Čechové
Praotec Čech
A forefather leads his tribe west, climbs the hill of Říp, and names the land after himself.
- First recorded
- Cosmas of Prague, Chronica Boemorum, c. 1120
- Sacred place
- Říp hill · 459 m · 50.386° N 14.289° E
- Best-known retelling
- Alois Jirásek, Old Czech Legends, 1894
The saga in seven scenes
Choose a scene to start the film there“This is the land you have been looking for.”
Long ago, a people lived far to the east, beyond the great rivers. Wars and hunger drove them from their old home, and they set out westward with their carts, their cattle and their gods.
They were led by two brothers, Čech and Lech, and by an old man whose staff had measured many roads. For many days they walked through dark forests and across wide rivers, looking for a land where they could settle.
At last they came to a broad plain. In the middle of it a single round hill rose up, alone, like a sentinel. They made camp at its foot, and in the morning Čech climbed it with his companions.
From the summit he saw a country of meadows and forests, rivers full of fish and woods full of game. “This is the land you have been looking for,” he told his people. “A land flowing with milk and honey.” He knelt, took a handful of its earth, and gave thanks to the gods.
The people asked that the land should carry the name of the man who had brought them there. And so it is still called Čechy, and they Čechové, to this day.
Where the story lives today
Prague CastleSeat of Czech princes and kings for over a thousand years.
KarlštejnBuilt by Charles IV from 1348 to guard the crown jewels.
Charles IVKing of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor, founder of Prague’s university.
Český KrumlovA river town wrapped around its castle.
The GolemRabbi Löw’s clay guardian of Prague’s Jewish Town.
Kutná HoraThe silver town and its cathedral of St Barbara.
Charles BridgePrague’s stone bridge over the Vltava, begun in 1357.
Cyril and MethodiusThe brothers who brought a Slavic liturgy and alphabet in 863.
TroskyTwo towers on volcanic rock: the Maiden and the Grandmother.Three brothers, three peoples
In Polish and Czech chronicles, Čech had brothers who went their own ways: Lech to the north, where he found a white eagle’s nest, and Rus to the east.