events 2008

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The Pittsburgh Agreement which Paved the Way for Creation of Independent Czechoslovakia is Coming to Prague

September 18, 2008

Currently on display at the National Museum in Bratislava, the original Pittsburgh Agreement will soon move to Prague in order to be, for the first time in history, introduced to Czechs.  U.S. Ambassador to Slovakia Vincent Obsitnik and Ambassador Richard Graber will jointly hand over the document to the Chairman of the Czech Senate Přemysl Sobotka on September 29.  The document, which has been loaned from the Senator John Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh, will be on display at the Czech Senate until the end of October.  It will be a highlight of a larger exhibition devoted to the process of the creation of Czechoslovakia. 

The Pittsburgh Agreement was signed by a group of Czechs and Slovaks on May 30, 1918 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Agreement became the cornerstone of independent Czechoslovakia, formulating the initiative of the two nations to establish a joint state.  Based on the document, Tomas G. Masaryk declared the independence of Czechoslovakia on the steps of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, PA in October 1918.

The original text of the Agreement [in Slovak]