Discover CZ

 

Facts about the Czech Republic

 

History

Sovereigns, politicians and statesmen

• Charles IV – one of the most significant Czech sovereigns
• Rudolph II – passionate sponsor of science and the arts
• František Palacký – leading figure of the Czech National Revival
• Edvard Beneš – the second Czechoslovak president
• Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk – philosopher and the first Czechoslovak president

Thinkers

• Saint Wenceslas – patron of Bohemia
• Saint Adalbert (Vojtěch) – bishop and martyr
• Jan of Nepomuk – patron of Bohemia, confessors, millers and raftsmen
• Jan Hus – critic of clerical customs of the day
• Petr Chelčický – founder of the Unity of Brethren church (Jednota bratrská)
• Daniel Adam of Veleslavín – publisher and humanist known for contributions to the Czech language
• Jan Blahoslav – translator of the New Testament for the Kralice Bible
• Johan Amos Comenius – author of the modern conception of pedagogy and education
• Jehuda Liva ben Becalel (Rabbi Low) – Talmudic teacher and alleged creator of Golem
• Karel Havlicek Borovský – anti-absolutism satirist, journalist and critic
• Josef Dobrovský – scientist of the period of enlightment and the greatest figure of the Czech National Revival
• Josef Jungmann – initiator of Czech language's development during the Czech National Revival
• František Xaver Šalda – new concept of criticism as independent artistic expression
• Jan Patočka – philosopher and spokesman of Charter 77

Sportsmen

• Jaroslav Drobný – ice-hockey and tennis player, winner of Wimbledon in 1954
• Ivan Hlinka – triple world champion in ice hockey, member of the Ice Hockey Hall of Fame, or International Ice Hockey Foundation
• Eliška Junková – winner of the German Grand Prix in the vehicle category up to 3,000 c in 1927
• Emil Zátopek – quadruple Olympic winner in long-distance running

Architects and sculptors

• Matthias of Arras – designer and the first architect of the St. Vitus Cathedral in the area of the Prague Castle
• Petr Parléř – Gothic designer and master builder, second architect of St. Vitus Cathedral
• Matthias Bernard Braun – author of a sculptural group in Kuks Castle
• Jean-Baptiste Gaspard Debureau – one of the most significant figures from European pantomime in the 19th century
• Josef Václav Myslbek – one of the most important figures of Czech sculpture of the second half of the 19th century
• Jaromír Funke – functionalist photographer
• Otakar Dibíik – chief designer of the prestigioust Bonetto atelier
• Josef Gočár – promoter of functionalism
• Vladimír Preclík – internationally recognized sculptor

Musicians

• Pavel Josef Vejvanovský – the first Czech composer of Baroque instrumental music
• Antonín Dvořák – composer, author of Rusalka opera and 9th New World Symphony
• Bedřich Smetana – co-founder of Czech national music, author of e.g. The Bartered Bride
• Ema Destinnová – opera interpreter who also acted with Enrico Caruso
• Leoš Janáček – opera composer and author of e.g. Jenůfa (Her Step-Daughter)
• Bohuslav Martinů – composer of orchestral, chamber and concerto music

Painters and artists

• Mikoláš Aleš - one of the most significant representatives of Czech nationally oriented painting
• Petr Brandl - Czech painter of the mature Baroque
• Julius Mařák – leader of the school of landscape painters school at the Prague Academy
• Josef Augusta – painter and promoter of paleontology
• Vladimír Boudník – pioneer of Czech post-war abstract and action art
• Zdeněk Burian – elaborated scientifically based paintings of prehistorical animals and people 
• Jiří Kolář – poet and designer of worldwide-recognized collages
• František Kupka – pioneer of Czech abstract painting
• Mikuláš Medek – painter with an original visual metaphor for human existence
• Alfons Mucha – top painter and Art Nouveau graphic designer
• Josef Šíma – painter of Civilism and poeticism, later a surrealist
• Max Švabinský – top representative of monumental art, author of the window painting in St. Vitus' Cathedral
• Václav Hejna – painter and graphic artist who marked the Art Informel movement of the 1930s
• Josef Váchal – painter, graphic designer and illustrator, sculptor, woodcutter, prose and poetry writer
• František Drtikol – representative of modern photography 
• Josef  Sudek – founder of Czech modern photography
• Jitka Valová – painter and graphic designer
• Květa Valová – painter and graphic designer
• Jan Zrzavý – Czech painter, graphic designer, illustrator and set designer

Film and theater

• Vaclav Kliment Klicpera – playwright, author of conversational comedies
• Matěj Kopecký – patriarch of the Czech marionette tradition
• Ladislav Stroupežnický – author of the play Our Swaggerers (Naši furianti)
• Jan Nepomuk Štěpánek – dramaturgist of the National Theater
• Josef Kajetán Tyl – leading figure of the Czech theater art after the death of Jan Nepomuk Stepanek
• Vlasta Burian – one of the most popular Czech film stars
• Ladislav Fialka – founder of the Czech modern pantomime
• Hugo Haas – player who asserted himself also in American studios
• Gustav Machatý – one of the first international Czech directors
• Anny Ondra – leading woman character in the first Alfred Hitchcock film with sound, Blackmail
• Alfred Radok – author of the unique Laterna Magika project which connected theater and film arts 
• Josef Skupa – introduced a new type of puppets, the couple Spejbl and Hurvínek
• Jiří Trnka – director of puppet films, his Anderson’s Fairytales was declared the most beautiful book for children in France
• Hermína Týrlová – first lady of Czech animated film
• Vladislav Vančura – film director, author of Markéta Lazarová
• Eduard Vojan – great figure of Czech dramatic art
• Jiří Voskovec – member of the famous player-and-playwright duo dubbed V+W together with Jan Werich, star of the avant-garde Liberated Theater (Osvobozene divadlo)
• Jan Werich – star of the Liberated Theater (Osvobozene divadlo) together with Jiri Voskovec, universal dramatic player
• Miloš Kirschner – confirmed leading interpreter of the Spejbl and Hurvinek Theater
• Karel Zeman – leading representative of animated film with special effects

Scientists and pioneers

• Johan Gregor Mendel - founder of genetics
• Jan Jessenius – executor of the first public necroscopy of the human body
• Prokop Diviš – inventor of electropathy and the lightning conductor
• Jan Evangelista Purkyně – author of cell theory
• Josef Ressel – inventor of the screw propeller
• Emil Škoda – founder of Škoda works, one of the most significant machine works in Czechoslovakia
• Eduard Babák – researcher of oxygen's effect on somatic economy
• Tomáš Baťa – founder of the Baťa worldwide shoemaking industry
• Sigmund Freud – inventor of deep psychology
• Jaroslav Heyrovský – founder of the Czech polarographic school
• Emil Holub – physician and traveler, explored central Africa three times in the 19th century
• Frantisek Křižík – built the first electrified tram line to Stromovka 
• Ernst Mach – theoretically deduced and experimentally proved the existence of shock waves
• Otto Wichterle – inventor of silon (Czechoslovak version of nylon) and contact lenses

Writers and poets

• Cosmas – the first Czech historian, author of Cosmas' Bohemian Chronicle (Kosmova kronika česká)
• Bohuslav Hasištejnský of Lobkovice – writer from the humanist era
• Václav Hájek of Libočany – historian, author of The Bohemian Chronicle (Kronika česká)
• Adam Michna of Otradovice – one of the most significant Baroque poets
• Bohuslav Balbín – author of the "A Defense of the Slavic Language, Particularly Czech," a significant booster for the first wave of the Czech National Revival
• Svatopluk Čech – popular poet and prose writer
• František Ladislav Čelakovský – publisher of Slavonic songs and poems
• Václav Thám – author of the first neo-Czech poetical anthology 
• Karel Ignác Thám – author of the most popular defense of the Czech language at that time: “A Defence of the Czech Language against Its Mischievous Slanderers"
• Karel Jaromír Erben – poet and collector of folk literature 
• Alois Jirasek – author of an extensive novel works inspired by Hussitism
• Karel Hynek Mácha – the greatest Czech romantic poet
• Alois Mrštík – co-author of the famous realistic drama Maryša
• Vilém Mrštík – co-author of the famous realistic drama Maryša
• Božena Němcová – beloved Czech writer
• Jan Neruda – author of five short-story collections that constitute pillars of Czech poetry
• Otokar Březina – representative of Czech Modernism
• Karel Čapek – writer and philosopher
• Josef Čapek – poet, playwright, painter and illustrator, inventor of the word "robot" for his brother´s drama R. U. R.
• Jaroslav Hašek – author of the world-famous The Good Soldier Švejk (Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka)
• Bohumil Hrabal – author of poetic prose with grotesque fates of people
• Franz Kafka – writer of German-Jewish origin, author of short stories Metamorphosis and The Trial
• Vítězslav Nezval – original representative of poetics
• Jaroslav Seifert – recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1984
• Josef Václav Sládek – greatest translator of Shakespeare in the 19th century
• Jaroslav Vrchlický – Czech poet and translator

Militants

• Jan Žižka of Trocnov – radical Hussite commander
• Albrecht of Valdštejn – one of the richest Czech aristocrats, enemy of the king and owner of the biggest army