history

Help us create the Czech-American history! / Stante se soucasti Cesko-Americke historie!


Ivana is a grad student from Prague who is doing her thesis on us – the Czech-Americans! She has a fabulous questionare for people to fill out so please, if you get a few minutes, contact her and let her know you are willing to share your Czech-American life with her….and help building the Czech-American history.

‘Hi, I am a grad student from the Czech Republic and I am doing a research for my thesis, which concerns the Czech-Americans living in the U.S., but I don’t have enough contacts for nice people who would be willing to answer me some questions. The thesis concerns the generational gaps in perceptions of Czech identity, so I am especially interested in how much of the Czech identity do you actually keep in your lives. So please, if you want to help or if you know someone who would like to tell me about the life in the U.S., let me know on my email ivana.stojankova@gmail.com. Thank you very much.’

CZ: ‘Ahoj, jako studentka VŠ dělám výzkum k diplomové práci, která se týká čecho-američanů žijících v USA, ale chybí mi kontakty na hodné lidi, kteří by byli ochotní mi odpovědět na pár otázek. Téma diplomové práce je Generační rozdíly ve vnímání identity, takže mě hlavně zajímá, do jaké míry si stále udržujete českou identitu. Tímto Vás prosím, jestli se Vám chce pomoct nebo znáte někoho, kdo by si rád popovídal o životě v USA, dejte mi vědět na mail ivana.stojankova@gmail.com. Mockrát děkuji’

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Tagged as: history, polls, statistics

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Prague clock tower Orloj celebrates 600 years /Prazsky Orloj slavi 600. narozeniny


Orloj’s 600th birthday was celebrated in style this year. All of the Old Town Square visitors were able to enjoy a 10 minute large-screen video, which was projected on the Orloj’s wall itself (see the YouTube video below). “At first we had to take very detailed measurements as well as detailed photos of the building. Then we had to download these measurements and images into the computer and created a 3-D computer model. Then we had to come up with various animations which were projected on this 3-D model and also captured some of the major historical moments in the building’s history”, explains Tomas Rychecky, the producer of the whole thing.

Let’s do a brief history review about this magnificent architectural piece. The Old Town Square clock tower was build by Mikulas from Kadan in the early years of 15th century (September 9th, 1410). The building was greatly improved by Hanus from Ruze, who was supposedly blinded on purpose by the Prague authorities so that he could not build an exact copy anywhere else. Hanus came up with a bitter payback, broke the Orloj’s mechanism and no one was able to fix it for a long, long time.

The Orloj’s history still has a few secrets up its sleeve, for example, no one knows when did the sculptures of the 12 apostles came to life and who made them.
[click to continue…]

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Tagged as: history, Prague, YouTube

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Umberto Eco’s next novel targets Prague / Posledni novela Umberta Eca je o Praze

Prague cementry google imageRemember that scary movie called The Name of the Rose? It was based on the equally-named book written by an Italian medievalist and a philosopher Umberto Eco. After more than 30 years the author’s writing creativity has turned to Prague, specifically to the Prague cemetery ( you can hear sound of the hauling wolfs in the background).

The central figure of the novel is this cynical spy who is being sought after by the whole Europe in order to carry out various clever espionage or an assassination tasks. “Il cimitero di Praga” has 450 pages  and uncovers in detail the politics of the 19th century which also shines an uncomfortable light on today’s historical and political face of Europe. [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: history, literature, Prague

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7 wonders of the Czech Republic: the results are in! / 7 divu Ceske Republiky: hlasy jsou sectene!

Czech glass google imageRemember when we were voting on 7 wonders of the Czech Republic? Well, the votes have been counted and the results are in. Here they are:

1. Czech Beer

  • it has its trademark in EU now
  • the Czechs drink annually about 160 liters per person, which makes them the world winners
  • the historical records of Czech beer reach all the way to 1088 (during the reign of king Vratislav II.)
  • year 1842 welcomes the birth of Pilsener Urquell, the most popular Czech beer ever

2. Czech glass

  • known for its high quality (on the home front and worldwide)
  • it has been around since the 13th century
  • Czech crystal chandeliers decorate the opera house in Rome, Milan’s La Scala or Versailles
  • 19th century Czech artist Bedrich Egermann pushed ahead the ‘crazy’ thought of glass becoming a new form or sculpturing material

3. Charles the Fourth (1316 – 1378)

  • The most well-known Czech king ever, known as the Father of the Land
  • He took over the Czech lands when they were in a terrible shape and made them out to be the most powerful state (Roman Empire) in Europe
  • A founder of the first university in Central Europe (Charles University in Prague), Prague’s Charles Bridge and other magnificent structures [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: art, celebrities, Czech beer, history, polls, science, theatre, travel

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Communists tore down the most beautiful station in Central Europe / Komuniste zbourali nejkrasnejsi nadrazi ve stredni Evrope

Tesnovske station /lidovky.cz imageIt has been 25 years since the most beautiful railway station in Central Europe was shamelessly destroyed by the Czech communist government. The Tesnovske station (formerly called Denisova station) was replaced by a horrendous highway which now runs right through Wenceslas Square – the heart of the historical center of Prague (see image below). How could the communists be so insensitive? Well, the railway station was not as productive as the very functional planned freeway – that is why. It fits perfectly with the communist ideology. “The communists considered historical buildings to be a backsliding architectural style. Such structures were symbols of bourgeoisie and the communists hated them,” explains Zdenek Lukes, the architectural historian. [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: communism, history, Prague

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A must-see documentary / Povinny dokumentarni film

kindertransport_film google imageMaybe you guys have already seen this World War II documentary but if you haven’t you definitely should. Tonight! “Into the Arms of Strangers” tells a story of a kindertransport, a train transport heading for England that saved the lives of over 10,000 Jewish children, from which many of them were Czech. In fact, one of the interviewed people was Eva Hayman from Celakovice, who was about 10 years old when she boarded that train never to see her parents again.

WARNING: This movie is a tear jerker.

CZ: Jestli jste jeste nevideli dokument zvany “Into the Arms of Strangers”, hned si ho dneska objednejte na Netflix, abyste na nej nezapomneli! Shlednuti tohoto filmu je naprosta nutnost. Vypravi se v nem o tzv. ‘kindertransportu’, zeleznicnim prevozu 10,000 zidovskych deti ze zemi jako je Nemecko, Rakousko, Polsko a Cechy, do bezpecne Anglie.

Jedna z  dotazovanych osob je pani Eva Hayman z Celakovic, ktere bylo kolem 10-ti let, kdyz do jednoho z techto vlaku nastoupila, aniz by se v budoucnosti opet shledala se svymi rodici.

VAROVANI: Film vas asi rozbreci

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Tagged as: history, movies

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Prague metro – the perfect nuclear shelter / Prazske metro – perfektni atomovy ukryt

Prague metro google image One of my Facebook friends posted this while I was aimlessly browsing FB. Since I am a Prague girl I found these little facts quite interesting ;0)

CZ: Jestlize pochazite z Prahy (nebo jste pouhym milovnikem Prahy) a ztravili jste v Prazskem metru nekolik hodin denne, tyto fakta vas bodou zajimat.

PRAGUE METRO – SURVIVAL CHAMBER FOR 325,000 PEOPLE!!
The Prague Metro serves about 1,5 million passengers a day, which makes it the seventh busiest metro system in Europe.
But it is a piece of history as well. When communism collapsed in 1989 revolution 14 stations with names reflecting Communist ideology were changed to be politically neutral. “Lenin station” was renamed „Dejvická“ after a surrounding neighbourhood. „Anděl“ station was known as „Moscow Station“ – until now you can find there several pieces of propaganda art promoting Soviet-Czechoslovak „friendship“ (Czechoslovakia was occupied by Soviet army in 1968..)

INTERESTING FACTS
The line A of the Prague metro is a giant “survival chamber” built for thousands of people in the case of a nuclear attack. You can see the giant metal doors at every entrance. [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: history, Prague, travel

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History of Czechs in Ohio (part 2): they were hated at first / Historie Cechu v Ohiu: zprvu je vsichni nenavideli

Czechs in Ohio google imageThe second part of the history of Czechs in Ohio is here (you can read the first part here) and even though I do not live in Ohio myself, I was engrossed in reading (and translating!) it:

‘So Gustav Adam, the first Czech immigrant to Ohio, was dead and what happened then? The Czech immigrant torch overtook Jindrich Hladik from Prague and a few Czech Jewish men such as Leopold Levy from Smetanova Lhota u Pisku, Bernard Weidenthal from Vestice u Tabora and Zikmund Stein from Prague. Levy had a fabric store  and Stein opened up a little pub on  Seneca Street, while Hladik owned a food market. In 1849 inhabited Cleveland also a 22-year-old Abraham Weindenthal whose offspring became excellent journalists.

In 1852 arrived to Cleveland 16 new Czech families and their beginnings were not pretty. Since the women were accustomed going to the town bare-foot and with scarfs tied around their heads, the locals thought of them as Gypsies. [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: Czechs in Ohio, history

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The history of Czechs in Ohio (part one)/ Historie Cechu v Ohiu (cast prvni)

Czech immigrants in Ohio google imageEveryone has heard of Cleveland, the second most industrial city in the USA. But not everyone knows that all of its machinery was built  by the Eastern European immigrants, including the Czechs.

Ohio in the 18th century was inhabited only by Indians, while the land itself was fought over by the French and the English. While those two nationalities were fearlessly fighting for the land, the Moravian christian missionaries (Moravian Brethren) were fighting for the Indian souls. Besides Christianity the missionaries taught the Indians about hygiene, various useful crafts and farming. About 100 years later the main Indian colony located on the Tuscarawas river was visited by a famous Moravian missionary, David Zeisberger. David befriended the Indian chief of the Netawatweese clan who adviced him to ride down the local river to find a new home for himself. [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: christianity, Czechs in Ohio, history, religion

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Do you still remember the ‘Three Kings’ song? / Pamatujete si stale pisnicku o tri kralich?

Three Kings /www.wikipedia.org imageTomorrow is the Three Kings day, which is celebrated all over Europe. The Czechs do not celebrate it too much (at least we didn’t when we were kids) but I just found out from my Czech friend – who is married to a Spanish guy – that this holiday is even more prevalent in Spain than Christmas. In fact, the Spanish don’t even celebrate Christmas! Crazy, huh?

Anyhow, this is what Wikipedia says about how is this holiday celebrated in Central Europe:

‘A tradition in most of Central Europe involves writing the initials of the three kings’ names above the main door of the home to confer blessings on the occupants for the New Year. For example, 20 + C + M + B + 08. The initials may also represent “Christus mansionem benedicat” (Christ bless this house). In Catholic parts of Germany and in Austria, this is done by so called Sternsinger (star singers), children, dressed up as the Magi, carrying the star and singing Christmas carols. In exchange for writing the initials, they collect money for charity projects in the third world.’ (Read more about this holiday here).

What probably all of the Czech/Slovak kids know is the Three Kings song (My tri kralove jdeme k vam), which is sang usually together with other Christmas carols during Christmas time. Below is the video as well as the words of the song (translation of the words was done by me so it may not be perfect). Let us reminisce about the times of our childhood!

CZ: Zitra je tu svatek Tri Kralu, tak vam preji to nej, nej, nejlepsi. Je na case si zavzpominat na tu nasi pisnicku o Trech kralich  a tady je k tomu take pekne detske video: [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: history, holidays, religion, traditions, YouTube

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