Free Republic

As a place on a map, Bohemia is roughly half of what we call the Czech Republic today. As a neighbourhood or a state of mind it can be found all over the world, in big cities, where it suddenly coalesces in insalubrious districts, flourishes briefly, raises the value of the real estate and then dies off in a flurry of media coverage regretting how these things never last. When a Bohemia dies it usually leaves behind a few architectural remnants, a historical plaque or two, maybe even a museum, and a venerable and overpriced tourist trap like a café...

A casual hike on the slopes of Zvičina Hill in the Czech Republic led to a remarkable discovery when two hikers stumbled upon a lost gold treasure worth more than $340,000. The find, made in early February but only recently announced, includes 598 gold coins, jewelry, and other artifacts. The entire collection weighs about seven kilograms, with gold coins accounting for nearly 3.7 kilograms. While exploring the landscape near the Polish border, the hikers uncovered a tin container packed with nearly 600 gold coins. The coins were carefully stacked in eleven piles and wrapped in black cloth. Not far from...

He became famous for his love affairs, but Casanova was also a writer, diplomat and spy. Born in Venice 300 years ago, his name still resonates around the world. Giacomo Girolamo Casanova admires his tall, slender figure in the gold-trimmed mirror as he adjusts his wig. Everything needs to be perfect as his latest lover is on her way. Oysters, venison and champagne are ready. The beauty Casanova is waiting for is enchanted by the setting. After dinner, the seducer urges her into the bedroom, where they indulge in a night of lovemaking. "Feeling that I was born for the...

In the late 18th century, Russia, Austria, and Prussia finished with the partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. This state was a union of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania that had dominated Eastern and Central Europe for centuries.., But before its era of weakness, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was a power to reckon with. It controlled a large chunk of territory spanning from the Baltic to the Black Sea. Lithuania’s history began in the early 13th century when local pagan Baltic tribes organized themselves into a single state. By 1230, the chieftain Mindaugas emerged as the leader...

Pardubice, East Bohemia, July 11 (CTK) - Archaeologists have uncovered a 4000-year-old grave in Mikulovice, east Bohemia, with remains of what might have been considered a vampire at the time, Nova TV has reported. The experts made the terrifying find within their research of a burial site from the Early Bronze Age. One of the graves was situated somewhat aside. The skeleton in it bears traces of unusual treatment. When buried, the dead man was weighed down with two big stones, one on his chest and the other on his head. "Remains treated in this way are now considered as...

Restoration of 4000 well preserved bronze age woman from Central Europe. He DNA is closely related to modern Europeans, she likely spoke with protoeuropean language. See picture in the link. The member of the Únětice culture was buried with a unique amber necklace, but her DNA is the real treasure. The woman, estimated to have died at around age 35, came from the upper social strata. Her grave in Mikulovice in Eastern Bohemia is one of the richest in Europe from her era. She had fair skin, brown hair, widely spaced brown eyes, a prominent chin, and a petite figure...

A 1,600-year-old burial ground discovered in Eastern Bohemia is shedding new light on that era. The site was discovered in 2019 by archaeologists from archaeologists from the Museum of Eastern Bohemia in Hradec Králové (MVČ HK), and the first findings were just made public.The site has been dated to the fifth century AD, around the time of the collapse of the western part of the Roman Empire and the start of the Dark Ages. The era was known for migration and instability...The intact grave chamber, designated grave number two, contained several items of extraordinary historical and artistic quality such as...

The member of the Únětice culture was buried with a unique amber necklace, but her DNA is the real treasure when it comes to recreating her appearance.You can now see what a woman who lived near the Czech city of Pardubice in the Bronze Age looked like.This image is not an artistic guess. New forms of DNA analysis plus unusually well-preserved personal items allow us to now make a highly accurate picture.The woman, estimated to have died at around age 35, came from the upper social strata. Her grave in Mikulovice in Eastern Bohemia is one of the richest in...

The genetic profiles of people associated with Funnelbeaker and Globular Amphora cultures show evidence of being recent migrants to the region. This finding shows that the period between arrival of agriculture and "steppe"-related ancestry, hitherto thought of as an uneventful period, was more dynamic than previously hypothesised......Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age (~6,000-3,700 years ago)...Individuals associated with the Corded Ware culture expanded from Eastern Europe and then assimilated preferentially central European women into their culture, giving them the same burial ritual as members of the immigrating group...Once established, individuals of the Corded Ware culture (4,900-4,400 years ago) changed genetically through...

The young Archduchess of Austria has married her Belgian racing driver boyfriend in a small civil ceremony in Monaco, it has been reported. Eleonore von Habsburg, 26, whose full title is Archduchess of Austria, Royal Princess of Hungary, Bohemia and Croatia, tied the knot with Formula E racer Jérôme d’Ambrosio, 34, on Monday at a registry office, according to Hello! magazine.

The geographic origins of the metals in Scandinavian mixed-metal artifacts reveal a crucial dependency on British and continental European trading sources during the beginnings of the Nordic Bronze Age.. 2000-1700BC marks the earliest Nordic Bronze Age, when the use and availability of metal--specifically tin and copper, which when alloyed together creates bronze--increased drastically in Scandinavia... isotope and trace-element analyses on 210 Bronze Age artifact samples, predominantly axeheads, originally collected in Denmark and representing almost 50% of all known existing Danish metal objects from this period... reveal the trading networks established to import raw metals as well as crafted weapons into...

The Infant of PragueFr. William Saunders Q: My grandmother has always had a statue of Jesus as a child dressed up like a little king with a crown. She even has different outfits for him which are very elaborate. Can you tell me anything about this?From the description given in the question, the statue is one of the Infant of Prague. Devotion to the Holy Child Jesus is a long-standing tradition in our Catholic spirituality. The early Church Fathers, like St. Athanasius and St. Jerome, had a special devotion to the Holy Child Jesus. Some of the later great saints,...

Footage showing surrendering troops to US Army. southern Bohemia, Czechoslovakia 1945. Isn't strange that some Germans still carry weapons when surrendering plus a few shots from Prague.

He was the mastermind of the mass prison break from a German camp which inspired the iconic film The Great Escape. But a new book has now suggested Spitfire pilot Roger Bushell could also have been linked to the assassination of notorious Nazi officer Reinhard Heydrich, known as 'Hitler's Hangman' and the acting Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia. Simon Pearson's The Great Escaper places Bushell in Prague at the time Heydrich's car was bombed by Czechoslovakian Jan Kubiš, and Slovak Jozef Gabčík, which led to the Nazi officer's death a number of days later.

It was a quiet night at U Fleku, Prague’s premier beer hall. I sat at a long wooden table in the main bar, a Teutonic shrine to dark wood. Waiters scurried about, balancing trays of glasses filled with the rich dark lager that’s brewed on site. The evening entertainment started: a scowling, mustachioed accordionist playing Que Sera Sera. As I finished my beer, the accordionist paused and hunted through his pocket, looking miserably at some loose change. A heavy hint? The majority of travellers to the Czech Republic rarely strike farther than Prague, treading the tourist trail of Charles Bridge,...

Rare Devil's Bible to return to Prague for exhibition Stockholm- The rare Devil's Bible, which Swedish troops took away from Bohemia during the Thirty Years' War and which Czech PM Mirek Topolanek got acquainted with during his visit to Sweden today, will return temporarily to Prague this year and put on display in the National Library. Stockholm's Royal Library experts told Topolanek that the Devil's Bible (Codex Gigas) is one of the most valuable medieval manuscripts summarizing the period knowledge. The manuscript, weighing 75 kg, has a wooden cover in white leather of 92x50.5x22 centimetres. Its digitalisation is underway, the...

WASHINGTON, March 9 (UPI) -- Environmentalism is a religion that is based more on political ambitions than science, the president of the Czech Republic warned Friday. Speaking at the Cato Institute, a public policy think-tank, President Vaclav Klaus said that environmentalists who clamor for policy change to combat global warming "only pretend" to be promoting environmental protection, and are actually being driven by a political agenda. "Environmentalism should belong in the social sciences," much like the idea of communism or other "-isms" such as feminism, Klaus said, adding that "environmentalism is a religion" that seeks to reorganize the world order...

A top advisor to President Bush left for Moscow Tuesday to deal with rising tensions between the US and Russia over American plans to build missile defense bases in Poland and the Czech Republic. The International Herald Tribune reports that national security advisor Stephen Hadley set out for talks in Moscow just a day after a Russian general warned that Poland and the Czech Republic could become targets if they played host to US antimissile bases, meant to defend against Iranian ballistic missiles. The trip by the adviser, Stephen Hadley, was planned weeks ago. But it now comes in the...

The Bush administration reiterated Thursday that the missile defense system it plans to build in central Europe is not directed against Russia. The comments follow a reported warning that Moscow might withdraw from a Cold War-era arms reduction agreement if the U.S. plans go forward. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department.Officials here say Russia has been consulted at various levels about the U.S. missile-defense plans and intentions, and they say they are puzzled by the repeated caustic comments about the envisaged system from Moscow.The Bush administration announced last month it was opening formal negotiations with Poland and the...

Less than a week after taking office, the Czech Republic's new minority government is embroiled in a major political row with opposition parties over a US project to base missiles on Czech territory. Washington wants to deploy 10 interceptor missiles and a radar in Europe to reinforce its defences against the threat of a ballistic missile attack from North Korea or Iran, and currently has its eye on either the Czech Republic or Poland as the favoured home for the new system. The Czech Republic's new right wing Civic Democrat government, which finally took office on September 4 after three...