Czech National Revival

Czech National Revival was a cultural movement, which took part in the Czech lands during the 18th and 19th century. The purpose of this movement was to revive Czech language, culture and national identity. The most prominent figures of the revival movement were Josef Dobrovský and Josef Jungmann.

Background

Following the Battle of White Mountain in 1620, Czech lands suffered from Germanisation politics of the Habsburg Emperors.

The oppression was connected also with the religion - up to 95% inhabitants of Bohemia were Protestants (See Hussite) when Habsburgs took power. Although they formerly promised freedom of religion, they started rampant anti-reformation and re-catholization efforts which made the most of Czech elites flee the country. This violent re-catholization is also one of the reasons behind today's Czech atheism.

The Czech language was more or less eradicated from state administration, literature, schools, Charles University and among the upper classes. Books written in Czech were burned and any publication in Czech was considered to be heresy by the Jesuits. The Czech language was reduced to a means of communication between peasants, who were often illiterate. Therefore, the Revival looked for inspiration among ordinary Czechs in the countryside.

Milestones

Josef Dobrovský published his Czech grammar book in 1809. In 1817, Václav Hanka claimed to have discovered medieval Manuscripts of Dvůr Králové and of Zelená Hora, which were decades later proven as Hanka's forgeries.

Josef Jungmann published the five-volume Czech-German dictionary in 1834–1839. It was a major lexicographical work, which had a great formative influence on the Czech language. Jungmann used vocabulary of the Bible of Kralice (1579–1613) period and of the language used by his contemporaries. He borrowed words not present in Czech from other Slavic languages or created neologisms. He also inspired development of Czech scientific terminology, thus, making it possible for original Czech research to develop.

With the renaissance of language, Czech culture flourished. Czech institutions were established to celebrate the Czech history and culture. The National Theatre opened in 1883 and the National Museum in 1818.

Results

As a result, the Czech language has been restored as an official language in the Czech lands and is now used by the vast majority of Czechs, and serves as an official language in the Czech Republic.