Temperate, a mixture of oceanic and continental, with an average winter temperature of 5 degrees Celsius, and an average summer temperature of 20 degrees Celsius. More information is available at CHMI Climatology Section http://www.chmi.cz/indexe.html.

Legal tender - Crown (Kc) (= Koruna ceska = Czech crown)
Coins: Kc: 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50
Banknotes: Kc 50, 100, 200, 500, 1000, 2000, 5000
Exchange rates - www.cnb.cz
Currency converter - www.xe.com

Total area: 78,865 sq. kilometers. Neighboring states: Germany, Austria, Slovakia and Poland.
Time zone: GMT plus 1 hour, from April to October. Summer time - GMT plus 2 hours
Population: 10,3 million
Religions: Roman Catholic -39,2%, Protestant – 4,1%, atheists and non-believers-39,7 %others -17%
Largest cities: Prague (capital), Brno, Ostrava, Plzen, Olomouc, Liberec, Hradec Kralove

1st January	Independent Czech State
	Easter Monday
1st May	May Day
8th May	Liberation Day
5th July	Slavic Apostles St. Cyril and St. Methodius
6th July	Burning of Jan Hus
28th September	Czech Statehood Day
28th October	Independent Czechoslovakia Day
17th November	Fight for Freedom and Democracy
24th December	Christmas Eve
25th December	Christmas Day
26th December	Boxing Day

primary sector - agriculture, hunting and forestry, fishing 3,7%
secondary sector - industry, construction 40%
tertiary sector including transport 56,3 %

Fire 150
Ambulance 155
Police 158
City Police 156
Road Assistance 1230
Gas Emergency 1239

Bohemia, the official name of the region, is derived from the Celtic tribe Boii, who were the first inhabitants of the place we are now call Bohemia. There is also definitive evidence that the area also was once occupied by the Slavs in the 6th century A.D. The long history of Bohemia and Moravia can be traced through Samo´s empire, the Great Moravian empire, the reign of the Premysl´s, the Luxemburg and Habsburg dynasties, the Catholic expansion leading to the Thirty Years War, the decline of the Austro-Hungarian empire up to birth of the Czechoslovakia Republic in 1918 led by the first president, Tomas Garigue Masaryk. After surviving German occupation and forty years of communist rule, the Czech Republic is now experiencing yet another stage of transition, this time to a completely restructured free-market.

Our country is a democratic republic. There are two legislative chambers - the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.

Over the centuries a whole number of Czech men and women have become famous throughout the world - Emperor Charles IV, reformer John Huss (Jan Hus), the "Teacher of Nations" Comenius (Jan Amos Komensky), composers Bedrich Smetana, Antonin Dvorak and Leos Janacek, writers Jaroslav Hasek, Karel Capek and Franz Kafka, Nobel Prize winners Jaroslav Heyrovsky and Jaroslav Seifert, opera stars Emmy Destinn and Jarmila Novotna etc.

The Czech Republic is a country of great historical and cultural importance, a country where historic monuments and entire towns have been included on the World Heritage List. Many other towns and historic monuments in the Czech Republic are well-preserved and are noted in the UNESCO register as world cultural landmarks: www.unesco-czech.cz