Did You Know?
...The sugar cube
was invented in the Czech town of Dačice in 1843.
...The
word "robot"
comes from the Czech language (robota = "work",
"hard work" in some dialects) and was first introduced
in Karel Čapek's science-fiction play R.U.R.
(Rossum's Universal Robots).
...According to the Guinness Book of World
Records, the prehistoric settlement of Dolní
Věstonice in Southern Moravia is the oldest town
in the world. It dates back to 27,000 BC, the Ice Age.
...Sigmund Freud was
born and spent the first years of his life in what is now
the Czech Republic.
...The soft contact
lens was invented in Czechoslovakia by professor
Otto Wichterle in 1961.
...Prague is
farther to the West than Vienna.
...The
synagogue in Plzeň (Pilsen) is the second largest synagogue
in Europe and the third largest synagogue in the world.
...In
1985, the Czech engineer Pavel Pavel solved the mystery
of the moai statues
on Easter Island and explained how they were transported
to their current locations.
...The Prague
Castle is the
largest castle area in the world. Its three courtyards
and a number
of magnificent buildings cover over 7 hectares (18 acres).
...The word "Czech" is
an adjective and therefore should not be used as the abbreviated
name of the country.
..."Czechia" is the official abbreviated name of the Czech Repulic.
...The Czech Republic is one
of the countries with the
highest density of castles in
the world.
...The Hethitic language was
first deciphered by Czech archaeologist Bedřich Hrozný
in 1914.
...The Bata
Shoe Organization was founded
in Zlín, Czech Republic, in 1894 by Tomáš Baťa and is
the largest shoe retailer and manufacturer in the
world.
...The
town square in České Budějovice is the second
largest preserved town square in Europe.
...On March 19, the Josef
name day is celebrated in pubs, at workplaces
and in households around the country. Josef was once
one of the most popular Czech
names.
...Czech
supermodel Petra Němcová landed
on the cover of the 2003 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue.
This was not the
first time a Czech was selected for the coveted spot. Both
Paulina Porizkova (1984 and 1985) and Daniela Peštová (2000
and also appearing in the 2003 issue) have graced the cover.
...Ivana
Trump is Czech and
was born in Gottwaldov (now
Zlín), Czech
Republic.
...The Czech hockey team won
the gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan,
and also won the World Ice Hockey Championship in the following
three years (1999, 2000, 2001) and in 2005.
...The Czech goalie Dominik Hašek
(playing for the Buffalo Sabres) was voted NHL Most Valuable
Player and awarded the Hart Trophy in 1997 and 1998,
the
Vezina Trophy in 1994, 1995, 1997 and 1998, and the Jennings
Trophy in 1994.
...Czech astronomers have named an asteroid "Dominik" after Dominik Hašek to thank the goalie for his contribution in the 1998 Winter
Olympics.
...Jaromír Jágr, a professional ice-hockey player who played for the NHL Pittsburgh
Penguins for several years was born in Kladno,
Czechoslovakia.
...Pilsner Urquell is
a brand-name Czech beer produced in Plzeň (or Pilsen) and
is the original Pilsner.
...Budweiser is a brand-name
Czech beer produced in České Budějovice (Budweis in German)
and is the original Budweiser.
...The Czechs are the #1 beer drinking
nation in the world, consuming the most beer per
capita in the world (143 liters or 38 gallons). They
have been drinking beer since at least 900 A.D.
...Václav Havel, former president
of the Czech Republic, liked to take visiting politicians
to
Prague pubs.
...The brewery U Fleků was established
in 1499.
...The Czech film Kolja
("Kolya" in English) won the Academy Award for
Best Foreign Film in 1996.
...The screenwriter and leading actor of the film Kolja (aside
from Kolja himself), Zdeněk Svěrák, is the
father of the film's director, Jan Svěrák.
...The Czech film Musíme si
pomáhat ("Divided We Fall"), directed
by Jan Hřebejk (Jan Svěrák's schoolmate from the Prague
Film Academy), was nominated for the Academy Award for
Best Foreign Film in 2001.
...Other Czech/Czechoslovak films that
won or were nominated for the Academy Award for Best
Foreign Film are: Obchod na korze ("The
Shop on Main Street", won in 1966), Lásky
jedné plavovlásky ("The Loves of a Blonde",
nominated in 1967), Ostře sledované vlaky ("Closely
Watched Trains", won in 1968), Hoří, má
panenko ("The Firemen's
Ball",
nominated in 1969), Vesničko má středisková ("My
Sweet Little Village",
nominated in 1985), Obecná škola ("The
Elementary School", nominated in 1992).
...The Academy Award winning film director Miloš Forman (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's
Nest, Hair, Ragtime, Valmont,
Amadeus, The People
vs. Larry Flynt, Man on the Moon) was born in Czechoslovakia
and emigrated to the USA in 1968.
...The Czech Academy Award winning film
Ostře sledované vlaky ("Closely Watched
Trains") was based on a novel of the same name written
by the Czech writer Bohumil Hrabal whose other
works that were made into films include Postřižiny
("Cutting It Short"), Slavnosti sněženek
("The Snowdrop Festival"), Něžný barbar
("Tender Barbarian"), Skřivánci na niti ("Larks
on a String"),
Obsluhoval jsem anglického krále ("I Served
the King of England").
...Oskar Schindler with whom you
may be familiar from Spielberg's film Schindler's List
was born in a Moravian town called Svitavy (now in Eastern
Bohemia)
in 1908.
...The English playwright Tom
Stoppard, who received an Oscar for Shakespeare
in Love in 1999, was born Thomas Straussler in Zlín, Czechoslovakia
(now the Czech Republic).
...The Nobel Prize in Literature for
1984 was awarded to the Czech poet Jaroslav Seifert.
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