer sausage, smoked meat, red and white cabbage, bread, bacon and potato dumplings (from Czech cuisine)
Image 23The First Czechoslovak Republic (1918–1938) (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 24King George of Podebrady, one of the first promoters of united Europe (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 25Saint Wenceslaus, Czech prince (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 26The National Theater from 1881 (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 27Grand Café Orient in Prague (from Czech architecture)
Image 28Bohemia (westernmost area) in Czechoslovakia 1918–1938 (from Bohemia)
Image 29Europe after the Congress of Vienna in 1815 (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 30St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague Castle, John of Luxembourg laid the foundation stone in 1344 (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 31Vladislaus Hall at the Prague Castle, built from 1490 to 1502 by Benedikt Rejt (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 32Duchy of Bohemia, c. 1029 (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 33Czech kings Ottokar II, Wenceslaus II and Wenceslaus III from the Přemyslid dynasty (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 34Rotunda of St. George from the beginning of the 12th century on Mount Říp (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 35Beheading of 27 Bohemian nobles at the Old Town Square in Prague, 1621 (contemporary illustration) (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 36An 1892 map showing Bohemia proper outlined in pink, Moravia in yellow, and Austrian Silesia in orange (from Bohemia)
Image 37The coat of arms of the Kingdom of Bohemia (from Bohemia)
Image 38The extent of the Protestant Reformation (1545–1620) (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 39Writer Božena Němcová (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 40Venus of Dolní Věstonice, the oldest ceramic article in the world (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 41Prague-style beef goulash (from Czech cuisine)
Image 42Entrance to Moravian Karst PLA (from Protected areas of the Czech Republic)
Image 43Korozluky Castle (from Czech architecture)
Image 44Emperor and King Charles IV. Luxembourg (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 45Adria Palace (Prague) (from Czech architecture)
Image 46Frgál, a type of koláč baked in Moravian Wallachia (from Czech cuisine)
Image 47Václav Havel, playwright, dissident and president from 1989 to 2003 (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 48Territories ruled by Ottokar II of Bohemia in 1273 (from History of the Czech lands)
Image 49Zelňačka (cabbage soup) (from Czech cuisine)
Image 50Pilsner Urquell in a branded mug (from Czech cuisine)

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Topics

Czech lands: Bohemia • Moravia • Czech Silesia

History: Únětice culture • Boii • Marcomanni • Samo • Great Moravia • Přemyslid dynasty • Lands of the Bohemian Crown • Czech lands (1526–1648) • 1648–1867 • 1867–1918) • Czechoslovakia • Czech Republic

Geography: Lakes • Protected areas • Regions • Rivers

Law: Judiciary • Law enforcement • Supreme Court of the Czech Republic

Politics: Administrative divisions • Government • Constitution • Elections • Foreign relations • Army • Parliament • Political parties • President • Prime Minister

Economy: Banks • Czech koruna • Energy • Oil and gas deposits • Stock Exchange • Tourism • Transport

Culture: Architecture • Art • Cinema • Cuisine • Demographics • Education • Language • Literature • Media • Music • Philosophy • Prostitution • Public holidays • Religion • Sport • Television • Video games

Symbols: Flag • Coat of arms • National anthem (Kde domov můj)

Lists: Outline of the Czech Republic • List of Czech Republic–related topics

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WikiProjects

WikiProject Czech Republic

WikiProject Europe

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Featured and good content

	Featured articles		Dominik Hašek • Earth-grazing meteoroid of 13 October 1990 • Franz Kafka • Gustav Mahler • Emanuel Moravec • Siegfried Lederer's escape from Auschwitz • Bedřich Smetana • The Holocaust in Bohemia and Moravia • The Bartered Bride • UEFA Euro 1976 final
	Good articles		Arijský boj • Milan Baroš • Beer • Patrik Berger • Bohemia Interactive • The Brothers Grimm (film) • Soňa Červená • Czech language • FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 • Flossenbürg concentration camp • Elena Gorolová • Government Army (Bohemia and Moravia) • Green Cadres • Gun law in the Czech Republic • Reinhard Heydrich • Fredy Hirsch • The Holocaust in Bohemia and Moravia (book) • ISU Junior Grand Prix in the Czech Republic • Leoš Janáček • Vojtěch Jarník • Jojo Rabbit • Antonín Kinský (footballer, born 1975) • Vlastimil Koubek • Lada (mythology) • Ladronka • Leitmeritz concentration camp • Letov Š-10 • Vratislav Lokvenc • Lubricating tram 5572 • Pavel Mareš • Libor Michálek • Martin Miller (actor) • Pavel Nedvěd • Normandy landings • Panzer 35(t) • Prague uprising • The Precious Legacy • Randy Blythe manslaughter case • Vladimír Remek • Tomáš Rosický • Maurice Rossel • Škoda 26 T • Solomon, King of Hungary • Squat Milada • Squatting in the Czech Republic • Tatra K5 • The Holocaust in the Sudetenland • Theresienstadt (1944 film) • Theresienstadt Ghetto • Theresienstadt Ghetto and the Red Cross • Trans-Olza • Uherský Brod shooting • Emil Utitz • Antonín Vězda • Markéta Vondroušová • Wanted (2008 film) • Zdeňka Wiedermannová-Motyčková • Winton Train • World War II • Zbrojovka Z 4