Czech Republic

The Czechs are a plain-spoken, even-tempered people, revealing a spectrum of cultural, religious and political influences that is surprisingly broad for such a small country - German and Austrian to Polish and Hungarian, liberal to deeply traditional, global-thinking to fiercely nationalistic.

Religion

The largest church is the Roman Catholic Church, though in 1991 fewer than 40% of Czechs called themselves Catholics, and even fewer attend church regularly. The next largest church is the Hussite Church and there are numerous other Protestant denominations, the largest being the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren. Prague has the largest Jewish community in the republic, with about 6000 members; smaller enclaves are in Ostrava and Brno.

Architecture & Art

Most travellers are impressed by the Czech Republic's architectural splendours, which include some of the finest Baroque, Art Nouveau and Cubist buildings in Europe, but Czechs have also excelled at less noticeable art forms, such as illuminated manuscripts, religious sculpture, and marionette & puppet theatre.

Music

Czech music runs the gamut from classical to jazz & punk. Apprentice butcher Antonín Dvorák is generally regarded as the most popular Czech composer. He is noted for his symphony From the New World, composed in the USA while lecturing there. Czech jazz musicians were at the forefront of European jazz after WW II but this came to an end with the communist putsch. Keyboardist Jan Hamr, who escaped to the USA, became prominent in 1970s American jazz-rock under the name Jan Hammer. Since the Velvet Revolution, the jazz scene in Prague has been especially lively. The grim industrial north, particularly Teplice, is the hub of the Czech Republic's punk movement.

Literature

The most famous Czech writer is undoubtedly Franz Kafka, who, with a circle of other German-speaking Jewish writers in Prague, played a major role in the literary scene at the beginning of this century. Internationally renowned 'modern' Czech novelists include Milan Kundera, Ivan Klima and Josef Skvorecky. Much less well-known is the Czech poet Jaroslav Siefert, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1984. The playwright Vaclav Havel now operates on a somewhat larger stage.

Food

Czech cuisine is basically central European, with German, Hungarian and Polish influences. Meat is a huge feature, along with big portions of dumplings, potatoes or rice topped with a thick sauce, and a heavily cooked vegetable or sauerkraut; the standard quick meal is knedlo-zelo-vepro (dumplings, sauerkraut and roast pork). Caraway seed, bacon and lots of salt are the common flavourings. Vegetarians and cholesterol sufferers beware!

Dances

Have a look at this pdf-file for information about the dance Doudlebska Polka

To read the file you need the free software Adobe Reader from Adobe or another pdf-viewer.
The Adobe Reader you can find on the homepage from Adobe under Support - Downloads.

National Anthem

To listen the national anthem click here.

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