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Czechia

How the country works: its institutions, history, language and the rules that shape daily life, explained from first principles.

76 articles5 guides · 60 explainers · 2 lists · 9 FAQsUpdated 13 Oct 2026

Featured guide

Czech pronunciation for English speakers: the hooks, the lines and the ř

Forty-two letters, one stress rule and a few awkward sounds decide whether a taxi driver understands Žižkov. A practical guide to reading Czech aloud.

The traditional Czech alphabet has 42 letters, counting ch as a single letter, and stress almost always falls on the first syllable.
Hooks (háčky) change consonants, as in č, š and ž, and acute accents and the ring on ů mark long vowels.
Spelling is far more regular than English, so a learner who knows the rules can read most words aloud correctly.

5 min read · Updated 12 Oct 2026

All Czechia

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Explainer
Adopted in a hurry, still in force: the Czech Constitution in plain terms
A short text on how power works, a separate Charter of rights and an unchangeable core that the Constitutional Court has actually enforced.
5 min
Explainer
Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia: the three lands on the Czech coat of arms
A lion, two eagles and a modern map that ignores all three borders. What the historic lands mean today, and why a region is not a land.
5 min
Explainer
Charles IV and Prague: how one emperor built the city you walk through
The bridge, the university, the New Town and the cathedral all trace back to a single reign. Why a medieval emperor still shapes Prague.
6 min
Explainer
Charter 77: the polite manifesto that made a regime answer for its laws
A short declaration, first signed by 243 people, quoted the communist state's own legal promises back at it. How Charter 77 began and why it counted in 1989.
7 min
Explainer
Church property restitution in Czechia: what the 2012 law settled
A 2012 law returned property to churches, paid compensation over 30 years and phased out state clergy salaries over 17. What it settled, and why it divides.
6 min
Explainer
Counting Czechs: 150 years of censuses, from Habsburg Bohemia to 2021
From a Habsburg head count in 1869 to a mostly online census in 2021, how the Czech lands counted Czechs, Germans, Slovaks and everyone else.
7 min
Explainer
Czech beer culture explained: degrees, foam and the pub tab
The number on a Czech beer is not its strength, a glass of pure foam is a legitimate order, and nobody asks you to repeat your order.
5 min
Explainer
Czech Christmas: carp, Ježíšek and why presents come on the 24th
The big day is 24 December, the fish is a carp that may spend days in the bath, and the gift-bringer is the Baby Jesus. Customs from 4 December to 26 December.
5 min
Explainer
Czech courts in four levels, and why the top ones sit in Brno
District, regional, high and supreme: the Czech court pyramid, the separate administrative branch and the deadlines that catch foreigners out.
5 min
Explainer
Czech cuisine by region: where the national table gets its dishes
The pork-and-dumpling plate is only the middle of the map. Carp in the south, wine and cheese in Moravia, mushrooms everywhere: how geography built the menu.
5 min
Explainer
Czech demographics: an ageing country that grows only through migration
Deaths outnumber births in most years, yet the population is growing. The forces behind the numbers, and how to read the official statistics.
5 min
Explainer
Czech Easter: the pomlázka, painted eggs and a Monday of willow switches
On Easter Monday boys and men tap women with braided willow whips and expect an egg or a drink in return. What happens, why, and the rest of the Easter week.
5 min
Explainer
Czech Germans and the Sudetenland: seven centuries of a shared homeland
German speakers lived in Bohemia and Moravia for some seven centuries, until 1945. How a mixed society became a political battleground, and what remains.
5 min
Explainer
Czech language: seven cases, no articles and what to expect as a learner
Seven cases, three genders, verbs that come in pairs and a spoken form that differs from the textbook. What makes Czech hard, and what helps.
5 min
Explainer
Czech privatisation in the 1990s: what the voucher scheme did and didn't do
Millions of Czechs became shareholders almost overnight. Why the voucher method was chosen, how it worked and why the argument over its legacy still runs.
5 min
Guide
Czech pronunciation for English speakers: the hooks, the lines and the ř
Forty-two letters, one stress rule and a few awkward sounds decide whether a taxi driver understands Žižkov. A practical guide to reading Czech aloud.
5 min
List
Czech public holidays: 13 days off and what each one actually marks
Two national days a month apart that newcomers confuse, a reformer burned at the stake and a Good Friday added in 2016. The 13 holidays, explained.
5 min
Guide
Czech saints, from Wenceslas to Agnes, and where to find them in Prague
A duke killed on his way to church, a grandmother strangled with her veil, a priest thrown from a bridge. The saints behind Czech statehood.
6 min
Explainer
Czech spirits: slivovice, Becherovka and the rules around strong drink
A plum brandy that families still carry to the distillery, a herbal bitter with a secret recipe, and a rum that legally cannot call itself rum.
6 min
Explainer
Czech surnames: why Mr Novák's wife is Mrs Nováková
Why a husband is Novák and his wife Nováková, what a name day is, and why Honza is Jan. How Czech names work and what to check on your documents.
5 min
Explainer
Czech traditional food: what is on the plate and why it is built that way
The Czech lunch starts with soup and ends with a dumpling debate. How a cuisine of pork, flour and cream still shapes the working day.
5 min
Explainer
Czech wine explained: Moravia's four sub-regions and what grows there
A beer country makes most of its wine in southern Moravia, where cellar lanes, cycle trails and a UNESCO landscape share the hills.
5 min
FAQ
Czechia in the EU, Schengen and NATO: what each membership means
NATO in 1999, the EU in 2004, Schengen in 2007, but never the euro. Three clubs, three sets of rules and what each changes for people in Prague.
5 min
FAQ
Czechia or Czech Republic? Two names, both correct, one to pick
Czechia was registered with the UN in 2016, but the Czech Republic remains the legal name. When to use which, and where the confusion began.
5 min