Czechia/ Česko

Photo of Prague
map of Czechia

Quick Facts:

Official Name: Czech Republic (Česká republika) also known as Czechia

Capital: Prague

Population: 10,882,164 (World Bank, 2024)

Area: 30,452 square miles (78, 871 square kilometers)

Religion: Czechia is one of the least religious countries. According to the Embassy of the Czech Republic of Ottawa, 39.8% of Czechs consider themselves atheist; 39.2% are Roman Catholics; 4.6% are Protestant.

Currency: Koruna

KU Study Abroad Programs in Czechia

Czech Language

Czech is a West Slavic language spoken in Czechia (Czech Republic) and other parts of Eastern Europe. There are about 10 million native speakers of Czech and many more who speak it as a second or third language.

Czech uses the Latin alphabet, like English does, but with some special pronunciation markers called diacritics. The Czech alphabet has 42 letters. Learn to pronounce the letters of the Czech alphabet here or sing the Czech alphabet song here.

 

Gray and black cat sitting in a window of a Czech folk decorated white house with a word bubble speaking Czech
Good day! My name is Eliska Kocianova. Nice to meet you.

Czech language Resources

KU Library Guide to Czechia

Explore Czech Culture

Explore Czechia's culture through its art, music, dance, food, history, and literature.

Thumbnail List

  • Close up of Czech woman's national dress. Red embroidered skirt, floral ebroidered sash, white and black top with embroidery and very puffy sleeves with lace

    Explore some of Czechia's major holidays.

    Holidays

Czech Flag and National Anthem

The Czech national anthem is called "Kde domov můj" (Where is My Home). The lyrics were written in 1894 by Josef Kajetán Tyl and the music was written by František Škroup in the same year. It was adopted as the national anthem in 1918 and readopted in 1990.
Czech flag. Red stripe on the bottom, white stripe on the top. Blue equilateral triangle on the left side

Czech Money / Koruny

Czechia uses a currency called the koruny. There are koruny (one koruna), like there are dollars, and haléře, like there are cents. There are 100 haléře in one koruna. The number of koruny that equal one US dollar changes. You can google the current exchange rate.

Czech koruna notes of various amounts including 100, 1000, and 500

Paper koruna notes

pile of Czech koruna coins of various amounts

Koruna coins

Prague and Brno

Prague (Praha in Czech) is the capital of Czechia. It was founded in the 8th century. Brno is the second largest city in Czechia. It was founded around the year 1000.

Prague (Praha)

Prague, or Praha in Czech is the capital of Czechia. In 1992 the historic city center was added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List. The city is nicknamed "City of a Hundred Spires" because of the many towers in its skyline.

Brno

Brno is Czechia's second largest city. It is located in southeastern Czechia. Brno is the traditional capital of Moravia. The name Brno comes from the Celtic brynn, which means hill town.

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