1.
Czech Republic
–
The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, is a nation state in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west, Austria to the south, Slovakia to the east and Poland to the northeast. The Czech Republic covers an area of 78,866 square kilometres with mostly temperate continental climate and it is a unitary parliamentary republic, has 10.5 million inhabitants and the capital and largest city is Prague, with over 1.2 million residents. The Czech Republic includes the territories of Bohemia, Moravia. The Czech state was formed in the late 9th century as the Duchy of Bohemia under the Great Moravian Empire, after the fall of the Empire in 907, the centre of power transferred from Moravia to Bohemia under the Přemyslid dynasty. In 1002, the duchy was formally recognized as part of the Holy Roman Empire, becoming the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1198 and reaching its greatest territorial extent in the 14th century. Following the Battle of Mohács in 1526, the whole Crown of Bohemia was gradually integrated into the Habsburg Monarchy alongside the Archduchy of Austria, the Protestant Bohemian Revolt against the Catholic Habsburgs led to the Thirty Years War. After the Battle of the White Mountain, the Habsburgs consolidated their rule, reimposed Roman Catholicism, the Czech part of Czechoslovakia was occupied by Germany in World War II, and was liberated in 1945 by the armies of the Soviet Union and the United States. The Czech country lost the majority of its German-speaking inhabitants after they were expelled following the war, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia won the 1946 elections. Following the 1948 coup détat, Czechoslovakia became a one-party communist state under Soviet influence, in 1968, increasing dissatisfaction with the regime culminated in a reform movement known as the Prague Spring, which ended in a Soviet-led invasion. Czechoslovakia remained occupied until the 1989 Velvet Revolution, when the communist regime collapsed, on 6 March 1990, the Czech Socialistic Republic was renamed to the Czech Republic. On 1 January 1993, Czechoslovakia peacefully dissolved, with its constituent states becoming the independent states of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. The Czech Republic joined NATO in 1999 and the European Union in 2004, it is a member of the United Nations, the OECD, the OSCE, and it is a developed country with an advanced, high income economy and high living standards. The UNDP ranks the country 14th in inequality-adjusted human development, the Czech Republic also ranks as the 6th most peaceful country, while achieving strong performance in democratic governance. It has the lowest unemployment rate in the European Union, the traditional English name Bohemia derives from Latin Boiohaemum, which means home of the Boii. The current name comes from the endonym Čech, spelled Cžech until the reform in 1842. The name comes from the Slavic tribe and, according to legend, their leader Čech, the etymology of the word Čech can be traced back to the Proto-Slavic root *čel-, meaning member of the people, kinsman, thus making it cognate to the Czech word člověk. The country has traditionally divided into three lands, namely Bohemia in the west, Moravia in the southeast, and Czech Silesia in the northeast. Following the dissolution of Czechoslovakia at the end of 1992, the Czech part of the former nation found itself without a common single-word geographical name in English, the name Czechia /ˈtʃɛkiə/ was recommended by the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs
2.
National library
–
A national library is a library specifically established by the government of a country to serve as the preeminent repository of information for that country. Unlike public libraries, these rarely allow citizens to borrow books, often, they include numerous rare, valuable, or significant works. A National Library is that library which has the duty of collecting and preserving the literature of the nation within, thus, National Libraries are those libraries whose community is the nation at large. Examples include The British Library, and The Bibliothèque Nationale In Paris, there are wider definitions of a national library, putting less emphasis to the repository character. National libraries are usually notable for their size, compared to that of other libraries in the same country. Some states which are not independent, but who wish to preserve their culture, have established a national library with all the attributes of such institutions. National libraries of Europe participate in The European Library and this is a service of The Conference of European National Librarians. The first national libraries had their origins in the collections of the sovereign or some other supreme body of the state. In England, Sir Richard Bentleys Proposal for Building a Royal Library published in 1694 stimulated renewed interest in the subject. Sir Robert Cotton, 1st Baronet, of Connington, an antiquarian, amassed the richest private collection of manuscripts in the world at the time. Sir Roberts genius was in finding, purchasing and preserving these ancient documents, after his death his grandson donated the library to the nation as its first national library. This transfer established the formation of the British Library, the first true national library was founded in 1753 as part of the British Museum. This new institution was the first of a new kind of museum – national, belonging to neither church nor king, freely open to the public, sloanes collection included some 40,000 printed books and 7,000 manuscripts, as well as prints and drawings. The British Museum Act 1753 also incorporated the Cotton library and the Harleian library and these were joined in 1757 by the Royal Library, assembled by various British monarchs. Anthony Panizzi became the Principal Librarian at the British Museum in 1856, during his tenure, the Librarys holdings increased from 235,000 to 540,000 volumes, making it the largest library in the world at the time. Its famous circular Reading Room was opened in 1857, Panizzi undertook the creation of a new catalogue, based on the Ninety-One Cataloguing Rules which he devised with his assistants. These rules served as the basis for all subsequent catalogue rules of the 19th and 20th centuries, in France, the first national library was the Bibliothèque Mazarine, which evolved from its origin as a royal library founded at the Louvre Palace by Charles V in 1368. At the death of Charles VI, this first collection was bought by the English regent of France, the Duke of Bedford
3.
Clementinum
–
The Clementinum is a historic complex of buildings in Prague. Until recently the complex hosted the National, University and Technical libraries, the Technical library and the Municipal library have moved to the Prague National Technical Library at Technická6 since 2009. It is currently in use as the National Library of the Czech Republic, in 2005, the Czech National Library received the UNESCO Jikji prize. Its history dates from the existence of a dedicated to Saint Clement in the 11th century. A Dominican monastery was founded in the period, which was transformed in 1556 to a Jesuit college. In 1622 the Jesuits transferred the library of Charles University to the Klementinum, the Jesuits remained until 1773, when the Klementinum was established as an observatory, library, and university by the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria. The National Library was founded in 1781 and from 1782 the Clementinum was a deposit library. In 1918 the newly established Czecho-Slovak state took over the library, since 1990, it has been the National Library. It contains a collection of Mozartiana, material pertaining to Tycho Brahe and Comenius, the architecture is a notable example of Baroque architecture and Clementinum, covering 20,000 square metres, is the second largest complex of buildings in Prague after the Prague Castle. On Jan 10,2006, the Prague authorities decided to sell the property located in the area of Letná near the Prague center. In Spring 2006, an architectural design competition for the new building was put up. An architect who won the competition is Jan Kaplický, but his winning was infirmed, at one time the Clementinum was known as the third largest Jesuit college in the world. The oldest weather recording in the area of the Czech lands started in Clementinum in the year 1775, the recording continues through the present day. The Clementinum is mentioned in The Secret Miracle by Jorge Luis Borges, the main character has a dream of the library of Clementinum where the librarians look for God in the books of the library. One of the librarians says, God is in one of the letters of one of the pages of one of the four hundred books of Clementinum. My fathers and the fathers of my fathers have looked for this letter, so, a reader enters and delivers an atlas for the main character, saying that this atlas is useless. The main character opens the book at random, and find a map of India, touching one of its letters and, then. The Baroque library hall inside Clementinum is known for its beautiful interior, list of early modern universities in Europe Strahov Monastery National Library of the Czech Republic The History of Clementinum
4.
Charles University
–
Charles University, known also as Charles University in Prague or historically as the University of Prague, is the oldest and largest university in the Czech Republic. Founded in 1348, it was the first university in Central Europe and it is one of the oldest universities in Europe in continuous operation and ranks in the upper 1.5 percent of the world’s best universities. Its seal shows its protector Emperor Charles IV, with his coats of arms as King of the Romans and King of Bohemia, kneeling in front of St. Wenceslas and it is surrounded by the inscription, Sigillum Universitatis Scolarium Studii Pragensis. The establishment of a university in Prague was inspired by Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV. He asked his friend and ally, Pope Clement VI, to do so, on 26 January 1347 the pope issued the bull establishing a university in Prague, modeled on the University of Paris, with the full number of faculties, that is including theological. This was caused by a shift in the 19th century. The university was opened in 1349, the university was sectioned into parts called nations, the Bohemian, Bavarian, Polish and Saxon. Ethnically Czech students made 16–20% of all students, archbishop Arnošt of Pardubice took an active part in the foundation by obliging the clergy to contribute and became a chancellor of the university. The first graduate was promoted in 1359, the lectures were held in the colleges, of which the oldest was named for the king the Carolinum, established in 1366. In 1372 the Faculty of Law became an independent university, in 1402 Jerome of Prague in Oxford copied out the Dialogus and Trialogus of John Wycliffe. The dean of the faculty, Jan Hus, translated Trialogus into the Czech language. In 1403 the university forbade its members to follow the teachings of Wycliffe, in the Western Schism, the Bohemian natio took the side of king Wenceslaus and supported the Council of Pisa. The other nationes of the university declared their support for the side of Pope Gregory XII, Hus and other Bohemians, though, took advantage of Wenceslaus opposition to Gregory. By the Decree of Kutná Hora on 18 January 1409, the king subverted the university constitution by granting the Bohemian masters three votes, only a single vote was left for all other three nationes combined, compared to one vote per each natio before. The result of this coup was the emigration of foreign professors and students, in the autumn of 1409, Hus was elected rector of the now Czech-dominated rump university. Thus, the Prague university lost the largest part of its students, from then on the university declined to a merely regional institution with a very low status. Soon, in 1419, the faculties of theology and law disappeared, the faculty of arts became a centre of the Hussite movement, and the chief doctrinal authority of the Utraquists. No degrees were given in the years 1417–30, at times there were eight or nine professors
5.
European Commission
–
Commissioners swear an oath at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, pledging to respect the treaties and to be completely independent in carrying out their duties during their mandate. The Commission operates as a government, with 28 members of the Commission. There is one member per state, but members are bound by their oath of office to represent the general interest of the EU as a whole rather than their home state. One of the 28 is the Commission President proposed by the European Council, the current Commission is the Juncker Commission, which took office in late 2014. The procedural languages of the Commission are English, French and German, the Members of the Commission and their cabinets are based in the Berlaymont building in Brussels. The first Commission originated in 1951 as the nine-member High Authority under President Jean Monnet, the High Authority was the supranational administrative executive of the new European Coal and Steel Community. It took office first on 10 August 1952 in Luxembourg, in 1958 the Treaties of Rome had established two new communities alongside the ECSC, the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community. However their executives were called Commissions rather than High Authorities, the reason for the change in name was the new relationship between the executives and the Council. Some states such as France expressed reservations over the power of the High Authority, louis Armand led the first Commission of Euratom. Walter Hallstein led the first Commission of the EEC, holding the first formal meeting on 16 January 1958 at the Château of Val-Duchesse, Hallstein notably began the consolidation of European law and started to have a notable impact on national legislation. The three bodies, collectively named the European Executives, co-existed until 1 July 1967 when, under the Merger Treaty, the Rey Commission completed the Communitys customs union in 1968 and campaigned for a more powerful, elected, European Parliament. Despite Rey being the first President of the communities, Hallstein is seen as the first President of the modern Commission. The Malfatti and Mansholt Commissions followed with work on monetary co-operation, with that enlargement the Commissions membership increased to thirteen under the Ortoli Commission, which dealt with the enlarged community during economic and international instability at that time. Following the Jenkins Commission, Gaston Thorns Commission oversaw the Communitys enlargement to the south, the Commission headed by Jacques Delors was seen as giving the Community a sense of direction and dynamism. Delors and his team are considered as the founding fathers of the euro. The International Herald Tribune noted the work of Delors at the end of his term in 1992. He arrived when Europessimism was at its worst, although he was a little-known former French finance minister, he breathed life and hope into the EC and into the dispirited Brussels Commission. The successor to Delors was Jacques Santer, the entire Santer Commission was forced to resign in 1999 by the Parliament as result of a fraud and corruption scandal, with a central role played by Édith Cresson
6.
Austrian National Library
–
The Austrian National Library is the largest library in Austria, with 7.4 million items in its various collections. The library is located in the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, since 2005, some of the collections have been relocated within the baroque structure of the Palais Mollard-Clary. Founded by the Habsburgs, the library was called the Hof-Bibliothek. The library complex includes four museums, as well as special collections. The institution has its origin in the library of the Middle Ages. During the Medieval period, the Austrian Duke Albert III shifted the books of the Viennese vaults into a library, Albert also organized important works from Latin to be translated into German. In the Hofburg, the treasure of Archduke Albert III had been kept in sacristies inside the tower of the imperial chapel. The Archduke was a connoisseur of art, he supported the University of Vienna, and he founded a royal workshop for illustrating manuscripts. On scenes depicting the lives of the four Evangelists, four coats of arms show the House of Austria, Tirol, Styria, and Carinthia, frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor, had the goal of summarizing the art treasures among the Habsburg possessions. Among other things, he brought some valuable books into the Vienna, among them the Prager Wenzelsbibel and the document of the golden bull. Through his marriage with Mary of Burgundy, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor came into the possession of important books from Burgundy and north France, with a value at that time estimated at 100,000 guldens, these books represented about an eighth of Marys dowry. Also Maximilians second wife, Bianca Maria Sforza, brought into the marriage as dowry, among other things, the books of the library, at that time, were kept partially in Wiener Neustadt, partially in Vienna, and partially in Innsbruck. After the death of Maximilian, the books were sent into the palace at Innsbruck, besides the valuable books from the public treasury, the Bibliotheca Regia during the 16th century, which collected and categorized scientific works, developed in Vienna. Besides books, that also contained globes and atlases. The library had expanded, in the course of the time, as the first head librarian, Hugo Blotius was appointed in 1575 by Emperor Maximilian II. His most important task was drawing up the inventory of the library, as a consequence, new works were added systematically, and other libraries were incorporated. For the first time on 26 August 1624, the delivery was regulated by obligation copies to the library, the Imperial Library also grew by purchases. Particularly, the library of Philipp Eduard Fugger led to a major expansion, from the Fugger library, the library currently has about 17,000 sheets of one of the first periodic printing elements, the Fugger newspapers
7.
Royal Library, Denmark
–
The Royal Library in Copenhagen, Denmark, is the national library of Denmark and the university library of the University of Copenhagen. It is the largest library in the Nordic countries and it contains numerous historical treasures, and a copy of all works printed in Denmark since the 17th century are deposited there. Thanks to extensive donations in the past, the library holds nearly all known Danish printed works back to and including the first Danish book, the library was founded in 1648 by King Frederik III, who contributed a comprehensive collection of European works. It was opened to the public in 1793, in 1989, it was merged with the prestigious Copenhagen University Library. In 2005, it was merged with the Danish National Library for Science and Medicine, now the Faculty Library of Natural, the official name of the organization as of 1 January 2006 is The Royal Library, the National Library of Denmark and the Copenhagen University Library. In 2008, the Danish Folklore Archive was merged with the Royal Library and it is open to anyone above the age of 18 with a genuine need to use the collections. Special rules apply for use of rare and valuable items, the annual circulation is 11,400,000 loans. The members are 32,196 active users, the annual budget, 394M Danish Kroner, including building expenses and maintenance. The old building of the Slotsholmen site was built in 1906 by Hans Jørgen Holm, the central hall is a copy of Charlemagnes Palace chapel in the Aachen Cathedral. In 1999, a new building adjacent to the old one was opened at Slotsholmen, the Black Diamond building was designed by Danish architects schmidt hammer lassen. Named for its cover of black marble and glass, the Black Diamond building houses a concert hall in addition to the library. This new building was opened 1999 and it is formed by two black cubes that are slightly tilted over the street. In the middle of them, there is an eight storey atrium whose walls are white and wave-shaped, the atriums exterior wall is made of glass, so, you can see the sea, and, on the opposite shore, you can see Christianshavns luxury buildings. Three bridges connect the Black Diamond with the old part of the Royal Library, in the ceiling of the big bridge, there is a huge painting by Danish painter Per Kirkeby. The Royal Library acquires Danish books through legal deposit, the holdings include an almost complete collection of all Danish printed books back from 1482. In 2006, legal deposit was extended to publications and now the library harvests four electronic copies of the Danish Internet each year. Commonly called the Hamburg Bible or the Bible of Bertoldus, a richly illuminated Bible in three large volumes made for the Cathedral of Hamburg in 1255. The 89 illuminated initials in the book are both as expressions of medieval art and as sources to the craft and history of the medieval book
8.
National Library of Finland
–
The National Library of Finland is the foremost research library in Finland. Administratively the library is part of the University of Helsinki, until 1 August 2006, it was known as the Helsinki University Library. The National Library is responsible for storing the Finnish cultural heritage and these copies are then distributed by the Library to its own national collection and to reserve collections of five other university libraries. Also, the National Library has the obligation to collect and preserve materials published on the Internet, any person who lives in Finland may register as a user of the National Library and borrow library material. The publications in the collection, however, are not loaned outside the library. The library also is home to one of the most comprehensive collections of books published in the Russian Empire of any library in the world, the National Library is located in Helsinki, close to Senaatintori square. The oldest part of the complex, designed by Carl Ludvig Engel. The newer extension Rotunda dates to 1903, the bulk of the collection is, nonetheless, stored in Kirjaluola, a 57, 600-cubic-metre underground bunker drilled into solid rock,18 metres below the library. University of Helsinki Helsinki Central Library Official website
