Czech Records

DID YOU KNOW THAT…

- the first sugar cube was made in Dačice?

In 1829, the brothers František and Tomáš Grebner established a sugar refinery – using sugar beet – in Kostelní Vydří near Dačice. After realising that neither the climate nor the soil in the area was suitable for growing sugar beet, František decided to establish a refinery that formed raw sugar into various shapes and textures – icing sugar, caster sugar, coarse sugar, sugar loaves, sugar cubes, and chips. In 1840, Swiss-born businessman Jakub Kryštof Rad became the director of the Dačice refinery. His wife gave him the idea and in 1841 he manufactured the first 300 white and pink cubes of beet sugar. Rad moulded them in an apparatus he himself had invented. Thus an invention was born, whose practical use was soon to be discovered by the whole world. More at www.dacice-mesto.cz

- many inventions and discoveries such as contact lenses were made by Czech scientists?

Otto Wichterle, Czech chemist and the founder of the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry in Prague, was the inventor of soft contact lenses. He is also considered the founder of macromolecular chemistry and is the author of about 150 inventions. In 1993, one of the planetoids was named after Wichterle. The physicist and chemist Jaroslav Heyrovský was the first Czech scientist to win the Nobel Prize. It was awarded to him in 1959 for the discovery of the polarographic method and its use in electroanalytical chemistry. The outstanding Czech orientalist Bedřich Hrozný, who lived at the turn of the 20th century, became famous for deciphering the ancient Hittite language. In November 1915, he announced that he was able to read the writing of the ancient Hittites, the official language of the Hittite empire. The first sentence he deciphered was: “Now you shall eat bread, and water you shall drink…” - the most famous Czech song is the Beer Barrel Polka?

The Beer Barrel Polka, or Roll Out the Barrels, is probably the best known Czech song in the world. It has become popular in many countries during the Second World War. It was composed in 1927 by Jaromír Vejvoda as an instrumental piece of music. He adapted it in 1929, and in 1934 Václav Zeman wrote the Czech lyrics and called it Škoda lásky (Wasted Love). It became a popular song with the allied armies as well as Czechoslovak pilots in the Battle of Britain. Its popularity is testified also by the fact that it accompanied astronauts on the Discovery Space Shuttle; it was also played in the popular series M.A.S.H. The Vejvoda family archive records 14 names of the song and 27 versions of lyrics in various languages. More at www.j-vejvoda.cz.

- the first radioactive spa was established in Jáchymov?

The Jáchymov Spa is a very famous spa centre, where the first spa with radioactive waters was

established. At the beginning of the 20th century strong radioactive springs were discovered there and subsequently in 1906, the first radon spa in the world was established. The spa was established after Pierre and Marie Curie, Nobel Prize winners, had isolated the first radioactive elements – polonium and radium – from the waste from the Jáchymov uranium ore, the uranite. The thermal and radioactive springs improve the condition of patients with metabolic disorders, ailments of the nervous system, locomotive system disorders. Metabolic illnesses (diabetes and gout) are also treated here as well as age-related illnesses. More at www.jachymov.cz.

- the second largest equestrian statue is on Vítkov?

The second largest European equestrian statue cast in bronze stands on Vítkov Hill in Prague. The statue of the Hussite leader Jan Žižka of Trocnov weighs 16.5 tonnes and is 9 meters high, 9.6 metres long, and 5 meters wide.

- the oldest university in Europe is Charles University?

Prague University was founded by the Czech King and Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV in 1348 as the first university (studium generale) north of the Alps and east of Paris. It followed the example of the universities in Bologna and Paris and soon it became internationally renowned. Today, there are 42 000 students studying there. More at www.cuni.cz - the world’s largest stadium is in Prague?

The Strahov Stadium with an area of 63 000 square metres is the largest stadium in the world. The construction work started as early as in 1926. It was first used by members of the Sokol gymnastics organisation and later by members of sports associations. At the moment, there is FC Sparta training centre there. On occasions, concerts of famous stars such as The Rolling Stones are held there.

-many famous personalities are of Czech origin?

For example the former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was born in Prague (in 1937) in the family of the Czech diplomat Josef Korbel. Miloš Forman, the film director and winner of two Academy Awards for the films Amadeus and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, moved to the United States in 1968. Martina Navrátilová, top tennis player, is a former world number one in women’s tennis and is generally considered one of the best women tennis players of all time. She is originally from Czechoslovakia but she emigrated to the United States in 1975. Another famous tennis player, the winner of 94 tennis tournaments, Ivan Lendl, or Alena Vrzáňová, the famous figure skater and two-time World Champion, are both of Czech origin.

- the words robot and dollar are of Czech origin?

The word robot was first used in 1920 in the dramatic play R.U.R. – Rossum’s Universal Robots, written by the well-known Czech playwright and journalist Karel Čapek. The word was suggested to him by his brother Josef, after Karel had asked him what name he should give to the artificial being. The originally intended “labor” sounded too artificial. The word dollar is close to the Old Czech word tolar, which is related to the German Taler, a shortened version of the original Joachimstaler, meaning “of Joachimstal (St. Joachim’s Valley)”. This was the name of a silver coin which Count Shlik started to mint in 1518 in Czech Jáchymov.

- medicine against cancer has been invented by a Czech scientist?

In 2004, Antonín Holý, chemist from the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry at the Czech Academy of Science, presented the result of his collaboration with American colleagues. It is a tablet which significantly prolongs the life of AIDS patients. In 2008, a new substance intended for treating lymphoma and chronic leukaemia came under testing at five Czech and five American clinics. Professor Antonín Holý co-developed six drugs used worldwide and sixty Czech and foreign patents. In 2007, he was proclaimed the best Czech scientist. More at www.uochb.cas.cz

- the Hranice Chasm is the world´s deepest flooded cave?

The Hranice Chasm is the deepest known freshwater cave on earth. Five years ago, a team led by the Polish specialist Krzysztof Starnawski dived into it and confirmed that its depth was at least 404 metres. However, already in 2016, during descent into the cave hypotheses emerged suggesting that the cave´s bottom was 700-1000 metres deep. The geologists´ assumption was based on figures showing the chemical composition and temperature of the water at a depth of some fifty metres, which oscillated between 16 and 19 degrees Centigrade. The transparency of the water is variable, sometimes the visibility range was just one metre, at other times up to fifty metres. It is a mineral water containing carbon dioxide. - the Czech Republic has the highest number of people with secondary education?

91.6 % of people in the Czech Republic have at least secondary education, the most of all EU countries. On the other hand, the country has relatively few university graduates in comparison with other states. Only 19.9 % of people have tertiary education, in comparison with 43.1 % in, for example, Luxembourg.

- we have the most detailed network of hiking trails?

More than 130 years have passed since the first hiking trails were marked out by Czech Tourist Club enthusiasts. The Czech tourist marking system is considered the most reliable and most detailed not only in Europe, but also worldwide. The system of hiking trails criss-crosses the whole country, so that, with slight exaggeration, tourists following the yellow, red, blue or green marks will easily find their destinations, from the smallest hut to the most imposing sight. The Czech Republic has the densest network of tourist trails in Europe – with more than one kilometre of marked trails per square kilometre. Regrettably, the Czech primacy cannot be confirmed with absolute certainty, because many countries do not publish information

about the length of their hiking trails. Its confirmation, howeer, may be that tourists could hardly see so many guideposts or tourist marks on trees. In the Czech Republic there are 42 885 km of marked hiking trails, 33 817 km of marked road bike paths, 3 757 km of offroad bike paths, 3 067 of marked ski trails and 2 826 km of horseback tourist trails and fourteen wheelchair trails. In all, the CzechTourist Club takes charge of 86 352 km of marked tourist trails, whose total length is an equivalent of twice the tour of the equator.

- the world´s densest library network is here?

The Czech National Library stores 7.4 million books and it serves nearly half a million regular readers. There are more than 6 000 public libraries in the Czech Republic, which is about 5.1 library per 10 000 inhabitants. The EU average is 1.3 libraries per 10 000 inhabitants. Thirty-two per cent of the Czech population are regular library visitors, while the EU average is 23 %.

- we are the overall most active mushroom-pickers?

Perhaps nowhere else in the world is mushroom-picking so popular as in the Czech Republic. Each year Czech people collect more than 20 000 tonnes of mushrooms, which is more than six kilograms per household a year. The mushroom-hunting tradition is probably nowwhere else so live except in other Slavonic countries, Germany, the Baltic and the Scandinavian states and Finland, or Southeast Asia, if there is any such tradition at all.

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