information about czech and prague

[cupida s.r.o.]

Czech Information

The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe.The country borders Poland to the northeast, Germany to the west and northwest, Austria to the south and Slovakia to the east. The Czech Republic has been a member of NATO since 1999 and of the European Union since 2004. The Czech Republic is also a member of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). As an OSCE participating State, the Czech Republic�s international commitments are subject to monitoring under the mandate of the U.S. Helsinki Commission. From 1 January 2009 to 30 June 2009, the Czech Republic held the Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

The Czech state or Bohemia (Lands of the Bohemian Crown) as it was known until 1918 was formed in the late 9th century. The country reached its greatest territorial extent during the 13th and 14th century under the rule of the Přemyslid and Luxembourg dynasties. Following the Battle of Moh�cs in 1526, the Kingdom of Bohemia was integrated into the Habsburg monarchy as one of its three principal parts alongside Austria and Hungary. The independent Republic of Czechoslovakia was formed in 1918, following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian empire after World War I. After the Munich Agreement, Polish and German occupation of Czechoslovakia and the consequent disillusion with the Western response and gratitude for the liberation of the major portion of Czechoslovakia by the Red Army, the Communist party won plurality (38%) in the 1946 elections.

In a 1948 coup d'�tat, Czechoslovakia became a communist-ruled state. In 1968, the increasing dissatisfaction culminated in attempts to reform the communist regime. The events, known as the Prague Spring of 1968, ended with an invasion by the armies of the Warsaw Pact countries (with the exception of Romania); the troops remained in the country until the 1989 Velvet Revolution, when the communist regime collapsed. On 1 January 1993, Czechoslovakia peacefully dissolved into its constituent states, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

The Czech Republic is a pluralist multi-party parliamentary representative democracy. President V�clav Klaus is the current head of state. The Prime Minister is the head of government . The Parliament has two chambers: the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. It is also a member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Council of Europe and the Visegr�d Group.

The Czech Republic made economic reforms such as fast privatizations. Annual gross domestic product growth has been around 6% until the outbreak of the recent global economic crisis. The country is the first former member of the Comecon to achieve the status of a developed country according to the World Bank (2006)[8] and the Human Development Index (2009),[9] which ranks it as a "Very High Human Development" nation.
The current Czech Republic comprises three historical lands: Bohemia (Čechy) in the West, Moravia (Morava) in the South-East, and Czech Silesia (Slezsko; the smaller, south-eastern part of historical Silesia, most of which is located within modern Poland) in the North-East. Jointly, these 3 parts can be described as "Czech lands", with Czech language being spoken in all three. When the Czech nation regained its independence in 1918, the new state of Czechoslovakia was constituted to reflect the union of the Czech and Slovak territories that were merged together after the WWI (in addition, a small part of Western Ukraine was included as well).

The word Czech itself came into English later via Polish.[10] The current English spelling is the same as an antiquated Czech spelling, however it is unlike the modern Čechy and Česko. This discrepancy arises from a 15th century reform of Czech orthography.

Following the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in the end of 1992, the Czech part of the former nation found itself without a common single-word name in English. In 1993, the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs suggested the name Czechia as an official alternative in all situations other than formal official documents and the full names of government institutions; however, this has not become widespread in English, even though most other languages have single-word names for the country (usually their own variants of "Czechia")

Tourism in the Czech Republic

The Czech economy gets a substantial income from tourism. In 2001, the total earnings from tourism reached 118.13 billion CZK, making up 5.5% of GNP and 9.3% of overall export earnings. The industry employs more than 110,000 people � over 1% of the population.[68] In 2008, however, there was a slump in tourist numbers in Prague, possibly due to the strong Czech koruna (crown) making the country too expensive for visitors, compared to the level of services that were available.

The country's reputation has also suffered with guidebooks and tourists reporting overcharging by taxi drivers and pickpocketing problems. Since 2005, Prague's mayor, Pavel B�m, has worked to improve this reputation by cracking down on petty crime and, aside from these problems, Prague is a relatively safe city; most areas are safe to walk around even after dark. Also, the Czech Republic as a whole generally has a low crime rate.

There are several centres of tourist activity. The historic city of Prague is the primary tourist attraction, as the city is also the most common point of entry for tourists visiting other parts of the country. Most other cities in the country attract significant numbers of tourists, but the spa towns, such as Karlovy Vary, Mari�nsk� L�zně and Franti�kovy L�zně, are particularly popular holiday destinations. Other popular tourist sites are the many castles and chateaux, such as those at Karl�tejn Castle, Český Krumlov and the Lednice�Valtice area. Away from the towns, areas such as Český r�j, �umava and the Krkono�e Mountains attract visitors seeking outdoor pursuits.

The country is also famous for its love of puppetry and marionettes with a number of puppet festivals throughout the country. The Pilsener style beer originated in western Bohemian city of Plzeň, and further south the town of Budweis lent its name to its beer, eventually known as Budweiser Bier B�rgerbr�u thus Budweiser.

Transport in the Czech Republic

Ruzyně International Airport is the main international airport in the country. In 2007, it handled 12.4 million passengers, which makes it one of the busiest airports in Central Europe. In total, Czech Republic has 46 airports with paved runways, six of which provide international air services.

Česk� dr�hy (the Czech railways) is the main railway operator in the Czech Republic, with about 180 million passengers carried yearly. Its cargo division, ČD Cargo, is the fifth largest railway cargo operator in the European Union. With 9,505 km (5,906.13 mi) of tracks, the Czech Republic has one of the densest railway networks in Europe. From that number, 2,926 km (1,818.13 mi) is electrified, 7,617 km (4,732.98 mi) are single-line tracks and 1,866 km (1,159.48 mi) are double and multiple-line tracks.

In 2005, according to the Czech Statistical Office, 65.4% of electricity was produced in steam, combined and combustion power plants (mostly coal); 30% in nuclear plants; and 4.6% from renewable sources, including hydropower. Russia, via pipelines through Ukraine and to a lesser extent, Norway, via pipelines through Germany, supply the Czech Republic with liquid and natural gas.The Czech Republic is reducing its dependence on highly polluting low-grade brown coal as a source of energy. Nuclear energy presently provides about 30% of the total power needs, its share is projected to increase to 40%. Natural gas is procured from Russian Gazprom, roughly three-fourths of domestic consumption and from Norwegian companies, which make up most of the remaining one-fourth. Russian gas is imported via Ukraine (Druzhba pipeline), Norwegian gas is transported through Germany. Gas consumption (approx. 100 TWh in 2003�2005) is almost two times higher than the electricity consumption. South Moravia has small oil and gas deposits.

The road network in Czech Republic is 55,653 km (34,581.17 mi) long.

Czech cuisine

Czech cuisine is marked by a strong emphasis on meat dishes. Pork is quite common; beef and chicken are also popular. Goose, duck, rabbit and wild game are served. Fish is rare, with the occasional exception of fresh trout and carp, which is served at Christmas.

Aside from Slivovitz, Czech beer and wine, Czechs also produce two uniquely Czech liquors, Fernet Stock and Becherovka. Kofola is a non-alcoholic domestic cola soft drink which competes with Coca Cola and Pepsi in popularity.

Sciences

The Czech Republic has a rich scientific tradition. From the invention of the modern contact lens and separation of modern blood types, to the production of the Semtex plastic explosive, the world owes much of its scientific insight to prominent Czech scientists, including:

* Jan Amos Komenský (1592�1670), educator and national hero, often considered the founder of modern education for his work in pedagogy.[74]
* V�clav Prokop Divi� (1698�1765), inventor of the lightning rod; independently of Benjamin Franklin
* Bernard Bolzano (1781�1848), noted mathematician, logician, philosopher, and pacifist.
* Jan Evangelista Purkyně (1787�1869), anatomist and physiologist responsible for the discovery of Purkinje cells, Purkinje fibres and sweat glands, as well as Purkinje images and the Purkinje shift.
* Josef Ressel (1793�1857), inventor of the screw propeller.
* Gregor Mendel (1822�1884), often called the "father of genetics", is famed for his research concerning the inheritance of genetic traits.
* Bedřich Hrozný (1879�1952), deciphered the Hittite language.
* Jaroslav Heyrovský (1890�1967), first Czech Nobel Prize laureate, awarded the prize in 1959 for pioneering research in polarography and electroanalytical chemistry.
* Otto Wichterle (1913�1998) and Drahoslav L�m (1925�2003), Czech chemists responsible for the invention of the modern contact lens.

A number of other scientists are also connected in some way with the Czech Lands, including astronomers Johannes Kepler and Tycho Brahe, the founder of the psychoanalytic school of psychiatry Sigmund Freud, physicists Ernst Mach, Albert Einstein, engineer Viktor Kaplan and logician Kurt G�del.

Sport in the Czech Republic and Czech Republic national football team

Sports play a part in the life of many Czechs, who are generally loyal supporters of their favourite teams or individuals. The two leading sports in the Czech Republic are football (soccer) and ice hockey, both drawing the largest attention of both the media and supporters. Tennis is also a very big sport in the Czech Republic. The many other sports with professional leagues and structures include basketball, volleyball, team handball, track and field athletics and floorball.

Sport is a source of strong waves of patriotism, usually rising several days or weeks before an event and sinking several days after. The events considered the most important by Czech fans are: the Ice Hockey World Championships, Olympic Ice hockey tournament, UEFA European Football Championship, FIFA World Cup and qualification matches for such events. In general, any international match of the Czech ice hockey or football national team draws attention, especially when played against a traditional rival: Germany and Netherlands in football; Russia, Sweden and Canada in ice hockey; and Slovakia in both.

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