About Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is a landlocked country between Germany, Austria, Slovakia and Poland. It has a population of about 10 million, about 1,2 of which live in the capital city of Prague. The official language is Czech which is a Slavic language. Prior to World War I, its territory had been a part of the Habsburg Empire. In 1918, an independent Czechoslovakia was established. Its existence was interrupted by a Nazi occupation during World War II. Afterwards, Czechoslovakia was restored and in 1948 became a Soviet satellite state. In 1989, Communism was peacefully overthrown in the “Velvet Revolution”. Czechoslovakia split up into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993.

In 1999, the Czech Republic became a member of NATO and joined the European Union in 2004.

90 percent of the population are Czechs and there is no dominant minority group among the rest. With more than 60 percent of citizens being agnostic or atheist, the Czech Republic is one of the most atheistic countries in Europe. Divorce is a popular pastime of Czechs – more than half of the spouses are expected to get divorced, which makes Czech Republic no. 3 in the world rankings. On a brighter note, Czechs are uncontested world champions in several disciplines such as beer-drinking (annually 159 liters per capita, approx 42 gallons), ice hockey (in 1996, hat-trick in 1999-2001, and lastly in 2005) or even such obscure things as football on bicycles – cyclo-ball – in which the Pospisil brothers earned 20 gold medals.

It has been said that Czechs adore rulers fond of philosophy – such as the medieval king Charles IV. and the Habsburg emperor Rudolph II. Even today Czech presidents enjoy arguing about significant worldly issues. Former president Vaclav Havel, recently deceased, was a stalwart advocate of human rights while the current president Vaclav Klaus denies the existence of manmade global warming.

There are currently no major problems in the Czech society. The most pressing issues Czechs need to address are whether they would like a US radar base in the country, how to deal with the problems of the Roma and other minorities and how to reconcile relationships with the Germans, many of whom were forcibly expelled after World War II.

Not many people let themselves be worried about these issues – rather than that they will ask you “Jdeme na jedno?” [Yde-me na ye-dno] (Care for a beer?). Needless to say, it never comes to just one beer.

Time zone:

The Czech Republic lies in the GMT+1 time zone, usually referred to as Central European Time (CET); daylight saving time is used during the summer.

Climate and Weather:

Geographically speaking, the Czech Republic is situated in the temperate zone, and there are four seasons of approximately the same length. Winters are relatively mild (the average January temperature is -2 °C, 28,4 °F) and summers are not too hot (the average July temperature is 20 °C, 68 °F).

Currency:

The official Czech currency is the Crown (Koruna, abbreviated as Kč/CZK). €1 is equal to about 28Kč and US $1 is worth about 21Kč.

Electrical Current:
Nominal voltage 220/380 Volts, frequency 50 hertz. Number of phases: 1,3.Number of vires: 2,3,4. Types of plug – C and E.

Telephone:
The dialing code is +420, to call other countries from Czech Republic place 00 before the country code

For further information about Czech Republic, please visit: http://www.czech.cz/

Useful Telephone Numbers: