Art Venus of Dolní Věstonice is an important example of prehistoric art unearthed in the Czech Republic.
Theodoric of Prague was a painter in the Gothic era who decorated the castle
Karlštejn. In the Baroque era, there were painters
Wenceslaus Hollar,
Jan Kupecký,
Karel Škréta,
Anton Raphael Mengs and
Petr Brandl and sculptors
Matthias Braun and
Ferdinand Brokoff. In the first half of the 19th century,
Josef Mánes joined the romantic movement. In the second half the so-called "National Theatre generation" rose to prominence: sculptor
Josef Václav Myslbek and painters
Mikoláš Aleš,
Václav Brožík,
Vojtěch Hynais and
Julius Mařák. At the end of the century came
Art Nouveau, with
Alfons Mucha becoming its main representative. He is known for his Art Nouveau posters and a cycle of 20 large canvases named
the Slav Epic, which depicts the history of Czechs and other
Slavs. , it can be seen in the Veletržní Palace of the
National Gallery in Prague, which manages the largest collection of art in the Czech Republic.
Max Švabinský was another Art Nouveau painter. The 20th century brought an
avant-garde revolution, represented in the Czech lands mainly by expressionists and cubists:
Josef Čapek,
Emil Filla,
Bohumil Kubišta or
Jan Zrzavý. Surrealism emerged particularly through the work of
Toyen,
Josef Šíma and
Karel Teige. In the world, however, the most well-known Czech avant-garde artist might be
František Kupka, a pioneer of abstract painting. Illustrators and cartoonists to gain fame in the first half of the 20th century include
Josef Lada,
Zdeněk Burian or
Emil Orlík. Art photography became a new field represented by
František Drtikol,
Josef Sudek, later
Jan Saudek and
Josef Koudelka. The Czech Republic is also known for its individually made, mouth-blown, and decorated
Bohemian glass.
Architecture The earliest preserved stone buildings in Bohemia and Moravia date back to the time of the
Christianization in the 9th and 10th centuries. Since the Middle Ages, the Czech lands have been using the same architectural styles as most of
Western and Central Europe. The oldest still standing churches were built in the
Romanesque style. During the 13th century, it was replaced by the
Gothic style. In the 14th century, Emperor Charles IV invited architects from France and Germany,
Matthias of Arras and
Peter Parler, to his court in Prague. During the Middle Ages, some fortified castles were built by the king and aristocracy, as well as some monasteries. The
Renaissance style penetrated the Bohemian Crown in the late 15th century when the older Gothic style started to be mixed with Renaissance elements. An example of pure Renaissance architecture in Bohemia is the
Queen Anne's Summer Palace, which was situated in the garden of
Prague Castle. Evidence of the general reception of the Renaissance in Bohemia, involving an influx of Italian architects, can be found in spacious chateaus with arcade courtyards and geometrically arranged gardens. Emphasis was placed on comfort, and buildings that were built for entertainment purposes also appeared. In the 17th century, the Baroque style spread throughout the Crown of Bohemia. In the 18th century, Bohemia produced an architectural peculiarity – the
Baroque Gothic style, a synthesis of the Gothic and Baroque styles. His works include
The Trial and
The Castle. In the second half of the 13th century, the royal court in Prague became one of the centers of German
Minnesang and courtly literature. The Czech German-language literature can be seen in the first half of the 20th century.
Bible translations played a role in the development of Czech literature. The oldest Czech translation of the
Psalms originated in the late 13th century and the first complete Czech translation of the Bible was finished around 1360. The first complete printed Czech Bible was published in 1488. The first complete Czech Bible translation from the original languages was published between 1579 and 1593. The
Codex Gigas from the 12th century is the largest extant medieval manuscript in the world. , winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature Czech-language literature can be divided into several periods: the Middle Ages; the Hussite period; the
Renaissance humanism; the Baroque period; the Enlightenment and Czech reawakening in the first half of the 19th century, modern literature in the second half of the 19th century; the avant-garde of the interwar period; the years under Communism; and the Czech Republic. The antiwar comedy novel
The Good Soldier Švejk is the most translated Czech book in history. The international literary award the
Franz Kafka Prize is awarded in the Czech Republic. The Czech Republic has the densest network of
libraries in Europe. Czech literature and culture played a role on at least two occasions when Czechs lived under oppression and political activity was suppressed. On both of these occasions, in the early 19th century and then again in the 1960s, the Czechs used their cultural and literary effort to strive for political freedom, establishing a confident, politically aware nation.
Music The musical tradition of the Czech lands arose from the first church hymns, whose first evidence is suggested at the break of the 10th and 11th centuries. Some pieces of Czech music include two chorales, which in their time performed the function of anthems: "
Lord, Have Mercy on Us" and the
hymn "Saint Wenceslaus" or "
Saint Wenceslaus Chorale". The authorship of the anthem "Lord, Have Mercy on Us" is ascribed by some historians to
Saint Adalbert of Prague (sv.Vojtěch), bishop of
Prague, living between 956 and 997. The wealth of musical culture lies in the classical music tradition during all historical periods, especially in the
Baroque,
Classicism, Romantic,
modern classical music and in the
traditional folk music of Bohemia, Moravia and
Silesia. Since the early era of artificial music, Czech musicians and composers have been influenced the folk music of the region and dance. Czech music can be considered to have been contributed strongly to the development of music in both the European and worldwide contexts, having several times co-determined or even determined a newly arriving era in musical art, above all of the
Classical era, as well as by original attitudes in
Baroque,
Romantic and
modern classical music. Czech music burst onto the world stage in the romantic era beginning with the works of
Bedřich Smetana who is often considered the 'father of Czech music'. Some Czech musical works are
The Bartered Bride (Smetana),
New World Symphony (Dvořák), and
Sinfonietta and
Jenůfa by
Janáček. A music festival in the country is
Prague Spring International Music Festival of classical music, a permanent showcase for performing artists, symphony orchestras and chamber music ensembles of the world.
Theatre The roots of Czech theatre can be found in the Middle Ages, especially in the cultural life of the
Gothic period. In the 19th century, the theatre played a role in the national awakening movement and later, in the 20th century, it became a part of modern European theatre art. The original Czech cultural phenomenon came into being at the end of the 1950s. This project called
Laterna magika, resulting in productions that combined theater, dance, and film in a poetic manner, considered the first
multimedia art project in an international context. One drama is
Karel Čapek's play
R.U.R., which introduced the word "
robot". The country has a tradition of
puppet theater. In 2016,
Czech and Slovak Puppetry was included on the
UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists.
Film , animator and film director The tradition of Czech cinematography started in the second half of the 1890s. Peaks of the production in the era of silent movies include the historical drama
The Builder of the Temple and the social and erotic drama
Erotikon directed by
Gustav Machatý. The early Czech
sound film era was productive, above all in mainstream genres, with the comedies of
Martin Frič or
Karel Lamač. There were dramatic movies sought internationally.
Hermína Týrlová was a prominent Czech animator, screenwriter, and film director. She was often called the mother of Czech animation. Over the course of her career, she produced over 60 animated children's short films using puppets and the technique of stop motion animation. Before the German occupation, in 1933, filmmaker and animator established the first Czech animation studio "IRE Film" with her husband Karel Dodal. After the period of Nazi occupation and early communist official dramaturgy of socialist realism in movies at the turn of the 1940s and 1950s with fewer exceptions such as
Krakatit or
Men without wings (awarded by in 1946), an era of the Czech film began with animated films, performed in anglophone countries under the name "The Fabulous World of Jules Verne" from 1958, which combined acted drama with animation, and
Jiří Trnka, the founder of the modern puppet film. This began a tradition of animated films (
Mole etc.). In the 1960s, the hallmark of
Czechoslovak New Wave's films were improvised
dialogues,
black and
absurd humor and the occupation of non-actors. Directors are trying to preserve natural atmosphere without refinement and artificial arrangement of scenes. A personality of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s with original manuscript and psychological impact is
František Vláčil. Another international author is
Jan Švankmajer, a filmmaker and artist whose work spans several media. He is a self-labeled
surrealist known for animations and features. The
Barrandov Studios in Prague are the largest film studios with film locations in the country. Filmmakers have come to
Prague to shoot scenery no longer found in Berlin, Paris and Vienna. The city of
Karlovy Vary was used as a location for the 2006 James Bond film Casino Royale. The
Czech Lion is the highest Czech award for film achievement.
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival is one of the film festivals that have been given competitive status by the
FIAPF. Other film festivals held in the country include
Febiofest,
Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival,
One World Film Festival,
Zlín Film Festival and
Fresh Film Festival.
Media Czech journalists and media enjoy a degree of
freedom. There are restrictions against writing in support of
Nazism, racism or violating
Czech law. The Czech press was ranked as the 40th most free press in the World Press Freedom Index by
Reporters Without Borders in 2021.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has its headquarters in Prague.
Czech Television is the country's national public television broadcaster. It operates a number of channels, including
ČT1,
ČT2, and the 24-hour news channel
ČT24, as well as the news website ct24.cz. As of 2020, it is the most watched broadcaster, followed by the private
TV Nova and
Prima TV. However, TV Nova features the most watched main
news program and
prime time program. Other public media services include the
Czech Radio and the
Czech News Agency. The best-selling daily national newspapers in 2020/21 are
Blesk (average 703,000 daily readers),
Mladá fronta DNES (average 461,000 daily readers),
Právo (average 182,000 daily readers),
Lidové noviny (average 163,000 daily readers) and
Hospodářské noviny (average 162,000 daily readers). Most Czechs (87%) read their news online, with
Seznam.cz,
iDNES.cz,
Novinky.cz,
iPrima.cz and
Seznam Zprávy.cz being the most visited as of 2021.
Cuisine , the first
pilsner type of
pale lager beer, brewed since 1842 Czech cuisine is marked by an emphasis on meat dishes with pork, beef, and chicken. Goose, duck, rabbit, and venison are served. Fish is less common, with the occasional exception of fresh
trout and
carp, which is served at Christmas. One popular Czech menu item is
smažený vepřový řízek (fried breaded pork filet), served with boiled potatoes. There is a variety of local sausages, wurst, pâtés, and smoked and cured meats. Czech desserts include a variety of whipped cream, chocolate, and fruit pastries and tarts, crêpes, creme desserts and cheese, poppy-seed-filled and other types of traditional cakes such as
buchty,
koláče and
štrúdl.
Czech beer has a history extending more than a millennium; the earliest known brewery existed in 993. Today, the Czech Republic has the highest
beer consumption per capita in the world. The
pilsner style beer (pils) originated in
Plzeň, where the world's first blond lager
Pilsner Urquell is still produced. It has served as the inspiration for more than two-thirds of the beer produced in the world today. The city of
České Budějovice has similarly lent its name to its beer, known as
Budweiser Budvar. The South Moravian region has been producing
wine since the Middle Ages; about 94% of
vineyards in the Czech Republic are Moravian. Aside from beer,
slivovitz and wine, the Czech Republic also produces two
liquors,
Fernet Stock and
Becherovka.
Kofola is a non-alcoholic domestic
cola soft drink which competes with
Coca-Cola and
Pepsi.
Sport has the second-most
points in NHL history, after
Wayne Gretzky. The most watched and most attended sport in the Czech Republic are
football and
ice hockey. The most watched sporting events are the
Ice hockey at the Olympic Games and the
Ice Hockey World Championships. The most popular sports in the Czech Republic according to the size of the membership base of sports clubs are: football,
tennis, ice hockey,
volleyball,
floorball,
golf,
ball hockey,
athletics,
basketball and
skiing. The country has won 15 gold medals in the
Summer Olympics and nine in the
Winter Games. (See
Olympic history.) The
Czech ice hockey team won the gold medal at the
1998 Winter Olympics and has won (along with the
Czechoslovak team) thirteen gold medals at the
World Championships, including three straight from
1999 to
2001. The
Škoda Motorsport is engaged in
competition racing since 1901 and has gained a number of titles with various vehicles around the world.
MTX automobile company was formerly engaged in the manufacture of
racing and
formula cars since 1969.
Hiking is a popular sport. The word for 'tourist' in Czech,
turista, also means 'trekker' or 'hiker'. For hikers, thanks to the more than 120-year-old tradition, there is the
Czech Hiking Markers System of
trail blazing, that has been adopted by countries worldwide. There is a network of around 40,000 km of marked short- and long-distance trails crossing the whole country and all the Czech mountains. == See also ==