Czechia Trivia Quiz

Answer: Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud is one of the world's best known doctors in the fields of neurology and psychology. He developed the theory of psychoanalysis and coined that term in 1896. His theory revolved around the idea of the subconscious mind and development of the id, ego, and superego into different personality types. Freud was born in 1856 in Moravia, which was at that time part of the Austrian Empire, and most people would consider him an Austrian.

However, the town where he was born, Freiberg in Mahren, is present-day Pribor, located within the borders of the Czech Republic. Pribor is a small town of about 9,000 residents that is located in the Moravian-Silesian Region, which forms part of the Czech Republic's eastern border with Slovakia and Poland.

Answer: Budweiser

The Czech Republic is famous for its beer, which has a long history in the country. The first brewery that was established in Czechia has been around since the early 12th century. It has been said that the Czech Republic has the highest rate of consumption of beer, per capita, of any country in the world, and two of the world's most famous beers, Budweiser (Czechvar) and Pilsener, both originated in the Czech Republic. Pilsener originated in the city of Plzen in western Bohemia, and there is a beer festival held there in August each year called Pilsner Fest, to celebrate it. There is also a 17-day long festival held each May, in Prague, called the Czech Beer Festival. Budweiser comes from the town of Ceske Budejovice (Budweis in German) a bit to the south of Plzen. In the 1870s, the US company Anheuser-Busch InBev started producing beer under the brand name "Budweiser", causing a trademark dispute with the Czech company. As such, Anheuser-Busch is only allowed to use the trademark "Budweiser" in North America.

The use of "Czechia" for the Czech Republic is not common in English, where the standard short-form of the country's name is the erroneous "Czech". "Czechia" is the official alternative short-form name for the Czech Republic, suggested by the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1993. The name was created after the Czech half of former Czechoslovakia was without a single-word name in the English Language.

Answer: Jan Hiebl

In 1232, the Klementinum was founded in Prague along the Vltava River that runs through the city. In addition to the Astronomical Tower, the Mirror Chapel, and the Baroque Library, the Klementinum has two churches that form its outer wall. The Baroque Library serves the Czech Republic as the National Library, which has a collection dating back to the 1500s. Both the library and the chapel have frescoes created by the artist Jan Hiebl. The ceiling of the Baroque Library Hall (built in 1722) symbolizes antique wisdom and learning. The chapel's fresco by Hiebl has bands along the ceiling that illustrate a verse of the Hail Mary prayer. The chapel also includes murals depicting the life of the Virgin Mary, by Vaclac Vavrinec Reiner. The Astronomical Tower, 68 meters high, was used for astronomical observation until the 1930s. It is topped with a statue of Atlas (a Greek Titan).

The city of Prague is also home to a medieval astronomical clock that was installed in 1410. It is located on the southern wall of the Old Town City Hall in the Old Town Square in Prague. The clock is the third-oldest astronomical clock in the world, and the oldest astronomical clock that is still working.

Answer: Velvet Divorce

The country of Czechoslovakia was formed in 1918 after the collapse of the Habsburg monarchy following the end of World War I. The Czech and Slovak halves of the united country were of different economic and technological levels, which eventually led to the dissolution of Czechoslovakia some 75 years later. In November and December of 1989, there was a nonviolent revolution, called the Velvet or Gentle Revolution, where there were student demonstrations against the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. The Velvet Revolution ended 41 years of Communist Rule in the country and led to the conversion of the country to a parliamentary republic. June 1990 saw Czechoslovakia's first democratic elections since 1946.

On January 1st, 1993, Czechoslovakia split into the Czech Socialist Republic and the Slovak Socialist Republic. The transition from one country to two countries was smooth and nonviolent, leading to the split being known as the Velvet Divorce. The Czech Republic was made from the northwestern territory of former Czechoslovakia, and Slovakia from the southeastern territory.

Answer: Ore Mountains

The Ore Mountains, also called the Czech "Krusne Hory" or the German "Erzgebirge", extend for about 100 miles (160 km) along the border between the Czech Republic and Germany. The mountains were once used for mining, and are home to a wealth of natural minerals, including gold, silver, lead, copper, tungsten, and pitchblende.

It is for the wealth of mineral ores that the mountain range is named. The mountain range is divided into three parts: the Western, Central, and Eastern Ore Mountains, separated by valleys.

The highest peak of the Ore Mountains, Klinovec, is located in the Czech Republic. It is of the Bohemian part of the mountain range, and it extends upward to a height of 1244 meters above sea level.

Answer: Soft contact lenses

The idea of contact lenses is often credited to Leonardo da Vinci, in his 1508 "Codex of the eye, Manual D". The first contact lenses were fitted in 1888 by a German ophthalmologist named Adolf Fick. Until the middle of the 20th century, contact lenses were made of rigid materials, though they were still permeable to oxygen, allowing the eyes to "breathe".

The first soft contact lenses, made from hydrogel, were introduced to the world in the 1960s. In 1959, Czech chemists Otto Wichterle and Drahoslav Lim published "Hydrophilic gels for biological use" in "Nature" (a scientific journal). Soon after, they released the world's first soft contact lenses, a revolutionary idea in optometry that has led to the further developments of disposable lenses (Dr. Rishi Agarwal in 1972) and silicone hydrogels (Ciba Vision in 1998).

The soft contact lenses that were designed by Wichterle and Lim were approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 1971. Wichterle and Lim were also responsible for the invention of Silon, a synthetic fiber still used today.

Answer: Prague

Bohemia, one of the historical territories that are part of modern-day Czechia, was formed in the late 800s A.D. At that time it was a small duchy located around the city of Prague, under the Great Moravian Empire. In 1002, Bohemia became a recognized part of the Holy Roman Empire, and in 1212 the Duchy of Bohemia was made a kingdom. Then, in 1526, the Kingdom of Bohemia merged with the Habsburg monarchy, along with the Archduchy of Austria and the Kingdom of Hungary. When the Holy Roman Empire fell in 1806, Bohemia became a part of the Austrian Empire, where it remained until becoming part of Czechoslovakia in 1918 following World War I and the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Bohemia occupies the western two-thirds of modern-day Czech Republic and shares its capital, Prague, with the country.

The name of the region comes from the Latin "Boiohaemum", meaning "home of the Boii". The Boii were an ancient Celtic tribe of the Iron Age who settled in the region, giving it its name. The term "Bohemian" originally referred to people who were travelers or refugees of central Europe, and, the French word "bohémien", meaning "gypsy", comes from this original usage of the word. In its modern usage, "Bohemian" applies to people who live a variety of unconventional lifestyles, though it still also refers to the region, as in Bohemian crystals.

Answer: Nagano

The Czech Republic's men's ice hockey team won Gold at the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics. The team that year was coached by Ivan Hlinka, Slavomir Lener, and Vladimir Martinec. To win the gold medal at Nagano, the Czech national team defeated the favored United States team in the quarterfinals, Canada in the semifinals, and Russia in the Gold Medal Finals.

Ice hockey is one of the Czech Republic's leading sports, along with football (soccer), sport shooting, and tennis. In addition to the large number of Czech ice hockey players who have gained fame in the US National Hockey League, the Czech Republic has produced a number of famous athletes in the sport of tennis, including the multi-Grand Slam Champions Ivan Lendl and Martina Navratilova.

Answer: Charles Bridge

Charles Bridge, a cobblestone pedestrian walkway that spans Prague's Vltava River, was commissioned in 1357 by King Charles IV (Holy Roman Emperor). It has 16 arches and its sides are lined with 30 beautiful Baroque sculptures of religious figures. The Charles Bridge is one of the most visited attractions in Prague, and connects Old Town to Lesser Town (Mala Strana). At either end of the bridge stands a tower that can be climbed for a view of the city. Though the bridge is of the Gothic style, the statues that line the sides are Baroque, having been added to the bridge in the 17th century.

The bridge seen today is the second bridge to be created in its location on the Vltava River. The first bridge, Judith Bridge, which had also been made of stone, had collapsed in a flood in 1342. The Charles Bridge has survived many floods of the Vltava, and it has been said that part of the reason the bridge has survived for so long is that during its construction egg yolks were added to the mortar to strengthen the bridge.

Answer: Gregor Mendel

The Czech Republic has a rather rich history of scientific discovery and innovation that spans the centuries. It has been home to famous inventors of the lightning rod, the modern compass, the arc lamp, and contact lenses. It was home to the men who discovered the classification of blood types, founded modern education and plastic surgery, and deciphered the Hittite language.

It was also home to Gregor Mendel, the man that the world knows as the "Father of Genetics" who was born in Hyncice, Czechia (once Heinzendorf in the Austrian Empire). Mendel is famous for performing experiments on pea plants to establish the rules of heredity, now known as the Laws of Mendelian Inheritance. He worked with seven different and distinct characteristics of the pea plants, through crossbreeding: plant height, pod and seed shape, pod and seed color, and flower position and color. Mendel coined the terms "recessive" and "dominant" which are used today in describing genotypes and phenotypes. His groundbreaking idea of invisible "factors", which we now call "genes", has led to incredible discoveries about the way plants and animals develop and evolve.