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About Czech Republic

     The Czech Republic (IPA: /ˈtʃɛk riˈpʌblɨk/) (officially Czech: Česká republika (help·info), short form in Czech: Česko, IPA: [ʧɛsko]) is a landlocked country in Central Europe and a member state of the European Union. The country has borders with Poland to the north, Germany to the northwest and west, Austria to the south, and Slovakia to the east. The capital and largest city is Prague (Czech: Praha), a major tourist destination. The country is composed of the historic regions of Bohemia and Moravia, as well as parts of Silesia.

     The Czech lands were under Habsburg rule from 1526, later becoming part of the Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary. The independent republic of Czechoslovakia was created in 1918, following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian empire after World War I. After the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, disillusion with the Western response and occupation by the Red Army, the Communist party gained the majority in 1946 elections. Czechoslovakia was a Communist state from 1948 until the 1989 Velvet Revolution. On 1 January 1993, the country peacefully split into the Czech and Slovak republics.

     The Czech Republic is a pluralist multi-party parliamentary representative democracy. President Václav Klaus is the current head of state. The Prime Minister is the head of government (currently Mirek Topolánek). The Parliament has two chambers — the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. The Czech Republic joined NATO in 1999 and the European Union in 2004. It is also a member of the OECD, the Visegrád group and the Council of Europe.

About Pribram

     Příbram (IPA: [ˈpr̝̊iːbram]; German: Pibrans, earlier Freiberg in Böhmen) is a city in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic with a population of 35,147. The city is located in the Brdy foothills 60 kilometers south-west of Prague, the capital city of the state. The city is well known for its mining history, now finding a new look after its economy restructuring.

     The city is the third biggest in the Central Bohemian Region (behind Kladno and Mladá Boleslav) and it is a natural administrative and cultural center of the south-western part of the region, although it also tends to be in large influenced by the economy and life of Prague.

Wide-known pilgrimage site Svatá Hora is located just above the city, the Mining Museum Příbram (including the communist labor camp Vojna memorial) is the other tourism attraction.

    Thanks to high level of education and culture life, Příbram was nicknamed Brdy Athens (Czech: Podbrdské Athény) at the end of the 19th century. The city’s culture was then by large influenced by the mining industry, which went on till the late 20th century. Mining life was described by poets and writers Fráňa Kučera, Quido Maria Vyskočil and František Gellner, who lived or studied in Příbram. Also the most famous Příbram writer Jan Drda‘s many books were inspired by Příbram. He used names of the city neighbouring villages in his tales, some of the stories in his Němá barikáda (English: Silent Barricade) have their origin in Příbram (especially Vyšší princip – see Modern History) and his Městečko na dlani (English: City on Palm) describes directly Příbram, although reality is distorted there by seeing the river flowing through the city. The city is named Rukapáň (English: God’s Hand) in the book. City library was opened in 1900.

    The theatre in Příbram has a long history thanks to a long tradition of theatricals. Although the struggle to build the permanent theatre stage, the plays had to be performed in different halls for a long time, especially in the Sokolovna, the hall of Příbram Sokol. As far as in 1959 the House of Culture was built, which hosts the Příbram theatre and includes a cinema hall (the only other cinema is the open-air stage, while two pre-1989 more cinema-halls were closed). The first cinema productions were however held in Příbram as early as in 1914. The Příbram theatre is a permanent scene with a professional ensemble, its repertory is enriched by regular on-tour performances by Prague’s and other cities ensembles. The reputation of Příbram ensemble is derived not only from departure of several actors to bigger ensembles, but also from the nation-wide successful spectacle of Hrdý Budžes (English: Proud Budžes), a comedy play after book of Příbram born Irena Dousková. Barbora Hrzánová won the Thálie award as the best Czech female stage actress of the 2004 year.