#596 Czech Republic...Thanks Josef!

#593 Czech Republic

#592 Czech Republic...Thanks Robert!

#513 Czech Republic...Thanks Josef!

This FDC was issued in 2003 featuring Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens) which is a popular species of freshwater aquarium fish.

The additional two Letter A stamps were issued in the 2010 Čtyřlístek Comics series showing Fifinka the Missy Dog and Myšpulín the Cat.

Fifinka the Missy Dog is the only 'girl' of the four characters of the cult comics series Čtyřlístek (Four-Leaf Clover in English) designed and created by illustrator Jaroslav Němeček. The good housewife Fifinka is reading a cookbook, with a cup of white coffee and a cake on the table before her. The Čtyřlístek stories have been published for an unbelievable more than 40 years. The adventures of the four true friends have attracted already a fourth generation of readers. Fifinka is the first character to appear on a stamp. Stamps with the three 'boys' (Bobík the Pig, Myšpulín the Cat and Pinďa the Rabbit) are to follow.

As a true scientist, Myšpulín, the second of the four Čtyřlístek comics characters featured on a stamp, creates a chemical reaction setting off a firework of flowers coming out of the heated flask. Stamps with Bobík the Pig and Piňda the Rabbit, the other two 'boys' of the four Čtyřlístek characters, are to follow.

#457 Czech Republic...Thanks Stanislav!

#423 Czech Republic...Thanks Robert!

The 7.50kc stamp was issued in 2005 for the Handicraft relics series featuring two bells: one from BENEŠOV 1322 and another from HAVLÍCKUV BROD 1335.

The voices of bells have accompanied our everyday life for almost five thousand years. Even though they are almost hidden from our sight, they measure our time, announce the arrival of holidays, sound the alarm, invite for prayers, accompany us also on our last way. Their voice did not change throughout the thousands of years, it still evokes the same emotions in us as it did in our predecessors. The shape of bells did not change either, nor did the old craft of bell-founding. Bells are founded of bronze in the same way as they used to be. A bell sounds with many different, unevenly sonorous tones which have to chime in harmoniously. In addition to the musical aspect bells have also an important artistic aspect; they bear inscriptions and plastic decorations of artistic value.

The bell from the belfry in Benešov by the ruined Minor Franciscan monastery from the 13th century; this is the oldest bell from 1322, signed "Rudger".

The bell from the belfry of the dean´s church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Havlíckuv Brod, dated 1300, 1305, or most recently 1335 according to a different interpretation of the Latin abbreviations. These two bells represent the oldest relics of the highly developed bell-founding craft in the territory of the Czech Republic.

#420 Czech Republic...Thanks Jiri!

This FDC was issued in 1994 featuring Engraving:Stary Posetilec A Zena by Lucas Van Leyden.

Lucas van Leyden (1494–1533) was a Dutch engraver and painter, born and mainly active in Leiden, who was among the first Dutch exponents of genre painting and is generally regarded as one of the finest engravers in the history of art.

He was the pupil of his father, from whose hand no works are known, and of Cornelis Engelbrechtsz, but both of these were painters whereas Lucas himself was principally an engraver. Where he learnt engraving is unknown, but he was highly skilled in that art at a very early age: the earliest known print by him (Mohammed and the Murdered Monk) dates from 1508, when he was perhaps only 14, yet reveals no trace of immaturity in inspiration or technique.

Lucas enjoyed a great reputation in his day, and Giorgio Vasari (who called him Lucas van Hollandt) even rated him above Dürer. He is universally regarded as one of the greatest figures in the history of graphic art, because he made etchings and woodcuts as well as engravings and was a prolific draughtsman. His status as a painter is less elevated, but he was undoubtedly one of the outstanding Netherlandish painters of his period. He was a pioneer of the Netherlandish genre tradition, as witness his Chess Players (Gemäldegalerie, Berlin) which actually represents a variant game called 'courier' - and his Card Players (National Gallery of Art, Washington), while his celebrated Last Judgement triptych (Lakenhal Museum, Leiden, 1526–27) shows the heights to which he could rise as a religious painter. It eloquently displays his vivid imaginative powers, his marvellous skill as a colourist and his deft and fluid brushwork.

#409 Czech Republic...Thanks Michal!

The 17k stamp was issued in 2009 featuring the diversity of the night-time forest beauty of the Křivoklátsko biosphere reserve.

In 1978 the Křivoklátsko region was proclaimed a protected land area of 628 km2 located in the territory of the Central and the West Bohemian regions. On March 1, 1977 this area, due to its high natural values, was proclaimed a UNESCO biosphere reserve. Two thirds of the area are covered with leafy and mixed forests. The highest point of the Křivoklátsko is the Těchovín hill (616 m above sea level). The lowest point is the Berounka river level at the place where it leaves the area (223 m above sea level). This river has greatly affected the formation and preserved character of the whole area. For thousands of years the river flow cut deep into the valley whose steep-sloped hillsides are covered with natural vegetation of various formation, pervaded in some places with natural exposures with xerothermal fauna and flora. The layers of sediments in the vast meanders of the river led to the creation of river terraces. In most of the year the temperature at the bottom of the valley is very low, which corresponds to the conditions of submountain to mountain regions. Temperature inversion, a phenomenon typical of the Křivoklátsko region, is one of the main causes of the great diversity of species. The preserved species include over 1,800 species of vascular plants, at least 52 species of wood plants, more than 120 species of birds and a number of other animals, of which 20 species are critically endangered (e.g. Ascalapus libelluloides, Schaeff., fish hawk, Austropotamobius torrentium, freshwater-lamprey), 37 heavily endangered (e.g. large mouse-eared bat, barn owl, black stork, nightjar, agile frog) and 44 endangered (e.g. eagle owl, Trichius fasciatus, Carabus irregularis). The symbol of the Křivoklátsko protected land area is red deer kept in the Křivoklátsko forest enclosures from time immemorial.

#396 Czech Republic...Thanks Josef!

This FDC features The beauty of our homeland - Štramberk issued on June 16,2010.

Štramberk is a small town in Moravia. It lies on the slopes of Castle Hill. The city is much younger than the castle, which dominates with its Gothic tower ovens ranges up to 40 meters and its diameter is 10 m. Since 1903, it serves as a lookout.

The postage stamp is a stylized view of Štramberské Square, in front of the landmark Castle Trúba. On the cover is stylistically depicted the original wooden architecture of the city.

The 4k stamp was issued in 1993 commemorating 1000 Anniv of Brevnov Monastery,which is a Benedictine monastery in Břevnov, Prague. It was founded by Prince Boleslav II and Saint Adalbert, bishop of Prague in 993 AD.

#389 Czech Republic...Thanks Josef !

This FDC is from 1974 Art series showing Self Portrait of Ludvik Kuba.

Ludvík Kuba (1863-1956) was a Czech landscape painter, musician, writer, professor in the Academy of Fine Arts. He was a representative of the Late-Impressionism and he collected folk traditions.

Ludvík Kuba studied to play the organ and privately learnt drawing at Bohuslav Schnirch and Karel Liebscher. He was accepted to the Academy of Fine Arts and educated in the studio of Max Pirner (1891-93). Then he studied at Académie Julian in Paris (1893-95) and the school of Anton Ažbe in Munich (1895-1904). He then devoted his life to painting, collecting folk songs (e.g. Slovanstvo ve svých písních - "Slavonic peoples in their songs" recorded 4000 songs) and writing about folk traditions. His artistic style was highly marked with Impressionism and he mainly painted landscapes (his favourite was South Bohemia), portraits (e.g. Josef Svatopluk Machar) and still-lifes (e.g. Red Begonias). He was awarded a lot of Czech and international prizes.

The 19k stamp was issued in 2005 commemorating Bicent.of Battle of Austerlitz.

The Battle of Austerlitz, also known as the Battle of the Three Emperors, was Napoleon's greatest victory, effectively destroying the Third Coalition against the French Empire. On 2 December 1805, a French army, commanded by Emperor Napoleon I, decisively defeated a Russo-Austrian army, commanded by Tsar Alexander I, after nearly nine hours of difficult fighting. The battle took place near Austerlitz (Slavkov u Brna) about 10 km (6 miles) south-east of Brno in Moravia (present day Czech Republic). The battle is often regarded as a tactical masterpiece.

The French victory at Austerlitz effectively brought the Third Coalition to an end. On 26 December 1805, Austria and France signed the Treaty of Pressburg, which took Austria out of the war, reinforced the earlier treaties of Campo Formio and Lunéville, made Austria cede land to Napoleon's German allies, and imposed an indemnity of 40 million francs on the defeated Habsburgs. Russian troops were allowed to head back to home soil. Victory at Austerlitz also permitted the creation of the Confederation of the Rhine, a collection of German states intended as a buffer zone between France and central Europe. In 1806, the Holy Roman Empire ceased to exist when Holy Roman Emperor Francis II kept Francis I of Austria as his only official title. These achievements, however, did not establish a lasting peace on the continent. Prussian worries about growing French influence in Central Europe sparked the War of the Fourth Coalition in 1806.

#373 Czech Republic...Thanks Robert!

The Z stamp was issued in 2010 commemorating 150 years of the birth of Alfons Mucha (1860-1939),who was a Czech Art Nouveau painter and decorative artist,best known for his distinct style and his images of women.

Alfons Mucha was born in Ivančice in the family of the court usher Ondřej Mucha. After education at the Slav High School in the Moravian capital Brno, partially financed from his income as church singer in the Brno-Petrov church boy choir, and a failure to join the Prague Academy of Fine Arts, he was shortly employed as a court clerk in Ivančice. In 1879 Mucha moved to Vienna to work for the leading Viennese theatrical design company Kautsky-Brioschi-Burghardt, mainly painting theatrical scenery. He was also the author of interior decorations in the chateau Emmahof by Hrušovany nad Jevišovkou. In 1885 Mucha moved to Munich, and two years later to Paris. 1897 was the turning point in his career as an artist. He was asked to create a poster for the actress Sarah Bernhardt. She later made a deal with Mucha for several other posters both for her and for the Théâtre de la Renaissance in Paris. Even though he was much loved and celebrated in the United States Mucha remained a great patriot. He spent 17 years working on what he considered his life's fine art masterpiece, The Slav Epic, a series of twenty huge paintings celebrating Slavic history. When Czechoslovakia became independent after World War I, Mucha designed the first Czechoslovak stamps and banknotes. Mucha was an artist of many talents, producing a flurry of paintings, posters, advertisements, and book illustrations, as well as designs for jewellery, carpets, wallpaper, labels for bottles, chocolates, cigarettes, restaurant menus, and theatre sets in what became known as Art Nouveau. He died in Prague in 1939 of pneumonia after an interrogation by the Gestapo, and was interred there in the Vyšehrad cemetery.

The stamp shows his poster Zodiac.

#350 Czech Republic...Thanks Jiri!

This FDC was issued in 1993 commemorating 600th Death Anniv.of St.John Nepomuk,Patron Saint of Czechs (1345-1393),who was murdered during the bitter conflict of church and state that plagued Bohemia in the latter 14th century.

In 1383 John began studies at Padua, Italy, where he became a doctor of canon law and subsequently received several church offices. In 1390 he was made vicar general for the archbishop of Prague. In 1393 the archbishop, with John's support, excommunicated one of the favourites of King Wenceslas IV of Bohemia and thwarted the king's ambition to make a new bishopric out of the province of Prague. John was arrested as the archbishop's chief agent. Wenceslas personally tortured him with fire, after which he reconsidered and released him on an oath of secrecy regarding his treatment. John, however, was dying, and to conceal the evidence Wenceslas had him gagged, shoved into a goatskin, and cast into the Vltava River. Bohemian Catholics later regarded him as a martyr.

The left 7k stamp was issued in 1997 commemorating 1000th Death Anniv.of St.Adalbert (956-997),who is the first bishop of Prague to be of Czech origin.

Descended from the Slavník princes of Bohemia, he was trained in theology at Magdeburg (Germany). At his confirmation he received his name from St. Adalbert, first archbishop of Magdeburg. As bishop (elected 982), Adalbert promoted the political aims of Boleslav II, prince of Bohemia, by extending the influence of the church beyond the borders of the Czech kingdom. He tried to improve the standards of church life but found little understanding among his countrymen for his lofty ideals.

Critical of the superficial attitude to Christianity prevalent in the country, Adalbert departed in 988 with the intention of leading the ascetic life of a monk. On papal orders he returned in 992 to find little change. He came into sharp conflict with some of the nobility and was probably drawn into the growing feuds between the Czech kings and the Slavník princes. Disillusioned, in 994 he left Bohemia again to become a missionary along the Baltic coast, where he was martyred three years later. An account of Adalbert's life was written by his friend and disciple St. Bruno of Querfurt.

#245 Czech Republic...Thanks Milan!

These two stamps are from 1997 Art series showing Landscape with Chateau in Chantilly (c.1883) by Antonín Chittussi and The drawing "The prophets came out of the desert" by František Bílek.

Antonin Chittussi (1847-1891) was a Czech Impressionist landscape painter.He was born to a Czech mother and a father of Italian descent. He was fascinated by the landscape of South Bohemia and of the Bohemian and Moravian Highlands. In particular, his smaller pictures replete with quick, easy brushstrokes are among the most admired of Czech landscape painting. He died in Prague.

František Bílek (1872-1941) was a famous Czech Art Nouveau and Symbolist sculptor and architect.

Bílek attended the Akademie výtvarných umění (AVU) in Prague. Due to his apparent colour-blindness he moved to Josef Mauder one year later (1888) and started to study sculpture. Given a scholarship offered by patron Vojtěch Lanna, he spent one year in Paris at the Académie Colarossi. After that, he lived in turns in Prague and in Chýnov. He was a member of the Mánes Union of Fine Arts from 1898 to 1912.

His works often reflect Biblical themes or have religious connotations. Though it was never completed, Bílek also worked on his National Monument reflecting Czech Hussite history and its perceived end at White Mountain.

He built his own villa in Hradčany which he requested be turned into a museum of his works after his death.

#240 Czech Republic...Thanks Jiri!

This FDC was issued in 1994 featuring the famous 16th century Baroque style houses in Telč, Czech Republic.

Telč is a town in southern Moravia.The town was founded in 13th century as a royal water fort on the crossroads of busy merchant routes between Bohemia, Moravia and Austria.

Besides the monumental 17th century Renaissance chateau with an English-style park (a rebuilding of original Gothic castle), the most significant sight is the town square, a unique complex of long urban plaza with well-conserved Renaissance and Baroque houses with high gables and arcades; since 1992 all of this has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Prior to the Expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia after World War II, Telč had, as did its neighbor Jihlava, a principally German-speaking population.

#186 Czech Republic...Thanks Miroslav!

The 17kc stamp was issued in 2004 for Brno 2005 Philatelic Exhibition showing Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary,Brno.

In 1240 a convent was established by Oldřich Niger, a Brno townsman. This became redundant in 1578 and its premises were taken over by the Jesuits. The medieval convent was replaced by an extensive and architecturally simple collection of residential buildings, but following the dissolution of the order in 1773, a long-term use for the site could not be found and it was demolished in 1904. Only the portal remains, and this is preserved on Mozart Street between the church and the so-called Býlí dům, a modern building by Arnošt Weisner dating from 1923. The juxtaposition of the artistically valuable portal dated 1690 and the functionalist building is considered to be highly successful. The mannerist chapel was built from 1598 to 1602 on the site of the gothic church. In the mid 18th century the vaulting was decorated and the original furnishings were added to and the altars were replaced. At the end of the Second World War the church was severely damaged, and was restored from 1945-1952. In 1989 it was returned to the Jesuit order.

#101 Czech Republic...Thanks Jiri!

This FDC was from Historic Service Vehicles issued in Oct,1997 showing Postal Bus in Prague.

A postbus is a public bus service that is operated as part of local mail delivery. As a means to provide public transport in rural areas with lower levels of patronage where a normal bus service is uneconomic Postbus services are run by the postal delivery company and combine the functions of public transport and mail delivery/collection.

The first post bus lines in Bohemia started in the days of Austria-Hungary, in 1908. The first lines were Pardubice – Bohdaneč (11 km, 64 minuts) and Pardubice – Holice,other lines came later. In 1914, bus transport in Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia consisted of 23 lines in all, at which operated 33 postbuses and 13 private buses. During the World War I, bus transport was interrupted, vehicles were requisitioned by the army and rebuild to trucks.

#018 Czech...Thanks Radek

The stamp on the left was a portait of Master Jan Hus,from 2002 Czech for Europe series.

Jan Hus was a Czech priest, philosopher, reformer, and master at Charles University in Prague.

He is famed for having been burned at the stake by civil authorities for what the Catholic Church considered to be his heretical views on ecclesiology, as the civil authorities saw heresy as a criminal offense. Hus was a key predecessor to the Protestant movement of the 16th century, and his teachings had a strong influence on the states of Europe, most immediately in the approval for the existence of a reformist Bohemian religious denomination, and, more than a century later, on Martin Luther himself.

The stamp on the right is Czech 2005 EUROPA issue of Gastronomy.