21. Czechs known abroad

21. Czechs known abroad

Dominik Jaroslav Duka

Dominik Duka was born on 26 of April 1943 and he is the 36th Archbishop of Prague and a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He also was a Bishop of Hradec Králové.

He was born in Hradec Králové and was the son of ex-soldier, who participated on foreign resistance movement (= zahraniční odboj). He studied on J. K. Tyl’s Gymnazium and finished school in 1960.

On 6th of January 1969 he made temporary profession in the Dominican Order (= kněžský stav) and on 22nd of June 1970 he was ordained (= vysvěcen) a priest. On 7th of January 1972 he made his profession (= řeholní slib) in the Dominican Order.

Because of the Communist he was deprived of the authorisation for the sacred ministry and then he worked at the factories of Škoda at Plzeň for 15 years. In this time he also worked in a secret as a teacher of theology. In 1979 he obtained (= získal) a licentiate in theology in Poland.

After the Revolutions of 1989 he lectured in the Faculty of Theology at Palacký University in Olomouc.

On the 6th of June 1998 he was appointed bishop of Hradec Králové and two years later on the 13th of February 2010, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him archbishop of Prague. Archbishop Duka was made Cardinal-Priest in 2012.

Karel Jaromír Erben

K. J. Erben was born in 1811 in Miletín and died in 1870 in Prague. He was the Czech writer, poet and collector of folk art and historian. He studied on Gymnasium J. K. Tyla and then he went to Prague and studied philosophy and law.

His famous book is Bouquet, which contains poems based on traditional and folkloric themes. It consists of 13 ballads, for example The Noonday Witch, Willow Tree, Christmas Eve or Lily. I think that most famous is the ballad The Water Globin, which is about a girl who doesn’t listen to her mother. She warns her that in the lake lives a water globin but the girl doesn’t care about it. She goes to the lake but then the bridge breaks down and she falls into the water. The water globin compels her to stay with him and after a while also they have got a child. In the end the child dies because the girl goes home and her mother doesn’t want to let her go.

He also wrote Folk Songs of Bohemia, which contains 500 songs and Czech Folk Songs and Nursery Rhymes. It’s five-parted book that includes most of the Czech folklore.

Lucie Plekancová Vondráčková

Lucie Plekancová Vondráčková was born on 8th of March 1980 in Prague and it’s a Czech popular singer and respected theatre and film actress. She has won a number of awards and is one of the most successful Czech singers.

Lucie Vondráčková comes from a musical family. Her father Jiří Vondráček is a musician, while her mother, Hana Vondráčková, is a respected lyricist.

Lucie attended primary school in Prague. She studied music and drama at the Prague Conservatory, and completed the course of Cultural studies, with a Master of Arts degree. She earned the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in 2006 at Charles University in Prague. She speaks five languages.