It is a state holiday in the Czech Republic, in honour of the Czech
religious reformer Jan Hus (John Huss), who died on July 6, 1415. Services
dedicated to him have been held in Hussite, Czech Evangelical and other
Protestant churches around the country, on this the 590th anniversary of
his death.
Born in south Bohemia, he studied in Prague before being made parish
priest at the city's Bethlehem chapel. He was strongly influenced by the
English reformer John Wycliffe, whose writings he translated into Czech.
When Wycliffe's teachings were banned by the Church, Hus protested from
the pulpit; he was declared a heretic and excommunicated, before being
burnt at the stake.
In 1999 the late Pope John Paul II expressed regret for Hus's killing,
though he was not rehabilitated.
A service was held at Bethlehem chapel in honour of Jan Hus on Wednesday,
attended by the prime minister, Jiri Paroubek. President Vaclav Klaus,
meanwhile, was among the congregation at a service in Husinec, south
Bohemia, where the reformer was born around 1370.
The large statue of Hus on Prague's Old Town Square is to be lit up at
night from today on.