Preparations underway for Masaryk anniversary

Preparations are underway for the 160th anniversary of the birth of Czechoslovakia’s first president Tomas Garrigue Masaryk. Masayk, who founded an independent state of Czechs and Slovaks after the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1989 laid the founding stones of democracy in the country, enjoys tremendous respect to this day. The 160th anniversary of his birth on March 7, 1850 will be marked around the country, particularly in his home town Hodonin. President Vaclav Klaus is to open an exhibition on President Masaryk’s life and work at Prague Castle on March 2 and a bronze equestrian statue of the country’s first president is to be unveiled outside the T.G. Masaryk Museum at Lany near Prague.