Discover the Czech Republic

There are many clichés about the Czech Republic – for example that it is in the heart of Europe, or that locals are a nation of beer-lovers, or that we love to watch our national ice hockey team to play. There is however much more to the Czech Republic than that – rich history full of famous figures, art pieces, inventions and events. From the past until today.

Czech Republic in numbers

The Czech Republic is in the middle of Europe not just because of its location, but also because of its size with the area of 78 000 square km. The biggest city in the country is at the same time its capital. It is one of the most beautiful and most visited cities in the world, Prague. Prague has one million inhabitants, and its unique historic center is part of the UNESCO heritage also for its medieval sights. Similar is the situation of other Czech towns like for example Český Krumlov, Telč, Kroměříž, Kutná Hora and many more.

There is an important anniversary ahead of our country next year. It will celebrate 100 years of its independent history which it began as the formerly known Czechoslovakia. The recent past is also rich for significant milestones. One of them is the Velvet Revolution in 1989 when the Czechoslovakia became free and democratic country after the period of Communist regime. At that time, it had one of the most famous Czech people as its leader, president Václav Havel. Next, 1993 was the year of the split of Czech Republic from the Slovak Republic and the foundation of the independent Czech Republic. The Czech Republic has been a member of NATO since 1999 and an EU member state since 2004.

Czech tops and first places

Not just significant milestones, but also many top scores and first places are in the history of the Czech Republic. The really first one dates back to prehistory when 28 000 years ago, a ceramic statuette of a woman was made in the location of today´s Czech Republic. It became the oldest artefact of its kind in the world.

The Czech Republic is also proud for its biggest castle complex in the world which is the Prague´s Castle. It had been the seat of Czech nobility since the 9th century, later the residence of the kings, and since 1918 it has been the home of our presidents.

We can claim the first place in the journey to the Moon. It was not the crew, as the first Czech in the space was third in reality. However, the first song played on the Moon was the New World Symphony by Antonín Dvořák.

We are not famous only for our art. Our people are keen technicians and inventors as well. We go so far in our passion that we invent words for new technologies as we did when the Czech writer Karel Čapek invented the term “robot“ in his book “R.U.R“.

When it comes to words, do you know who you should thank for the possibility to take of your glasses and still be able to read? Yes, to the Czech scientist Otto Wichterle who invented the contact lenses, and also silon, a material used not only for the manufacturing of women´s stockings.

The Czech Republic has its “Number One” also among the world politics as Madeleine Albright was the first woman in the USA history to become the head of the United States Department of State.

Czech figures and successes

The Czech Republic has always been rewarded for its successes throughout the history. We have two figures who received the prestigious Nobel Prize. In 1959, it was in science for the Czech, Jaroslav Heyrovský, who discovered the polarography technique, and in 1984, it was the Czech writer, poet, and translator, Jaroslav Seifert, who received the Nobel Prize for literature.

The Czech film industry is also very successful. Our filmmakers had six nominations for the Oscar, and won three Oscars for the international movie – “Obchod na Korze“ in 1965, “Ostře sledované vlaky“ in 1967, and “Kolja“ in 1996. The most successful Czech film maker is Miloš Forman who directed the legendary “Hair“, “Flight over the Cuckoo´s Nest“, or “Amadeus“. Not only the film industry has made us proud. The automotive producers are leaders of the Czech economy at the present. Take for example ŠKODA which is by the way the third oldest car producer in the world.

We cannot forget the Czech sport successes which are famous world-wide. Yes, in this case the cliché „Czechs – a nation of sportsmen“ really counts. Among the most successful is definitely the gymnast, Věra Čáslavská, who won seven gold Olympic medals, and the original runner Emil Zátopek who won four. Our women runner, Jarmila Kratochvílová, has held the world record in 800 m run since 1983, this is the longest valid record in the history of women´s athletics. And of course, who would not know the top ice hockey player, Jaromír Jágr, who currently holds the second place among point leaders in the historical statistics of the NHL. We could enumerate many others, but for the football community would probably the name of Pavel Nedvěd ring a bell. He is one of the best 125 players of the world, who were selected by Pelé to mark FIFA's 100th anniversary.

The name of the Czech Republic resonates also in the world of architecture and design. Gothic cathedrals, baroque palaces, samples of art noveau, functionalism, the unique cubism, but also brutalism of the 70´s attract the tourists from around the world into the Czech Republic. The Czech design proved its top quality many times, for example, at the Expo 58, we gave the name to a new style – the Brussels style.

Czech art found its way into the world galleries thanks to artists like Alphonso Mucha, František Kupka, Toyen, or Jan Saudek.

We could go on and on to enumerate all the Czech successes and famous people. You definitely heard about Milan Kundera, Ivan Lendl, Tomáš Baťa, Martina Navrátilová, Bohdan Pomahač ...