Facts about the Czech Republic - 30 things you (might) not know

Writer: Peter Bergström

Updated: September 2026 | The Czech Republic is often associated with Prague, beautiful castles and perhaps most of all, beer. But the country has also given the world the sugar cube, soft contact lenses and the very word ”robot”. It is also home to strange works of art, spas with a royal history, an astronomical clock from the Middle Ages and traces of Swedish soldiers in a surprisingly large number of places.

Facts about the Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is one of our favorite countries to travel to and we have traveled around pretty much the entire country, mostly with our campervan. Here we have collected 30 interesting, fun and sometimes unexpected facts about the Czech Republic. How many did you know?

1. The Czech Republic has 17 World Heritage Sites

Although the Czech Republic is not a large country, there are 17 places and areas on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Among the most famous are the historic center of Prague, Český Krumlov, Kutná Hora and the cultural landscape of Lednice-Valtice.

But the list also includes much more unexpected World Heritage sites. For example, there is the landscape around the town of Žatec, where the cultivation and trade of hops has shaped both the landscape and the settlement, and three famous spa towns that are part of a common European World Heritage Site.

2. The Czech Republic is one of Europe's most secular countries

The Czech Republic is often described as one of Europe's least religious countries, but that doesn't really mean that "almost all Czechs are atheists.".

In the 2021 census, just over two-thirds of those who answered the voluntary question about religion said they had no religious belief. At the same time, around 30 percent of the entire population chose not to answer the question at all. It is therefore wise to be cautious about making precise claims about how many Czechs are atheists.

3. The Liechtenstein family had their summer residence in what is now the Czech Republic

The fabulous cultural landscape of Lednice-Valtice in southern Moravia is associated with a family that is still very relevant: the princely House of Liechtenstein.

The family owned large estates in the area for several centuries and used Lednice as a summer residence. In the 19th century, Prince Alois II had the castle rebuilt into the romantic neo-Gothic creation that welcomes visitors today. After World War II, the family's Czechoslovak estates were confiscated by the state. Lednice-Valtice is now one of the Czech Republic's World Heritage Sites.

4. Europe's largest natural sandstone gate is in the Czech Republic

In the Czech Switzerland National Park, Bohemian Switzerland, near the German-Czech border, there is the mighty Pravčická brána. The natural sandstone formation has a span of approximately 27 meters and is usually described as Europe's largest natural sandstone gate.

The entire area is known for its dramatic rock formations, deep gorges and hiking trails. The name Bohemian Switzerland may sound strange, but the landscape was named by Swiss artists who found the area reminiscent of their homeland.

5. David Černý's giant babies climb a TV tower

Czech artist David Černý is known for his works of art that hardly blend in discreetly with the cityscape. One of the most famous examples is his giant babies with strange faces.

Some of the babies can be found on Kampa Island in Prague, while others appear to be crawling up the futuristic Žižkov TV Tower. Černý has created several notable and provocative works around Prague, making the city something of a treasure hunt for those who like unusual public art.

6. In the Czech Republic you can bathe in beer

Drinking beer in the Czech Republic is hardly a surprise. But why settle for drinking it when you can bathe in it?

In several parts of the country there are so-called beer spas, where visitors bathe in warm water with ingredients used in beer brewing, such as hops, malt and yeast. There is often also a beer tap within easy reach of the bath. Beer spas are sometimes marketed with various health claims, but we are content to say that the combination of a warm bath and cold beer at least sounds quite Czech.

7. Swedish Felix has his roots in Czech Znojmo

The next time you see Felix ketchup, Boston cucumber or any other Felix product in a Swedish grocery store, you can think of the Czech city of Znojmo.

Herbert Felix grew up in a Jewish family that ran a food preservation business, specializing in the famous pickled cucumbers from Znojmo. After the Nazis took power, he was forced to leave Central Europe and ended up in Sweden. He came to Eslöv in 1939, where his knowledge of preservation eventually became the basis for the Felix brand.

8. In Prague's Jewish Cemetery, the graves are in several layers

The old Jewish cemetery in Josefov in Prague is one of the city's most special historical sites. The cemetery was used for several hundred years, but the available area could not be easily expanded.

The solution was to add new layers of soil and bury more people on top of older graves. In some places, there are therefore many layers of graves on top of each other. Today, there are over 12,000 visible gravestones, tightly packed and often leaning in different directions. The oldest preserved gravestone is from 1439.

9. Czech can handle sentences without a, e, i, o or u

Where did the vowels go? The classic Czech tongue twister ”Strč prst skrz krk” does not contain a single one of the common vowels a, e, i, o, u or y. The sentence roughly means ”stick your finger through your throat.”.

The explanation is that, among other things, r and l can function as syllable-carrying sounds in Czech. For a Swede trying to pronounce the sentence, it still feels like someone forgot to deliver half the alphabet.

10. The sugar cube was born in the Czech Republic

In the past, sugar was often sold in large, hard lumps, and anyone who wanted a smaller piece had to chop or cut it loose.

In the 19th century, Jakub Kryštof Rad worked as the manager of a sugar refinery in the town of Dačice. According to popular legend, his wife Juliana injured her hand while trying to divide sugar and urged her husband to come up with something easier. The result was small, ready-made sugar cubes. In the 1840s, Rad was granted a patent for his method – and Dačice even has a monument to the sugar cube today.

11. Eleven-year-old Mozart complained about the trumpets in Brno

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was still a child when he was already touring Europe as a musical prodigy. On December 30, 1767, eleven-year-old Wolfgang and his sixteen-year-old sister Nannerl performed in Brno.

The concert took place in what is now the Reduta Theatre on Zelný trh Square. According to a contemporary diary entry, young Mozart was not particularly impressed by the trumpeters, who he thought had trouble playing cleanly together. Quite a tall order for an eleven-year-old – but it was Mozart after all.

12. The Swedes occupied Olomouc for eight years

The Thirty Years' War left clear Swedish traces in today's Czech Republic. One of the most dramatic examples is found in Olomouc.

Swedish troops occupied the city in 1642 and remained there until 1650 – even after the Peace of Westphalia ended the war in 1648. The occupation and the war years hit the city hard, losing much of its former importance. At the same time, Brno strengthened its position as the most important city in Moravia.

13. Prague Castle is an entire area – not just a castle

The name Prague Castle may make you think you're visiting just one large building, but in reality, Prague Castle is a huge historical complex with palaces, churches, courtyards, gardens, and defenses.

Here you will find the mighty St. Vitus Cathedral and the charming Golden Lane. The writer Franz Kafka used the small house number 22, which was rented by his sister, as his workplace for a period from 1916 to 1917. Prague Castle is still the seat of the President of the Czech Republic.

14. Pilsner was born in Plzeň

A large part of the pale lager drunk around the world has its roots in the Czech city of Plzeň.

In 1842, Bavarian brewmaster Josef Groll brewed a new type of light, clear, bottom-fermented beer at the city's brewery. The beer was named Pilsner after his hometown and became so successful that the name evolved into the designation of an entire beer style.

The original still exists under the name Pilsner Urquell – roughly ”pilsner from the original source”.

15. In Mikulov there is a wine barrel that holds over 100,000 liters

On castle in the wine town of Mikulov There is a gigantic wine barrel from the 17th century. It holds just over 100,000 liters and is so large that it looks more like a small room than something you would want to try to roll down into the wine cellar. The barrel was built in 1643 and was used for wine that was paid as tax to the landlord.

And what about the Swedes? They captured and plundered Mikulov in 1645, taking away parts of the famous castle library, among other things. The story that Swedish soldiers emptied the entire gigantic wine barrel, however, is much more difficult to substantiate. What a shame for an otherwise fantastic story!

16. Brno's Mahentheater received electric lighting as early as 1882

When the Mahentheater opened in Brno in 1882, electric lighting was still something of a sensation. The theatre was equipped with almost 2,000 electric light bulbs, using technology from Thomas Edison's company. Since Brno did not yet have a municipal electricity grid, the theatre also needed its own small power station.

The result was one of Europe's true pioneers in electric theatrical lighting – in the middle of a city where electric light was still far from everyday life.

17. The people of Olomouc asked the enemy to stop firing on their column

The 35-meter-high Holy Trinity Column in Olomouc is so impressive that it is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. However, in the 18th century, it was almost demolished.

When Prussian troops besieged Olomouc in 1758, the column was hit by cannon fire. The city's residents then sent representatives to the Prussian commander, asking him to spare the monument – and the shelling stopped.

Today, a gilded cannonball stands on the column as a reminder of the story. Apparently, sometimes it's worth simply asking the enemy to stop shooting.

18. Bohemian glass became an export success as early as the 18th century

Bohemia has a glassmaking tradition that goes back hundreds of years. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Bohemian glass developed into an international export success, competing with the famous Venetian glass.

In the northern Czech Republic, the tradition lives on in the area called Crystal Valley, where there are still glassworks, grinders and jewelry manufacturers. Daniel Swarovski was also born in northern Bohemia, into a family where his father worked as a glass cutter, before later founding his company in Austria.

19. In Sedlec, human bones have become church art

I Sedlec outside Kutná Hora There is a chapel that you will hardly forget after a visit. The Sedlec Ossuary is decorated with the bones of thousands of people. Here you will find garlands, pyramids, a coat of arms and a huge chandelier where human bones have been used as decorative elements.

The bones come from people who were buried in the cemetery over the centuries, which became particularly sought after after soil from the Holy Land was traditionally scattered there. When the graves were later emptied, the bones were collected in the chapel. The spectacular decoration was created mainly in the 19th century.

20. Franz Kafka gave the world something ”Kafkaesque”

Franz Kafka was born in Prague in 1883 and wrote in German. During his lifetime, he was far from the literary superstar he would later become. After his death, his friend Max Brod published several works that Kafka had wanted destroyed, including the novels The process and Castle.

Kafka's depictions of people trapped in incomprehensible, threatening, and absurd systems became so influential that his name evolved into its own adjective. Even in Swedish, an absurd bureaucratic situation can be described as "Kafkaesque.".

21. The word robot was born in the Czech Republic

Robot sounds like a modern technical term, but it is actually more than a century old. The word became famous through the play by Czech author Karel Čapek RUR – Rossum's Universal Robots, which was written around 1920. Čapek was pondering what to call the play's artificial workers and asked his brother Josef for advice.

Josef suggested ”robot”, with a connection to the Czech word robot, referring to hard or forced labor. A Czech word had suddenly found a future in science fiction – and later in real technology.

22. Soft contact lenses started with a kit

Czech chemist Otto Wichterle played a crucial role in the development of soft contact lenses.

In the early 1960s, he experimented at home with how lenses could be made from hydrogel. To cast them using centrifugal force, he built a simple device using parts from a Czech children's Merkur construction kit. The first homemade "lens machine" was the beginning of a manufacturing method that gained importance far beyond Czechoslovakia.

It's hard not to love inventions that start something like: "I found some parts in the kids' construction kit..."”

23. Three Czech spa towns are World Heritage Sites

Karlovy Vary, Marianske Lazne and Františkovy Lázně form the famous spa triangle in the western Czech Republic.

People have come here for centuries to bathe, rest and, above all, drink the mineral-rich water straight from the hot springs. The classic spa mug has a spout that makes it possible to walk around and sip the water.

Since 2021, the three Czech cities, along with eight other European spa towns, have been included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. The Great Spa Towns of Europe.

24. The peaceful division of Czechoslovakia was negotiated at Villa Tugendhat

Villa Tugendhat in Brno is a masterpiece of modernist architecture, designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe for Greta and Fritz Tugendhat and completed around 1930. But the house has also gained a place in modern political history.

In August 1992, political leaders Václav Klaus and Vladimír Mečiar met here during negotiations on the future of Czechoslovakia. A few months later, the country ceased to exist and on January 1, 1993, two independent states emerged: the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The peaceful separation has become known as the ”Velvet Divorce”.

25. Škoda started on two wheels

Škoda is of course associated with cars, but the company's history began with much narrower vehicles. In 1895, Václav Laurin and Václav Klement started manufacturing bicycles in Mladá Boleslav under the name Slavia. A few years later, the company began building motorcycles and in 1905, the first car, the Voiturette A, was presented.

It was not until 1925 that Laurin & Klement merged with the Škoda industrial group. Today's Škoda Auto can therefore trace its roots back to two men who started out building bicycles.

26. Prague's astronomical clock dates back to 1410 – and is still working

The astronomical clock at the Old Town Hall is one of Prague's main attractions. The oldest part was created in 1410 by the clockmaker Mikuláš from Kadaň in collaboration with the astronomer Jan Šindel. The clock shows much more than just the time. Here, you can follow the positions of the sun and moon, and at certain times, figures of the apostles appear.

The clock has of course been repaired and rebuilt many times over the centuries and was badly damaged during the final stages of World War II. The fact that a mechanism with roots in the early 15th century still works is still quite staggering.

And the story about the watchmaker Master Hanuš having his eyes gouged out so that he could never build anything as beautiful again? A good story – but a legend.

27. Pork, dumplings and sauerkraut is a Czech classic

Pork dumplings is one of the true classics in Czech cuisine. The name basically gives away the entire recipe: boar is pork, doughnut refers to dumplings and zeal on cabbage. The dish is usually served with fried pork, bread dumplings and sauerkraut or other cooked cabbage, often accompanied by plenty of sky.

A hearty Central European meal that also goes surprisingly well with item 14 on this list.

28. The Swedes were stopped at Charles Bridge in 1648

Swedes appear in a surprisingly wide range of places in Czech history – and not always as particularly appreciated guests.

In 1648, during the final months of the Thirty Years' War, Swedish troops captured parts of Prague on the western side of the Vltava. They then attempted to cross Charles Bridge to capture the Old Town, but met stiff resistance and never managed to take the eastern part of the city.

There is also an old legend that eggs were mixed into the mortar when Charles Bridge was built to make the structure stronger. However, that story should be treated as just that – as good as it sounds.

29. Europe's oldest active synagogue is in Prague

The Old New Synagogue in Josefov was built in the second half of the 13th century and is Europe's oldest preserved synagogue still used for religious services.

The Gothic building has been central to Prague's Jewish community for more than 700 years and is associated with the famous Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel, the Maharal.

And from there, of course, it's a short step to the legend of the Golem – the artificial creature made of clay that, according to the story, was created to protect the Jews of Prague. One version of the legend says that the Golem's remains are still hidden in the synagogue's attic. Strangely enough, no solid evidence for this has ever been presented.

30. Playwright Václav Havel went from dissident to president

Václav Havel was a playwright, writer, and one of the most famous critics of the communist regime. His political involvement meant that he was monitored, persecuted, and periodically imprisoned.

When the peaceful Velvet Revolution swept through Czechoslovakia in the fall of 1989, Havel became one of the most important figures in the opposition. On December 29 of that year, he was elected president of the country.

After the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, he became the first president of the independent Czech Republic in 1993. In just a few years, the imprisoned dissident had gone from opponent of the communist regime to head of state.

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