Celebrating the founding of Czechoslovakia 1918-2018

Independence came at the end of WWI when the Austro-Hungarian Emp­ire fell apart. It marked the first time since the Battle of White Mountain in 1620 that Bohemia was not under foreign rule. The First Republic was declared on 28th Oct 1918 when a Czech novelist read the independence proclamation of the sovereign state of Czech­osl­ovakia in the St Wenceslas Square. So the reading in the square was seen as the official start of the new country.

During the cele­brations in Nov 1918, a mob tore down a Victory Column on Old Town Square. It had been there since 1650 and celebrated a battle that occurred on Charles Bridge at the end of the Thirty Years’ War. Some said the column glorified the Hapsburg domination of the country.

This year locals and tourists are invited to comm­em­orate the est­ablishment of Czechoslovakia in 1918, following the end of WWI. To mark the 100th anniversary, hundreds of cul­t­ural, social and sport­ing events will take place throughout 2018 that high­light the First Republic Era i.e the inter-war years. As Czech Tourism detailed, the celebrations will be commemorated by all major Czech institutions, including church, army and cul­tural groups. And families. My husband left Prague in Dec 1951.

The National Technical Museum has an exhibition called Made in Czech­oslovakia 1918-92 – Industry That Conquered the World: Škoda and Tatra car companies, Bata footwear and traditional pro­ducers of glass and fashion jewellery. Visitors can also go on a tour of the original methods for brewing beer, noting that the Czechs drive more beer per head than any other nation in the world.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs examines the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian empire & the post-war arrangement of Europe in a series of exhibitions, conferences & lectures.

Café Imperial, built in WW1, has luxurious Art Deco mosaic ceilings and ceramic wall tiling. 

Franz Kafka was a regular.

 
The Labyrinth of the Czech History is showing at the Imp­erial Stab­les. The exhibition shows documents and objects show­ing key mom­ents in Czech history from the medieval era eg Přemysl Otakar II’s funeral insignia, Golden Bull of Sicily granting royal rights to Bohemia, and documents relating Charles IV & Rud­olph II. [Em­peror Rudolph II was the thesis topic of a fell­ow st­ud­ent/close friend at Melb­ourne University, and the name of my beautiful black labrador].

Prague Cas­tle still funct­ions as the president's seat and state offices. The Prague Castle Riding School is showing The Elem­ents of State­hood until October i.e the history of state symbols. See the high­est state decorations awarded during the last 100 years, the presidential Škoda VOS car and prison letters from Mil­ada Horáková. The Castle Guard, which was also established at the same time as the new country, is showing photographs and objects from the hist­ory of this military unit. Its members included those who guarded Prague Castle, soon after independence was declared.

The National Museum, being renovated, will have a temporary exhib­ition, examining Jan Masaryk as a Phenomenon i.e first president of Czechoslovakia. The Old Town Hall is also undergoing extensive repairs and the Astronomical Clock is being rebuilt. All of the repairs to the clock and tower should be finished by July 2018.

Each October, lights dance across Prague’s architectural landscapes and glowing art installations line the streets for the Prague Sig­nal Festival. Recently the largely free outdoor exhibits have grown into the largest cultural event in the country, drawing 2+ million attendees. In 2018 a video mapping performance will ex­plore the ornate walls of Dvorak Hall inside the Rudolfinum. A live sym­ph­ony orchestra provides a soundtrack of Smetana, Dvorak and Tchaikovsky.

The Olomouc Museum of Modern Art is presenting artistic movements in Central Europe c1918-early 1920s, along with partners from Slov­ak­ia, Hungary and Poland. One section of the Alfons Mucha Museum, in the Kaunický Palace Prague, displays the artist’s relationship with his home city.

Prague Castle, Matthias Gate

The Czech Philharmonic Orchestra will celebrate with an open-air concert. It is performing concerts of Leoš Janeček’s opera, The Cunning Little Vixen and has an exhibition entitled Bedřich Smetana – My Homeland, in honour of the Czech composer. A special concert organised by Czech Radio will play the Czech and Slovak National Anthem, Sinfonietta by Leoš Janáček and Dvořák’s Symphony #9 . The opera house is still gorgeous.

There will be a grand military parade this year, like the 90th anniversary of Czechoslovak Independence. Back then, the parade on Evropská St in Prague 6 involved the Czech military along with Prague’s rescue services, police force, firefighters and paramedics. The 3 k parade featured 2,000+ people and 200 military vehicles, helicopters and airplanes.

Examine the architectural vis­ions of Adolf Loos, Josef Gočár and Jan Kotěra, or around the gall­eries of Alfons Mucha, František Kup­ka and Emil Fila. The architecture dur­ing the First Republic was attractive. In Brno a wealthy Jewish German-speaking couple Fritz and Greta Tugendhat built a new family home that became one of the most celebrated mas­t­­er­pieces of mod­ern­ism, Villa Tugendhat by sp­l­endid architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. The home was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list because of its unique int­er­iors, space, materials and unique technical gadgets.

The very expensive const­ruction of Villa Tugendhat was inconsp­ic­uous on the exterior and lux­ur­ious on the interior, as was typical for Mies van der Rohe. He created an open living area, wonderfully conn­ected with the garden via glass walls. The furniture was largely designed by Mies van den Rohe for the house, and although many items were lost, a few were later re­turned to family descendants. Thus many furniture pieces on the first and second floor are replicas.

Celebrate with Czech beer
next to Charles Bridge and the Vltava River

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28th Oct, Independent Czechoslovak State Day, has long been a national holiday with yearly celebrations. Despite the separation of the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993, the date is still one of the most significant in both Czech and Slovak calendars. A joint project links the celebrations in the Czech and Slovak Republics. In Slovakia, visit the Slovak National Museum and the Slovak National Gallery.