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1.
Svatý Václav |
Patron of the Czech lands. Peace-loving king opposing war with the Germans, killed by his brother Boleslav. According to legend he and his soldiers lie under the mountain Blan ík and will rise to help the Czech nation in the gravest hour of need. |
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2. Karel IV. (Charles IV.) (1316 - 1378) |
Holy Roman emperor (1355-78) and founder of Charles University (1348). Under his rule, Czech lands were the political and cultural center of Europe. |
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3.
Jan Hus |
Reform preacher and linguist, author of modern Czech spelling. Burned at stake for heresy. Inspired the Hussite movement. |
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4. Jan Žižka (d. 1424) |
Successful military leader of the Hussite forces. Under him, Czech rebels defeated crusaders sent by the Roman emperor. Famous for directing battles even being blind. |
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5.
Jan Ámos Komenský (Comenius) |
Famous educator and bishop of the Czech Brethren, sometimes nicknamed the ‘Teacher of the nations'. Wrote the first modern compendium of pedagogy. Was exiled during 30-Year War and worked on the educational systems of Sweden and Holland. |
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6.
Antonín Dvořák |
World-famous composer. Spent several years in the United States, where he wrote his most famous symphony ‘From the New World'. |
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7.
T. G. Masaryk |
Politician and philosopher. First president (1918-35) of the pre-war Czechoslovakia, founded at the end of World War I after the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. |
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8.
Jaroslav Hašek |
Popular Czech writer and humorist, author of the ‘Good Soldier Švejk', a book translated into over 20 languages. |
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9.
Karel Čapek |
Leading novelist and playwright of the ‘First Republic'. Coined the word ‘robot' in his play ‘R.U.R.' |
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10.
Václav Havel |
First president of Czechoslovakia after the fall of communism. Human rights fighter and playwright. |
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Jára Cimrman |
A fictious figure from the turn of the century, attributed with most famous inventions. Cimrman was created in the late 60s by a group of Czech actors who produce plays in his name. Gained enormous popularity on the scale of Monty Python in Great Britain. |
When this list was drawn up in 1999, I was going purely by instinct as to who the important people are. And now, in June 2005, I finally had a chance to see if my instinct was right, when Czech TV ran a national poll to find the greatest Czech of all time (see http://www.czech-tv.cz/specialy/nejvetsicech ). And by and large, I was correct. Only two of mine don't appear in the Czech TV top 10. They are St. Wenceslas and Karel Hašek who ranked 17 and 38 respectively. Jan Werich and Božena Němcová were very near the top of my list back then but I excluded them based on of how much interest they are to an international audience. Those who can read Czech, can read more about all the winners on these links.
- Karel IV.
- Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk
- Václav Havel
- Jan Ámos Komenský
- Jan Žižka
- Jan Werich
- Jan Hus
- Antonín Dvořák
- Karel Čapek
- Božena Němcová
There is also the greatest villains poll that might be of interest http://www.czech-tv.cz/specialy/nejvetsicech/padouch
headed by the first communist president Klement Gottwald with the last
communist president Gustáv Husák at number 10. Interestingly, the
current president and former prime minister Václav Klaus famous as the
chief architecht of the Czech privatization and a populist Eurosceptic
made it to number 3 (although he's also at number 18 of the greatest
Czechs) and Stanislav Gross (a prime minister from 9/2004 to 4/2005) is
at number 2.
3 Famous people born in the Czech Republic
1. Madeleine Albright - American Secretary of State born in Moravia
2. Sigmund Freud - Austrian psychologist born in P říbor.
3. Tom Stoppard - English dramatist born in Zlín.More famous people born in the Czech lands suggested by Jirka Hana:
- Franz Kafka, Milan Kundera (writers)
- Gustav Mahler (composer)
- F. Porsche (automobile designer)
- Georg Mendel (founder of the field of genetics)
- K. Goedel, G. Gentzen (mathematicians)
- Edmund Husserl (philosopher)
It is important to remember, however, that most of these people have their roots in the now nonexistent German or German Jewish community either in Prague or in Moravia and had very limited links to Czech culture (although Kafka made it to 55 and Freud to 98 on the greatest Czech poll).
