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124-453: Cimrman made his first appearance on a regular radio programme Nealkoholická vinárna U Pavouka ("The Non-Alcoholic Wine Bar chez Spider") on 23 December 1966. Although the character was originally meant to be a modest caricature of the Czech people, history , and culture , he became an immensely popular protagonist of modern Czech folklore, and an ersatz national hero. In 2005, Jára Cimrman won

248-469: A biopic of Cimrman with Zdeněk Svěrák in the title role, and in 1984 Smoljak and Svěrák made a detective film comedy Dissolved and Effused ( Czech : Rozpuštěný a vypuštěný ), based on the theatre play Vražda v salónním coupé ("Murder in a Chair Carriage"), the putative author of which was Jára Cimrman. Additionally, in 1987 the authors made a film An Uncertain Season ( Czech : Nejistá sezóna ),

372-598: A familiar note, because they both studied at the same school, Stroupežnický never recovered. One of the plays, also said to be lost, which was a subject of their correspondence, was Čechové na Řípu (English: "Czechs on Říp "), a fictional account of an old Bohemian legend, which is here said to feature not only the legendary Forefather Czech , but also other characters as Forefather German, Forefather Jew and, in dialogue only, Forefather Gipsy, by which Cimrman wanted to honour all major nationalities living in Bohemia . The play

496-405: A fictional amateur theatre, performing a play that is messed up by a famous and reportedly brilliant, yet in reality dumb person who cannot forget to say other people's lines and lines from other plays and who cannot even remember the name of his own character. Cimrman never received great fame as a playwright in his lifetime, often because of his innovatory practices, such as changing the length of

620-460: A fictional wine bar in Prague that was presented to listeners as real, but perennially sold out well in advance of recordings. One show featured a guest interview with a musicologist who claimed to have discovered, during a renovation of his cottage, a tranche of documents relating to a forgotten Czech polymath who lived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, named Jara Cimrman, the first mention of

744-406: A girls' school, hiding his identity from him. When he discovered the truth aged 15, it triggered an identity crisis but is also said to have been the moment when his genius emerged. No pictures of Cimrman are said to have been found and so his appearance is unknown. As mentioned in his plays, some of Jára Cimrman's achievements and contributions include: Another one of his great inventions was also

868-613: A major cultural hub of Europe during his reign. He was a reclusive ruler who preferred his hobbies to the daily affairs of the state. In 1605 Rudolf II was forced by his other family members to cede the rule of Hungary to his younger brother Archduke Matthias following the Bocskai Uprising after the Long Turkish War . The differences of opinions between the two brothers ultimately resulted in Rudolf's imprisonment at

992-703: A member of the Eastern Bloc . In August 1968, armies of the Warsaw Pact invaded Czechoslovakia to prevent further attempts at the reformation of the Communist system. In November 1989, the Velvet Revolution replaced the Communist regime with a democratic Czech and Slovak Federative Republic . Three years later, Czech and Slovak representatives agreed to the Dissolution of Czechoslovakia and

1116-674: A mostly autobiographical bittersweet comedy about the theatre's difficulties during the Communist normalization era . In this film Cimrman's name is never mentioned and the putative author of the plays is referred to throughout as "the Master". Cimrmanologists have also written several books on Jára Cimrman: A museum about Jára Cimrman's inventions was opened in the basement of the Petřín Lookout Tower in Prague in 2002. In early 2005,

1240-458: A new democratic republic of Czechoslovakia took its place. The republic of Czechoslovakia was declared in October 1918. It was a democratic presidential republic. In 1920, its defined territory was not inhabited only by Czechs and Slovaks, it contained significant populations of other nationalities: Germans (22.95%), Hungarians (5.47%) and Ruthenians (3.39%). The Great Depression starting at

1364-688: A new document confirming religious freedoms – replacing the older Compacts of Basel , that did not take non- Utraquist Protestants into account. He also showed his religious tolerance by reaffirming the Statuta Judaeorum – a document providing legal protection for the Jews in the Lands of the Bohemian Crown. His son Rudolf II succeeded him in 1576 and in 1583 he moved the royal court to Prague. Thanks to Rudolf's patronage of art, Prague became

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1488-484: A peripheral in computer technology. Most of the pedagogical work of Jára Cimrman is presented in the play Vyšetřování ztráty třídní knihy ("Investigation of the Loss of a Class Book", 1967). Cimrman became a teacher in the small Galician village of Struk ("teat"), as a punishment by court, when it was revealed he could both read and write. A practitioner of his "Futurism" ideology, he also prepared his students for

1612-503: A public vote for the title of "The Greatest Czech" (he was subsequently disqualified due to being a fictional character). Cimrman is both the major character and the putative author of a great number of books, plays, and films. Jára Cimrman Theatre  [ cs ] in Žižkov is one of Prague 's most frequented theatre houses. The character was invented in 1966 for a regular radio programme Nealkoholická vinárna U Pavouka ("The Non-Alcoholic Wine Bar chez Spider"), set in U Pavouka,

1736-542: A rapid urbanization. Population in centers of industry doubled or tripled within a few decades. At the start of the 20th century, Austria's unilateral annexation of Bosnia in 1908 caused the Bosnian Crisis and prompted the eventual assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria , sparking the World War I in 1914. Many of the Czech nationalists saw the war as an opportunity for gaining full independence from

1860-574: A rebellion in Hungary, aged only seventeen. Many of his contemporaries suspected he was poisoned, but modern examinations of his skeleton proved he died of acute leukemia . With his death the Albertinian Line of the House of Habsburg ended. In 1458, the estates of Bohemia elected George of Poděbrady as the new King of Bohemia. He had a difficult role trying to maintain a fragile peace between

1984-658: A saint by the Catholic Church) ruled from 921 and had to submit to the Saxon king Henry I in order to maintain his ducal authority. He was murdered by his younger brother Boleslaus I . Boleslaus I expanded the Duchy of Bohemia eastwards conquering the lands of Moravia and Silesia and areas around Kraków . He stopped paying tribute to the Saxon king igniting a war which he lost and was forced to recognize Saxon suzerainty over

2108-399: A sketch used on stage when the audience displayed a certain degree of unrest with the performance. It was a way of leaving the stage quickly and inconspicuously, with minimal to no damage to actors or scene. When the actors, or Cimrman himself sensed the danger, two members of the ensemble started making seemingly irrelevant comments that there's a wind picking up on stage. Calling it Gale from

2232-523: A trial. Similar letters patents were published in other territories under his rule and led to mass killings of Romani people. After Joseph I's premature death in 1711, the Austrian throne went to his younger brother Charles VI . Charles VI had no male heirs and with the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 he ensured that all the titles held by him could be inherited by a woman. Charles VI sought

2356-418: Is claimed to have authored numerous plays, many of which are said to have been lost. These plays include Posel světla (English "Herald of Light"), featuring his own comic vision of the future world where people are all good to each other and so a person may act as a complete heartless monster without any remorse. Another play presented as a work of Cimrman is Záskok ("The Stand-in"), which portrays actors of

2480-434: Is roughly a half-hour walk up paths and the tower is also quite an arduous climb; however, the hill is served by a frequent Petřín funicular and the tower has an elevator for elderly and disabled people. In 2014 the tower was visited by more than 557,000 visitors, with foreigners accounting for over 70% of said visitors. The two observation platforms are accessible via 299 stairs in sections of 13 per flight running around

2604-408: Is said not to "come out of astonishment." Cimrman replied: "Dear Mr. Durman, the theatre is here mainly so that the spectator shall be astonished. I am sending you five more plays." Many of Cimrman's unsuccessful plays are reported to be performed by his infamous theatrical group Lipany . Cimrman's theatre still possesses the original properties from the play Akt (English: "The Nude"), through which

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2728-596: Is the Venus of Petřkovice , found in what is today Ostrava. Remains of mammoth hunters from 22,000 BCE were also found in the aforementioned Kůlna Cave along with the remains of reindeer hunters and horse hunters, dated to about 10,000 years later. Approximately between 5500 and 4500 BCE, people of the Linear Pottery culture resided in Czech lands. Their settlement was discovered in Bylany near Kutná hora. Their culture

2852-644: The Bohemian–Hungarian War . After the king George's death, the war was continued by Vladislaus II from the House of Jagiellon , who was offered the throne of Bohemia by George of Poděbrady himself. After ten years of fighting, the Bohemian-Hungarian War finally ended by signing of the Peace of Olomouc in 1479, in which Moravia , Silesia and Lusatia were ceded to Matthias Corvinus for

2976-695: The Catholic side and the Hussite side, for which he earned the nickname King of two peoples . Despite his efforts, he ultimately did not succeed and in 1465, the catholic nobles formed the Unity of Green Mountain and challenged his rule. A year after, he was excommunicated by the new Pope Paul II , which gave a justification for the Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus to invade the Czech Lands and start

3100-578: The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia seized power in a coup d'état. Klement Gottwald became the first communist president. He nationalized the country's industry and collectivized its farms to form Sovkhozs inspired by the Soviet model. Czechoslovakia thus became a part of the Eastern Bloc . Attempts at a reformation of the political system during the Prague Spring of 1968 were ended by

3224-591: The Czech Television (ČT) started a contest to choose The Greatest Czech (inspired by the British show 100 Greatest Britons ). By 15 January it seemed that most of the votes (by SMS , the Internet or mail) had gone to Jára Cimrman. However, ČT decided to disqualify Cimrman, saying that only real people were eligible for the contest, a decision that was strongly criticized by the public. An online petition

3348-902: The East-West Schism and in 1212, the duke Ottokar I was granted the hereditary title of king for his service to the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II . The Přemyslid dynasty died out at the start of the 14th century and was replaced by the Luxembourg dynasty . The most notable of the Luxembourg rulers was Charles IV, who was elected the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. He established the Archbishopric of Prague and Charles University ,

3472-478: The House of Habsburg , who died shortly after. The claim to the Lands of the Bohemian Crown was passed to his unborn son Ladislaus , who gained the nickname Posthumous . He was raised at the court of his distant relative Emperor Frederick III . Although he was crowned the King of Bohemia in 1453, his regent George of Poděbrady continued to effectively rule Bohemia in his stead. Ladislaus died in Prague after fleeing

3596-549: The Hussite Wars . The religious military conflicts stopped in 1434 with the battle Battle of Lipany , but the religious tensions continued on. Although Sigismund became the titular King of Bohemia after Wenceslaus IV's death in 1419, it was not until 1436 that he was recognized by the Czech Estates and he died a year after. After Sigismunds's death the title of the King of Bohemia went to his son-in-law Albert from

3720-691: The Jesuit Order to Prague in 1556. From 1599 to 1711, Moravia (a Land of the Bohemian Crown ) was frequently subjected to raids by the Ottoman Empire and its vassals (especially the Tatars and Transylvania ). Overall, hundreds of thousands were enslaved whilst tens of thousands were killed. Maximilian II succeeded Ferdinand I in 1562 and – like his father – ruled from Vienna. He approved Czech Confession ( Confessio Bohemica in Latin) –

3844-785: The Kůlna Cave in central Moravia, with the estimated age of 120,000 years. More stone tools and the skeletal remains of a Neanderthal man were found at the same site in a 50,000-year-old layer. Human remains from 45,000 years ago were found in Koněprusy Caves in Zlatý kůň at Beroun District . Human remains from 30,000 years BCE were found in Mladeč caves mammoth tusks with complex engravings (again around 30,000 BCE) were found both in Pavlov and Předmostí at Přerov , making south Moravia one of

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3968-564: The Letter of Majesty – a document granting religious freedoms, signed by Rudolf II. eight years earlier. Ferdinand II did not share the religious benevolence of his predecessors. A year after he was crowned, he prohibited the construction of Protestant ecclesial buildings on royal land. That led to protests among the Protestant nobility – who saw it as a violation of the Letter of Majesty – and

4092-704: The Munich Treaty , stripping the Czechoslovakia of its borderlands, leaving it indefensible. After giving up Sudetenland , the Second Czechoslovak Republic lasted only half-a-year before its full dismemberment before the start of World War II. The Slovak Republic declared its independence from Czechoslovakia and became Germany's client state , while two days later the German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia

4216-739: The Peace of Pressburg , Francis I lost many of his territories and soon after, the Holy Roman Empire dissolved, replaced by the Confederation of the Rhine . Following the end of Napoleonic Wars , the Congress of Vienna reinstated the Austrian Empire as one of the Great Powers of Europe in 1815. Francis I was a proponent of conservatism and his policies suppressed all of the emerging liberal and nationalist movements in his Empire. He

4340-563: The Prague Castle and all effective power was given into the hands of Matthias. After Rudolf II's death in 1612 the royal court moved back to Vienna. Matthias did not have any children – same as his brother Rudolf – and he died six years later, aged 62. He was succeeded by his cousin Ferdinand II , Archduke of Austria. The Diets of Bohemia confirmed Ferdinand's position as Matthias' successor only after he had promised to respect

4464-645: The Schmalkaldic War , they did so very reluctantly. The next year the Czech estates refused to gather an army again and rebelled, for which they were punished after the Schmalkaldic League decisively lost the Battle of Mühlberg . As a result, Ferdinand I managed to strengthen his position in the Land of the Bohemian Crown, limit city privileges and begin the process of recatholicization by inviting

4588-697: The Second Defenestration of Prague in 1618, which sparked the conflict that would become the Thirty Years' War . The revolting Bohemian estates then chose Frederick V of Palatinate as their new king and gathered an army in preparation of war. They were joined by Lutheran nobility in Austria. Ferdinand II asked his Spanish relative Philip III for help. Spanish army in the Netherlands made sure forces of Protestant Union could not join

4712-546: The Ukrainian SSR . Oblast of Ukraine . Pet%C5%99%C3%ADn Lookout Tower The Petřín Lookout Tower ( Czech : Petřínská rozhledna ) is a steel-framework tower 63.5 metres (208 ft) tall on Petřín Hill in Prague , built in 1891. It resembles the Eiffel Tower and was used as an observation tower as well as a transmission tower. Today the tower is a major tourist attraction. The Petřín Hill

4836-619: The 1920 constitution . Annexed by Nazi Germany . ČSR; included the autonomous regions of Slovakia and Subcarpathian Ruthenia. Annexed by Hungary (1939–1945). ČSR; declared a "people's democracy" (without a formal name change) under the Ninth-of-May Constitution following the 1948 coup . ČSSR; from 1969, after the Prague Spring , consisted of the Czech Socialist Republic (ČSR) and Slovak Socialist Republic (SSR). Oblast of

4960-567: The 19th century, the nationalist tendencies and movements in the Czech lands known as the Czech National Revival slowly grew, led by activists such as linguists Josef Dobrovský and Josef Jungmann , historian and politician František Palacký or writer Božena Němcová and journalist Karel Havlíček Borovský . The efforts of the Czech National Revival first peaked during the revolutions of 1848 . Ferdinand I

5084-672: The Austria-Hungary. Desertion among the Czech conscripts was commonplace and Czechoslovak Legions were formed to fight for the side of Entente Powers . In the Cleveland Agreement of 1915 , the Czech and Slovak representatives declared their goal of creating a common state, based on the right of a people to self-determination . When the World War I ended in 1918, the Kingdom of Bohemia officially ceased to exist and

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5208-458: The Catholic religion. Because of her marriage to Francis Stephen of Lorraine , all of her children were considered to be members of a new joint House of Habsburg-Lorraine . After the death of Maria Theresa's husband in 1765, her son Joseph II started to rule with her as a co-ruler and since 1780 as the sole ruler. He enforced many reforms, among the most notable are the abolition of serfdom , Patent of Toleration expanding religious freedom and

5332-399: The Club of Czech Tourists visited the world exposition in Paris and were inspired by the Eiffel Tower. They collected a sufficient amount of money and in March 1891 the building of the tower started for the World's Jubilee Exhibition . It was finished in only four months. The tower had a lift for six people, first on a gas train, later on an electric drive. In 1953, a television transmitter

5456-401: The Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. The official start of the current Czech Republic was set on 1 January 1993. The Czech Republic became a member of NATO in 12 March 1999, and the European Union in 1 May 2004. Lists: [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] ČSR; boundaries and government established by

5580-465: The Czech and Slovak representatives declared their goal of creating a common state, based on the right of a people to self-determination . After the capitulation of Austria-Hungary three years later, the Czechoslovak Republic became a reality. The so-called First Republic lasted for 20 years, cut short by the advent of the World War II . Following the end of World War II, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia took power in 1948, and Czechoslovakia became

5704-445: The Czech lands The history of the Czech lands – an area roughly corresponding to the present-day Czech Republic – starts approximately 800 years BCE. A simple chopper from that age was discovered at the Red Hill ( Czech : Červený kopec ) archeological site in Brno . Many different primitive cultures left their traces throughout the Stone Age , which lasted approximately until 2000 BCE. The most widely known culture present in

5828-404: The Czech lands during the pre-historical era is the Únětice Culture , leaving traces for about five centuries from the end of the Stone Age to the start of the Bronze Age . Celts – who came during the 5th century BCE – are the first people known by name. One of the Celtic tribes were the Boii (plural), who gave the Czech lands their first name Boiohaemum – Latin for the Land of Boii . Before

5952-419: The Czech lands remained firmly under the control of Austria. The newly formed Real union of Austria-Hungary lasted for the next half-a-century. The policies suppressing the National Revival in the Czech lands under the Austrian government continued, as well as the suppression of the Slovak National Revival under the Hungarian government. The end of the 19th century also was a time of a demographic boom and

6076-513: The Czech lands, when Samo united the local Slavic tribes, defended their lands from the Avars to the east and – few years later – won the battle of Wogastisburg against the Franks invading the Czech lands from the west. The next state appearing in the Czech lands after the dissolution of the Samo's state was probably the Great Moravia . The center of its power lay in the area of Moravia and present-day western Slovakia. In 863, Cyril and Methodius , two scholars from Greece, brought Christianity to

6200-438: The Duchy of Bohemia. The Bishopric of Prague was founded in 973 during the reign of his son Boleslaus II . The bishopric was subordinated to the Archbishopric of Mainz . In 1002, during the reign of the duke Vladivoj , the Duchy of Bohemia formally became a part of the Holy Roman Empire . After a period of dynastic infighting, Oldřich took power. His son Břetislav I led many ambitious conquests and later revolted against

6324-444: The Eiffel Tower, which is 328m tall. In contrast to the Eiffel Tower, Petřín Lookout Tower has an octagonal, not square, cross-section. Further, it does not stand, as does the Eiffel Tower, on four columns of lattice steel. The whole area under its legs is covered with the entrance hall. A similarity between the Eiffel Tower and Petřín Lookout Tower is the design of the lowest cross beams in the form of round bones. In 1889, members of

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6448-419: The Great Moravia and established the first Slavic script – Glagolitsa . The Great Moravia fell during the Magyar invasion at the start of the 10th century. A new state formed around the tribe of Premyslids , who founded the Duchy of Bohemia. The duchy existed largely within the sphere of influence of the East Franconia and later the Holy Roman Empire . The duchy sided with the Roman Catholic Church during

6572-440: The Holy Roman Emperor Henry III hoping to gain a full autonomy for the Duchy of Bohemia. Despite the initial success in Battle at Brůdek , he could not withstand the second invasion of the imperial army and ultimately had to renounce all of his conquests save for Moravia and recognize Henry III as his sovereign. After Břetislav's death, the infighting among Přemyslids continued – a consequence of seniority inheritance laws . Among

6696-414: The King of Bohemia. The first Czech Industrial Exhibition was prepared in honor of his visit in Clementinum and the Czech Estates commissioned an opera from Mozart for the occasion. Leopold II was succeeded by Francis I , the first-born of his 12 sons. In 1805, Napoleon 's army attacked Austria and defeated the Austrian and Russian army in the decisive Battle of Austerlitz in south Moravia. In

6820-434: The King of Hungary. Four years later, Wenceslaus II died – only 33 years old – probably of tuberculosis . Wenceslaus III abandoned his claim to the Hungarian throne, seeing that his rule was only nominal. Władysław the Elbow-high challenged Wenceslaus III's rule in Poland and conquered Krakow in 1306. Before Wenceslaus III could start his retaliation campaign, he was murdered in Olomouc by unknown assassins. Wenceslaus III

6944-426: The King of Hungary. In 1400, Wenceslaus IV was deposed as the Holy Roman Emperor, mainly due to his failure to address the Papal Schism . Two years later, Wenceslaus IV was briefly imprisoned again, this time by his brother Sigismund, who looted Moravia. After the death of Rupert – who had replaced Wenceslaus as the King of Romans – Wenceslaus IV competed with his brother Sigismund and his cousin Jobst of Moravia for

7068-420: The Lands of the Bohemian Crown were inherited by Ferdinand I from the House of Habsburg, as was agreed during the First Congress of Vienna. After the Battle of Mohács, the Ottomans were unsuccessful in their Siege of Vienna in 1529 and Ferdinand I managed to sign the Treaty of Constantinopole , postponing the Ottoman expansion attempts. Ferdinand and his brother Charles V – who was the Holy Roman Emperor at

7192-410: The Marcomanni tribe during the first two centuries CE. Germanic towns are described on the Map of Ptolemaios from the 2nd century, e.g. Coridorgis for Jihlava. The following centuries of what is known as the Great Migration once again changed the ethnic composition of the Czech Lands. In the 6th century, Slavic tribes, displaced by Langobard and Thuringian tribes began to move into the Czech Lands from

7316-419: The Slavs to defeat the Avars. Thus the Slavs adopted Samo as their ruler. Later Samo and the Slavs came into conflict with the Frankish empire whose ruler Dagobert I wanted to extend his rule to the east. That led to the Battle of Wogastisburg in 631, in which the newly established Realm of Samo successfully defended its autonomy. The realm disintegrated after Samo's death. The realm of Great Moravia probably

7440-410: The actors taking turns to come onstage and present their "findings", then a comic dramatisation of the topics discussed in the seminar follows in the second half. Salon Cimrman focuses just on lectures supplemented by brief sketches or songs. In total 16 Cimrman plays have been produced. In 1983 Ladislav Smoljak directed the film Jára Cimrman Lying, Sleeping ( Czech : Jára Cimrman ležící, spící ),

7564-422: The audience, and the ensemble had to employ the abovementioned "Vichr z hor" to safely leave the scene. Cimrman's theatrical company (called Lipany ) had a significant share of untalented and inexperienced actors. In the lecture preceding the play The Stand-In ( Czech : Záskok ), a list of Cimrman's "Ten Commandments for Novice Actors" is presented, after which the commandments are broken one by one throughout

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7688-402: The author himself left the stage. Cimrmanologists admit that Cimrman has failed to obtain any recognition in this field (as well as in any other) because his methods were far too ahead of his time. This is also in strong contrast with the fact how brilliantly he helped Anton Chekhov with his play (advising him that two sisters are not enough). Vichr z hor ("The Gale from the Mountains") was

7812-513: The authors later recalled, the mystification of presenting the new discovery of a forgotten Czech genius was successful. Some listeners recognised it as humorous, some called for punishment for those who tried to deceive people, and others (at least in the beginning) believed the stories. In 1967 Jiří Šebánek , together with Miloň Čepelka , Ladislav Smoljak and Zdeněk Svěrák , founded the Jára Cimrman Theatre  [ cs ] . The first play, written by Svěrák and attributed to Cimrman/Svěrák,

7936-400: The beginning of the Common Era the Celts were mostly pushed out by Germanic tribes. The most notable of those tribes were the Marcomanni and traces of their wars with the Roman Empire were left in south Moravia. After the turbulent times of the Migration Period , the Czech lands were ultimately settled by the Slavic tribes. The year of 623 marks the formation of the first known state in

8060-407: The character. On subsequent shows the joke was extended as more and more documents, detailing other aspects of Cimrman's life and his theatrical work, were found in an increasing variety of places. Cimrman's character and stories were located in the Austria-Hungary era as a pastiche of Czech nationalism , but also to allow the writers to criticise the contemporary communist regime without detection. As

8184-400: The cohort is bound to forget at least a part of the lecture, his system was based on dividing the lectured subjects into clearly marked "Forget-me-not" and "Not-forget-me-not" sections. The former was one-tenth of all the learning volume and was meant to be remembered, while the latter made up the nine-tenths of the given subject and was intended from the start to be forgotten. As a teacher, he

8308-433: The disciples of Methodius after their teacher's death. During his reign, Great Moravia's sphere of influence reached its peak. After his death, the realm was split among his sons and soon after fell to ruin due to infighting and constant Magyar raids during the start of the 10th century. Bořivoj from Levý Hradec was the first known member of the Přemyslid dynasty. In 880, he moved his residence to Prague Castle, which laid

8432-466: The dissolution of all monastic orders not involved in education, healthcare or science. As part of his centralization efforts, he also pressed for the expansion of German language to all territories under his rule. Both of his wives died relatively young of smallpox and because he had no sons, he was succeeded by his younger brother Leopold II . Although Leopold II only ruled for two years, he spent several weeks in Prague in 1791 and he let himself be crowned

8556-400: The east. They fought with neighboring Avars – Turko-Tartar nomads – who seized the Pannonia and frequently raided the Slavic lands and even the Frankish Empire. In 623 – according to the Chronicle of Fredegar – the Slavic tribes revolted against the oppression of the Avars. During this time, the Frankish merchant Samo allegedly came to the Czech lands with his entourage and joined with

8680-452: The empty throne was given to the House of Habsburg . After the death of the Emperor Rudolf II of Habsburg , the religious and political tensions grew, resulting in the Second Defenestration of Prague , which sparked the Thirty Years' War . Many of the Czech nobles supported the Protestant side and were stripped of their properties as a result. Germanization and recatholicisation of the Czech lands followed. The spread of Romanticism during

8804-422: The end of 1920's together with the rise of the National Socialist Party in neighbouring Germany during the 1930s caused increasing tensions between the different nationalist groups in Czechoslovakia. In foreign relations the newly established republic relied heavily on its western allies of Great Britain and France. That proved to be a mistake as in 1938, both allied countries agreed to Hitler's demands and co-signed

8928-618: The first university north of Alps and east of Paris. He also legally established the Lands of the Bohemian Crown ( Corona regni Bohemiae in Latin), meaning the core territories no longer belonged to a king or a dynasty but to the Bohemian monarchy (crown) itself. In 1355, Charles IV travelled to Rome where he was crowned the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. He ruled as the Holy Roman Emperor for over 20 years and managed to secure

9052-462: The first university north of the Alps and east of Paris. The start of the 15th century saw the rise of Proto-Protestantic sentiments in the Czech lands. The execution of Jan Hus sparked the Hussite Wars and the religious split that followed them. The Jagiellon dynasty ascended the Czech throne in 1471. They ruled for half a century before the king Louis Jagiellon died in the Battle of Mohács and

9176-777: The formation of separate states. In 1999, the Czech Republic joined Nato and in 2004, became a member of the European Union . A simple chopper – left by the ancestors of the present-day Homo Sapiens – dated to 800,000 BCE was uncovered in Red Hill in Brno. First evidence of human camps was found in Přezletice near Prague and in Stránská skála near Brno which dates to about 200,000 years after that. Stone tools were found in

9300-518: The foundation of the city of Prague that emerged centuries later. He was a vassal to the kings of Great Moravia and was baptised during the christanisation of Great Moravia by St. Cyril and St. Methodius. His son Spytihněv I together with the head of another major Bohemian tribe Witizla used the collapse of Great Moravia and in 895 swore allegiance to the East Frankish king Arnulf of Carinthia . Spytihněv's nephew Wenceslaus (later proclaimed

9424-450: The future practical use of phones, which were being slowly installed throughout the empire at that time. He created in them such a euphoria, that when the first phones arrived, many of his current and former students began throwing whole fortunes into the phones, calling random numbers; many of them went home from the telephone booths completely penniless and became beggars. He also revolutionized his small town schooling methods. Knowing that

9548-496: The increased corvée occurred, but all in vain. In 1705, Leopold I's rule ended and his son Joseph I succeeded him. Joseph I planned to enact many administrative reforms, most of which he did not get the chance to finish, due to his premature death of smallpox . One year before his death he issued letters patent ordering that all Romani people in the Lands of the Bohemian Crown had one of their ears cut off. If they returned after being expelled, all Romani men were to be hanged without

9672-414: The inside of the structure. A pair of staircases form a double-helix structure allowing visitors travelling up and down concurrently. There are a gift shop and a small cafeteria on the main level. On the lowest level is a small exhibition area. One exhibition displayed Merkur Observation Towers and was held from 6 March 2013 to 30 March 2014. Petřín Lookout Tower is often described a smaller version of

9796-416: The internet itself, although without the widespread use of computers. Due to the technologies available at the time he had to rely on telephones. His internet basically consisted of an old circus tent where the maestro arranged the telephone apparatus for various pensioned high school teachers to answer all kinds of questions people asked. The well known WWW prefix also originated here. One of the teachers' name

9920-554: The invasion of armies of the Warsaw Pact . The Czechoslovakia remained under the rule of the Communist Party until the Velvet Revolution of 1989. One of the leaders of the dissent , Václav Havel became the first president of the democratic Czechoslovakia. Slovakia's demands for sovereignty were fulfilled at the end of 1992, when the representatives of Czechs and Slovaks agreed to split the Czechoslovakia into

10044-668: The king of Poland, was murdered and Wenceslaus II gained the Polish crown for himself. At the end of the 13th century, huge deposits of silver were found in Kutná Hora , which allowed him to start issuing vast amounts of silver coins called Prague groschen . In 1301, another neighbouring monarch died – Andrew III of Hungary , the last male member of the Árpád dynasty . Wenceslaus II married his son Wenceslaus III to Andrew III's only daughter and had him crowned in Székesfehérvár as

10168-429: The king of both Hungary and Bohemia. In 1521 he refused to pay the agreed annual tribute to the new Ottoman sultan, Süleyman I and executed his ambassadors. War ensued, Belgrade fell to Ottoman hands the same year. In 1526, Louis II led his forces against Suleiman I in the Battle of Mohács , which ended with a decisive defeat of the Hungarian army and Louis II drowned during his attempted retreat. He left no heirs and so

10292-490: The lands he had acquired south of Bohemia. Ottokar refused and waged two wars against the emperor which ended with his death at the battlefield of Marchfeld in 1278. The crown was passed to his 6-year-old son Wenceslaus II. Otto V, Margrave of Brandenburg ruled as a regent in his stead, later replaced by Záviš of Falkenstein , who married Ottokar II's widow. In 1290, Wenceslaus II had Záviš beheaded for alleged treason and began ruling independently. Year later, Przemysł II ,

10416-576: The lands of the Boii. The Dacian occupation primarily affected modern-day Slovakia but also held sway over regions of present-day Czech Republic and Pannonia . Following Burebista's demise in 44 BC, his empire crumbled, liberating the lands of the Boii from Dacian rule. Traces of Roman army camps were found in south Moravia, most notably near Mušov . The winter camp in Mušov was built to house approximately 20,000 soldiers. The Romans were repeatedly at war with

10540-569: The language composition of the Czech Lands. His son Wenceslaus I had to deal with the Mongol invasion of Europe at the start of 1240s. He managed to defend Bohemia, but Moravian lands were heavily plundered. When the Duke of Austria Frederick II died in 1246 without male heirs, Wenceslaus I tried to secure the Austrian lands by marrying his eldest son Vladislaus to Frederick's niece Gertrude . This plan failed because of Vladislaus's premature death in

10664-489: The late 18th century went hand in hand with the movement of the Czech National Revival . After 1848, the leading representatives of the Czech National Revival increased their political efforts to gain more autonomy for the Czech lands within the Habsburg Monarchy. The start of World War I opened the possibility of gaining full independence and formation of a sovereign state. In the Cleveland Agreement of 1915,

10788-697: The loss of Silesia, which became a part of Prussia . That was the ended the unity of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown. In 1757 during the Seven Years' War , the Prussians invaded Bohemia again and laid siege to Prague, but subsequently lost the Battle of Kolín and were repelled. Maria Theresa was not able to regain Silesia and the war ended in a draw. She tried to follow the ideas of Enlightenment , she established compulsory secular primary schools, but also state censorship of books that were deemed to be against

10912-643: The more notable rulers belong ( Vratislaus II and Vladislaus ) who were awarded lifetime titles of kings by the Holy Roman Emperors for their services. In 1212 Ottokar I was granted a hereditary title of the King of Bohemia by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II . Thus began the Kingdom of Bohemia , which lasted de iure until the end of World War I. His reign marked the start of the German eastward colonization , which over time significantly altered

11036-646: The most important archeological areas in Europe. The archeological site in Předmostí at Přerov represents the largest accumulation of human remains of the Gravettian culture, known for creating so-called Venus figurines . One of such figurines is the famous Venus of Dolní Věstonice (29,000–25,000 BCE) found in Dolní Věstonice in south Moravia along with many other artifacts from that time. Another Venus figurine

11160-438: The mountains , they kept making remarks on the fierce strength of the wind, which was by that point ripping and carrying objects away (the remaining personnel carried the scene pieces on a carriage standing by). When all that remained on scene were the two actors, the lights went off. This was a signal for the duo to announce, that a storm has arrived and whoever in the audience moves will be struck down by lightning. This impression

11284-648: The nickname John the Blind. A year later he took the side of King Philip VI of France in the Hundred Years' War and died in 1346 in the Battle of Crécy . His eldest son, Charles IV succeeded him on the Bohemian throne. Earlier in 1346, the Pope Clement VI declared the Emperor Louis IV a heretic and demanded a new Imperial election . Charles IV was the pope's preferred candidate and he

11408-622: The number of Chekhov's Three Sisters to just one, or he presented Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves as "Ali Baba the Loner". As his masterpiece in this field is considered his " Hamlet without Hamlet", where some other characters onstage ( King Claudius , Queen Gertrude ) constantly complain that " Hamlet hid himself once again" and they merely use Hamlet's quotations as they presume what would he say if he had been there. However, this version of Hamlet usually did not meet with favour from

11532-450: The other European powers' approval, which he gained in exchange for various concessions. Regardless, after her father's death, Maria Theresa had to defend her inheritance from the coalition of Prussia, Bavaria, France, Spain, Saxony and Poland in the War of Austrian Succession , that broke out mere weeks after her coronation in 1740. She ultimately managed to defend her title, but paid for it with

11656-414: The play in several successive performances or presenting new ideas. He is stated to have sent many of his plays to Ladislav Stroupežnický (a famous Czech playwright) under his name and two pseudonyms, forming such a bundle of rejected works that Stroupežnický recalls they "cost him 60 working days". He also encouraged Cimrman not to write to him and if possible "not to write at all". After Cimrman replied on

11780-452: The rest of his life and both monarchs were allowed to use the title of King of Bohemia. In 1485, Vladislaus II confirmed right of all Bohemian noblemen and commoners to freely adhere either to Hussitism or Catholicism in the Peace of Kutná Hora . After Matthias Corvinus died in 1490, Vladislaus II was elected the King of Hungary and gained all the territories he ceded 30 years earlier. From then on he ruled from Buda . Although Vladislaus II

11904-525: The rest of the play. In another version, the 7th command is omitted and another command is listed as the last one: On September 16, 2016, Google celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first play with Jára Cimrman with a Google Doodle . A subspecies of field mouse from the Czech Republic was named Apodemus microps cimrmani in honor of Cimrman. A species of Coccidia in Yemen chameleon was named "Isospora jaracimrmani" in honor of Cimrman. History of

12028-402: The revolt happening in the Lands of the Bohemian Crown and in Austria. After dealing with the Austrian rebels, Ferdinand II decisively defeated Frederick V at the Battle of White Mountain , near Prague. Widespread confiscation of property followed, which was then sold to loyal nobles, often of foreign origin. Ferdinand II also had the 27 leaders of the revolt publicly beheaded and strengthened

12152-527: The royal power over the estates. The Lands of the Bohemian Crown and especially Silesia were some of the territories that were hit the hardest by the devastating Thirty Years' War. The war continued even after Ferdinand II's death during the reign of Ferdinand III . In 1648, the Thirty Years' War finally ended with the Peace of Westphalia . Ferdinand III continued the recatholicization and centralization policies of his father. After his death in 1657, he

12276-627: The same time – had to deal with not only the Ottoman threat, but also with the Schmalkaldic League which formed in 1531 to advance the interests of Lutheran states in the Holy Roman Empire. Largely Protestant Czech nobility had a favorable view of the Schmalkaldic League's goals and so when in 1546 Ferdinand I ordered the Czech estates to raise their army and march against the Protestant Electorate of Saxony as part of

12400-586: The start of the Bronze Age, Únětice culture appeared. This culture got its name from a village near Prague, where the first discovery was made in the 1870s. Many of their burial mounds were uncovered, mostly in central Bohemia. It was followed by the Middle Bronze Age Tumulus culture from around 1600 BC. The Urnfield culture is blanket term for various Late Bronze Age cultures dating from c. 1300-800 BC who cremated their dead and buried

12524-634: The start of the Iron Age. The most prominent tribe in Bohemia were the Boii (plural), who gave the area the name of Boiohaemia (Latin for the land of Boii ), which later turned into Bohemia. Before the start of the 1st century CE, they were pushed out by various Germanic tribes ( Marcomanni , Quadi , Lombards ). Around 60 to 50 BC, the Dacian king Burebista established an empire that extended its reach into

12648-415: The title of the King of Romans for his eldest son Wenceslaus IV . Wenceslaus IV did not share the governance abilities of his father. In 1393, the torture and murder John of Nepomuk – vicar-general of the archbishop Jan of Jenštejn – sparked a noble rebellion. He was imprisoned for two years at Králův Dvůr and was only released after an intervention from his younger brother Sigismund , who had become

12772-587: The title of the King of Romans. He ultimately surrendered the title to Sigismund in exchange for keeping Bohemia. In 1414, Sigismund called the Council of Constance , which finally resolved the Papal Schism. It also condemned the teaching of Jan Hus , rector of the University of Prague and a popular church reformist. After Jan Hus refused to retract his teachings, he was burnt alive at stake, which prompted

12896-627: The urns with their ashes. The Hallstatt culture was the last culture of the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age. The key archeological site of the Hallstatt culture in the Czech Lands is the Býčí skála Cave , where a rare bronze statue of a bull was found. Many of these archeological sites were occupied by multiple cultures throughout the ancient times. The area was settled by the Celtic tribes at

13020-511: The year after. Wenceslaus I then decided for the invasion of Austria and he was successful. His successor, Ottokar II , continued the expansion of the realm. He gained more territory south of Austria and led two crusades against the pagan Old Prussians . He was hoping to gain the Imperial crown, but lost in the 1273 election to Rudolf of Habsburg , the first in a line of Habsburg emperors. Rudolf of Habsburg demanded that Ottokar II returns all of

13144-423: Was Weber and since he stuttered, he introduced himself as "W-W-W.Weber." His achievements in this field went even further, thanks to Mr. Šustr, who was responsible for answering biologically themed questions. Šustr answered each one by operating with field mice ( African elephant 's weight was equivalent to 30,000 mice, a weasel was 1.5 times faster than a mouse, etc.). This marks the first recorded use of mouse as

13268-505: Was called Akt ("The Nude"), and premiered in October 1967. Jiří Šebánek later left the theatre and in 1980 founded Salon Cimrman. People from the Jára Cimrman Theatre and Salon Cimrman call themselves "cimrmanologists", and pretend to be enthusiastic scholars who explore and analyse Cimrman's life and work. The plays all follow a similar format; the first half is a seminar in the style of a communist-era public meeting, with

13392-612: Was created by St. Cyril and St. Methodius , who arrived in Great Moravia in 863 from Thessaloniki in Byzantine Empire . They were invited by the king Rastislav who invited them to introduce literacy and a legal system to Great Moravia. His nephew and successor Svatopluk I 's diplomacy was oriented more towards Rome. Great Moravia was taken under the protection of the Holy See in 880 and six years after, he expelled

13516-669: Was crowned as the King of Romans in November 1346 in Bonn . Charles had been in charge of the administration of Czech Lands since 1333, due to his father's absence and health indisposition. Soon after his coronation as the King of Bohemia and the King of Romans, he settled in Prague and laid the foundations of the New Town expanding the capitol. In 1348 he founded the University of Prague ,

13640-666: Was established in the area of today's Moravia and western Slovakia in the 830s. It saw the rise of the first ever Slavic literary culture in the Old Church Slavonic language and the creation of the Glagolitic alphabet , the first alphabet dedicated to a Slavic language. Glagolitic was later simplified into the Cyrillic alphabet that is today used in Russia and many countries in eastern Europe and central Asia. Glagolitic

13764-486: Was forced to abdicate and his successor was his young nephew Francis Joseph I . When he – after losing the war with Italy in 1859 – also lost the war with Prussia in 1866, the Hungarian representatives forced Francis Joseph I to end his absolutist rule over Hungary in the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 . The Czech representatives who hoped for a similar increase in autonomy were left out and

13888-449: Was further supported by the noise of the carriage leaving the theatre area, further simulating thunder. After making sure no-one will move, the duo ran off the stage, leaped onto their prepared bicycles and began chasing the carriage. Cimrman often had to cope with insufficient ensemble or with sudden getaways of his actors. Therefore, he sometimes had to make substantial adjustments to the plays he wanted to perform, for example he reduced

14012-606: Was later re-done and its name changed to Čechové na řípu ("Czechs for Beet", changing just uppercase "Ř" into lower case "ř"), in order to motivate people to work at a sugar refinery in Klánovice. Another man, whom Cimrman is said to have surprised with his works was Jacob Durman, director of the Royal Chamber Theatre in Haag, who, after reading his play Prázdniny s kanibalem Dufkem ("Vacation with cannibal Dufek")

14136-467: Was launched to keep Cimrman eligible. The popular support for Cimrman caused ČT to create a special category for fictional characters to recognize Cimrman's popularity, and Czech Television also made a documentary about him; however, they did not reinstate him to the main contest. The son of Leopold Cimrman, a Czech tailor working in Vienna, and Marlén Cimrmanová, born Jelinková, an Austrian actress, Cimrman

14260-556: Was married three times, he only had two children late in his life: son Louis and daughter Anne . Vladislaus II's two children married two children of the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I as a result of negotiations at the First Congress of Vienna , tying the House of Jagiellon and the House of Habsburg together. A year after that, in 1516, Vladislaus II died and his ten-year-old son Louis II became

14384-656: Was proclaimed. During the World War II – given the high level of industrialization of pre-war Czechoslovakia – the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia served as a major hub of military production for Germany. The oppression of ethnic Czechs increased after the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich by members of the Czech resistance in 1942. After Germany's defeat in 1945, the vast majority of ethnic Germans were forcefully deported from Czechoslovakia. In February 1948,

14508-449: Was putting his pupils under controlled exposure to stress in order to improve information retention of the germane parts of the curriculum —he either snapped his whip hard against the floor or removed his wig ("úlek oslněním" – "fright by daze"). This apparently successful method bears his name to this day as the famous "Cimrman's Fixation by Shock". When students misbehaved, he did not punish them but punished himself instead—his theory

14632-551: Was said to have been born in either 1853 or 1859 (though sometimes other years have been cited as required). Of possible Jewish heritage, Cimrman's name was originally spelt "Zimrman", like the German surname " Zimmermann ", and he changed it later on as a mark of his Czech patriotism. Cimrman attended Czech and German schools in Vienna, and continued his studies in Prague. Due to the family's poverty, Cimrman's parents dressed him in second-hand clothes from his sister Luisa, and sent him to

14756-442: Was set up in the tower and the lift was removed, the tube was filled with cables and power supply. In 1953, a television broadcasting antenna was installed on Petřín Lookout Tower, the program feed performed by a directional radio antenna. This served as Prague's television signal provider until the opening of the Žižkov Television Tower in late 1992. The tower was closed for public during reconstruction in 1979–1992. In 1999–2002,

14880-603: Was succeeded by his only surviving son Leopold I . During the fourth Austro-Turkish War in 1663 the Turkish army invaded Moravia before being stopped in the Battle of Saint Gotthard . Leopold continued waging wars with Ottomans and France throughout his long rule. He increased corvée to three days a week which caused the Peasant Revolt of 1680 . The infamous Losiny Estate Witch Trials took place between 1678 and 1696 resulting in almost 100 dead. More protests against

15004-701: Was succeeded by the Lengyel culture , Funnelbeaker culture and Stroke-ornamented ware culture , which coexisted in the Czech Lands during the end of the Stone Age. Corded Ware culture in the north and Baden culture in the south were the predominant cultures in the Czech Lands throughout the Copper Age . The Bell Beaker culture represented the transition from the Copper Age to the Bronze Age . With

15128-471: Was that pupils certainly must love their teacher and therefore would feel remorse if he should suffer. When his students put water into his ink-bottle instead of ink, he would not leave his house for a week. His students having had no school then had enough free time to feel sorry for him. Alternately he would refuse to have his cigarette after lunch and stating: "Today, after lunch, I will not smoke my cigar ("viržínko"). Don't cry, it's your fault." Jára Cimrman

15252-530: Was the first of Austrian monarchs to widely utilize the secret police and he increased censorship. His son Ferdinand I became the Austrian Emperor after him. Because of his frequent seizures, he was not capable of ruling and the actual executive power was held by the Regent's Council. In 1836, one year after his succession, he was crowned the King of Bohemia under the name of Ferdinand V. Throughout

15376-667: Was the last male member of the main branch of Přemyslids. The Holy Roman Emperor Henry VII of the House of Luxembourg married his son John to Wenceslaus III's sister Elisabeth and secured for him the Bohemian throne. John of Luxembourg was raised in Paris, did not speak any Czech and was widely unpopular among the Czech nobility. John never stayed long in the Czech lands, he traveled all across Europe and took part in multiple military conflicts. While crusading in Lithuania in 1336, John lost his eyesight due to ophthalmia , which earned him

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