Prague Landmarks
This astronomical clock, mounted on Prague's Old Town Hall, is the oldest of its kind still operating.
What is the Prague Orloj?
The Czech Republic has the highest per-capita consumption of this beverage in the world.
What is beer?
This bread-like steamed side dish, often made from wheat or potato dough, is a staple with Czech goulash and roasts.
What is knedlíky (dumplings)?
This 1618 event, in which Catholic governors were thrown from a window of Prague Castle, helped trigger the Thirty Years' War.
What is the (Second) Defenestration of Prague?
Czech uses this diacritical mark (e.g., in "č" or "ř") to indicate a "soft" consonant, attributed to reformer Jan Hus
What is the háček (caron)?
This bridge, whose construction began in 1357 under Charles IV, is lined with 30 statues and was for centuries the only way to cross the Vltava.
What is Charles Bridge?
This small Czech word, borrowed into English, originally meant compulsory labor and now means tedious, tiresome work — it's the root of "robot."
What is "robota"?
This pale lager style, invented in 1842 in a Bohemian town, gave its name to a whole category of beer worldwide.
What is Pilsner (from Plzeň)?
This Prague-born writer, author of "The Metamorphosis" and "The Trial," wrote mostly in German.
Who is Franz Kafka?
In 2016, the Czech government officially approved this one-word English short name for the country.
What is Czechia?
This castle complex is recognized by Guinness World Records as the largest ancient castle in the world, at about 70,000 m².
What is Prague Castle?
Prague is nicknamed this, for its hundreds of Gothic and Baroque towers and spires.
What is "the City of a Hundred Spires"?
This spiral pastry, cooked over an open flame and dusted with sugar and walnuts, is a popular Prague street-food treat — despite being marketed as "traditional Czech," it actually comes from Hungarian/Slovak roots (kürtőskalács).
What is trdelník?
According to legend, this clay creature was created by Rabbi Loew in 16th-century Prague to protect the Jewish community.
What is the Golem?
This word, meaning "hello" or "hi" informally in Czech (originally a sailor's greeting), is used throughout the day.
What is "Ahoj"?
This narrow, colorful lane inside Prague Castle got its name from the goldsmiths said to have lived there in the 17th century.
What is Golden Lane (Zlatá ulička)?
This sugar cube was patented in 1843 by this man, director of a sugar refinery in Dačice, after his wife cut herself paring down a sugar loaf.
Who is Jakub Kryštof Rad?
This herbal liqueur, made in Karlovy Vary, is made from a secret recipe of more than 20 herbs and spices, known to only a couple of people at a time.
What is Becherovka?
This peaceful 1989 uprising ended over four decades of communist rule in Czechoslovakia.
What is the Velvet Revolution?
This animated mole character, created by Zdeněk Miler in 1956, is one of the most beloved Czech cartoon exports worldwide.
Who is Krtek (the Little Mole)?
This "dancing" building, designed by Frank Gehry with Vlado Milunić, is nicknamed after two famous American dancers.
What is the Dancing House (Fred and Ginger)?
This soft contact lens was invented by Czech chemist Otto Wichterle on his kitchen table, using a children's Merkur construction set and a bicycle dynamo.
What is the soft contact lens?
This hearty dish of marinated beef sirloin in a creamy root-vegetable sauce, served with dumplings and cranberries, is considered a Czech national dish.
What is svíčková?
In 1993, Czechoslovakia split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in an event nicknamed after this fabric-related term, echoing the earlier Velvet Revolution.
What is the Velvet Divorce?
Czech is unusual for having a syllabic version of this consonant, letting the phrase "strč prst skrz krk" be pronounced with no vowels at all.
What is "r" (syllabic r)?