Czechoslovak declaration of independence in the context of "Lands of the Bohemian Crown"

Alfons Maria Mucha (Czech: [ˈalfons ˈmuxa] ; 24 July 1860 – 14 July 1939), known internationally as Alphonse Mucha, was a Czech painter, illustrator, and graphic artist. Living in Paris during the Art Nouveau period, he was widely known for his distinctly stylised and decorative theatrical posters, particularly those of Sarah Bernhardt. He produced illustrations, advertisements, decorative panels, as well as designs, which became among the best-known images of the period.

In the second part of his career, at the age of 57, he returned to his homeland and devoted himself to a series of twenty monumental symbolist canvases known as The Slav Epic, depicting the history of all the Slavic peoples of the world, which he painted between 1912 and 1926. In 1928, on the 10th anniversary of the independence of Czechoslovakia, he presented the series to the Czech nation. He considered it his most important work.

Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (7 March 1850 – 14 September 1937) was a Czechoslovak statesman, political activist and philosopher who served as the first president of Czechoslovakia from 1918 to 1935. He is regarded as the founding father of Czechoslovakia.

Born in Hodonín, Moravia (then part of the Austrian Empire), Masaryk obtained a doctorate at the University of Vienna and was a professor of philosophy at the Czech Charles-Ferdinand University. He began his political career as a deputy of the Austrian Reichsrat, serving from 1891 to 1893 and from 1907 to 1914. He was an advocate of restructuring the Austro-Hungarian Empire into a federal state, but by the outbreak of the First World War, he had become a supporter of Czech and Slovak independence. He went into exile, and travelled around Europe to organise and promote the Czechoslovak cause. He played a pivotal role in the establishment of the Czechoslovak Legion, which fought against the Central Powers during the war. In 1918, Masaryk, along with his protégés Edvard Beneš and Milan Rastislav Štefánik, travelled to the United States to obtain support from President Woodrow Wilson and Secretary of State Robert Lansing. Their negotiations resulted in the Washington Declaration, which proclaimed the independence of a Czechoslovak state.

The president of the Czech Republic, constitutionally defined as the President of the Republic (Czech: Prezident republiky), is the head of state of the Czech Republic and the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic.

The presidency has largely been shaped by its inaugural holder, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, who assumed the office after the Czechoslovak declaration of independence was proclaimed in 1918. The 1920 Constitution granted the president substantial powers and Masaryk's political strength and popularity enabled the presidency to exert considerable influence over the Czech public life. In modern times, the president is largely a ceremonial figure with limited powers as the day-to-day business of the executive government is entrusted to the prime minister, and many of the president's actions require prime ministerial approval. Nevertheless, as the bearer of the nation's "Truth prevails" motto, the presidency is widely viewed to be a significant source of prestige, power and moral authority in both domestic and foreign affairs. The president, seated at the Prague Castle, has oftentimes been perceived through the prism of the nation's monarchical past. The office has retained the power to grant full pardons, commute criminal penalties and issue amnesties. The president possesses with a suspensory veto power which can be overridden by an absolute majority of the Chamber of Deputies.