When he created the iconic "Count Dracula" accent that endures today, Hungarian actor Bela Lugosi had a secret weapon: simply not speaking English well. The myth is that he memorized sentences he couldn't understand. However, the truth is more of a grey area.
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András Arató, a “silver” model for stock photos, became an internet phenomenon a few years ago. Recognized for his incredibly unique smile, some were surprised to learn he’s an actual person, and
Few people know that the first jet engine was built by Romanian
The history of sugar is not as straightforward as a mere ingredient
Lawyers, singers, and writers. Those are some of the roles that four of the most influential women in Czech history have played. And even though they are often overshadowed by their male counterparts, their roles are equally significant.
Sigmund Freud, who forever fixed psychoanalysis on the map of human ideas, is still celebrated in his native city. Contrary to what you might assume, it's not Vienna. In fact, it's not even in Austria. It's actually in Czechia.
Behind every superhero, there is an inspiration. One Polish Jew was probably more than that. He is claimed to have been a real-life prototype of Superman.
Super Farmer is a new edition of the 1940s cult classic created to teach children to count and allow a math professor to survive unemployment under Nazi rule in Warsaw.
The bald Greek-American detective played by Telly Savalas was so famous in Romania that his favorite sweet treat was named after him.
Ahead of Varna Day, celebrated on 15 August, 3Seas Europe talks to four local residents about what makes their city so special.
He was more than a drummer. He was a multi-instrumentalist, a fine percussionist, a revolutionary inventor, and a visionary. This Romania-born ‘jack of all trades’ mastered it all and was considered the world’s greatest snare drummer.
Anthony Burgess' masterpiece models the English language as it could sound were it overwhelmingly influenced by Russian. Polish translator Robert Stiller recreated the experiment in Polish in multiple versions.
One of the most internationally famous Poles began his career at his parent’s manor just an hour outside of Warsaw. Given the scale of folk inspiration in Chopin’s music, Żelazowa Wola (The Iron Village) is the likely source of the “musical ore” he refined.
Ernő Rubik, the inventor of the world’s famous Rubik’s Cube, with a background in building and furniture design, is now a STEM promotor, game designer, and an acclaimed symbol of Hungary.
At some point in their lives, every child grabs hold of a pencil, crayon, and perhaps paintbrush, and they begin to create. Some become classically educated artists, but only a small handful are able to teach themselves and still find acclaim. Such is the case of Nikifor Krynicki.
A physicist by nature, a military pilot, a diplomat, and a rector by choice. Or talent, as many would say. This Romanian 4-in-1 scientist did not let anything get in the way of achieving his dream of making the name of Romania stand tall worldwide.
Who was the greatest musician ever alive? A celebrity by today's definition – famous, talented, and wealthy? Whose compositions are known to practically every human, even if they have no idea about classical music? There is only one answer – Mozart!
Remember that guy from Pocahontas? He was a real thing, and before colonizing the Americas, he was a swashbuckler in Central Europe.
The story of Jan Hus is the story of perseverance, courage, and staying true to your beliefs and principles. Jan Hus never backed down on his beliefs, which resulted in him being jailed and executed by the Catholic Church.
He was one of the dreamers who seriously took to heart the saying that the sky is the limit. Educated as an engineer and damn good at his job, Ernest became a national hero for two countries. It's time the world was reminded about his achievements.
Often seen as the Dadaism of the theatre, Absurdism plays were initially confusing for the general public. But it didn’t take long for critics and enthusiasts to find sense in the seemingly meaningless life portrayed by Ionescu’s characters.
A four-time Nobel nominee, a revolutionary scientist, a talented violinist, and a brave soul - this is Constantin Levaditi, one of the founding fathers of virology.
During the First Balkan War in 1912, a 15-year-old Bulgarian volunteer nurse became the first woman in the world to participate in a combat flight. Despite enormous risks and a lack of training, Rayna Kasabova threw propaganda leaflets over Edirne, in today’s Turkey, making history along the way.
We take so many things for granted. And although we are theoretically aware that country borders (and what's within them) have shifted over centuries, the story of how Poland kept its Tatra Mountains is bound to be one of a kind.
If a perfectionist skates but doesn't think they're good enough, they have three options - give up, try harder, or... become a filmmaker!
Not technically a middle finger, a gesture named after Polish sportsman Władysław Kozakiewicz was simultaneously a celebration of victory and an important political claim.
Part two of the CZExplorers series introduces a doctor turned traveler who explored Africa, became a good friend with a King, and fought warriors, leopards, and diseases.
In the 1950s, one student of the Academy of Fine Arts in Sofia was dispatched to Bulgaria's countryside to help farmers whose land was located along the route of the Orient Express. This state-ordered visit might have given the world one of the greatest artists of the late 20th and early 21st century.
Before love tore apart Joy Division, its leader Ian Curtis named his band Warsaw, which correlated with his impression of the Polish capital.
Alfons Mucha is known primarily as the spiritual father of the Art Nouveau style. But he is also the father of 20 giant canvases depicting the history of the Slavic people.
Did you know it was a Pole that first painted the faces of the biggest Hollywood stars? And another who developed the formula to save our skin from the scorching sun? Meet five big health and beauty brands with Polish roots.
Visionary Polish architect Oskar Hansen dreamed about Poland with only four cities, one street wide, stretching from the southern to the northern border of the country.
With a complicated biography, multiple areas of expertise, and a good number of jobs, Janusz Korczak was an exemplary modern teacher. His book for children entitled “Król Maciuś Pierwszy” (eng.: "His Majesty, King Matt the First") is a 1930s coming-of-age novel with a very modern take.
The “New York Sun” named her “the most glamorous and gifted opera singer of our time.” “Sunday Times” called her “the most interesting soprano voice of our time.” This is Angela Gheorghiu, the golden voice of international opera, born in Vrancea, Romania.
The previous century was a time of abundant changes. To live in early 20th-century Poland was to be stuck in the middle of a diverse society with influences from at least three different cultures - with multiple differing languages. This is where Ludwik Zamenhof comes in.
Active mainly in Vienna and Bratislava, this 18th-century sculptor left an unusual oeuvre of marble busts depicting distorted facial expressions. His inspiration could have been mental illness or belief in the paranormal.
Playwright, poet, musician, teacher, traveler, philosopher, inventor, scientist, criminal, and sportsman. This is just a short list of what Jára Cimrman was in his lifetime. Too bad he never lived.
A 120-year-old Polish book about people in space was supposed to make one of the most important Polish movies. Instead, it turned into decades of vicissitudes with peculiar effects.
The idea of washing in water that pours down from above your head was introduced by controversial balneology and alternative medicine pioneer Vincenz Priessnitz.
Anastasia Soare fled communist Romania in search of her “American dream.” The road to success was paved with obstacles and hardships, but the Romanian-born Anastasia never gave up on building her beauty empire.
Romanian motifs and symbols are recognizable around the world. The traditional outfits, bright and intricately embellished, are even inspiring big fashion houses like Yves Saint Laurent and Dior.
Tadeusz Kościuszko and Kazimierz Pułaski – two Polish war heroes – played significant roles in the American Revolutionary War and considerably influenced the development of the US military.
You may have heard of the somewhat controversial and much-disputed art movement called Dadaism. But do you know what it is? What does “Dada” mean, and what does Romania have to do with it?
A man of many talents, Raimonds Pauls is best known for his work as a composer and pianist. Fast approaching 90 years of age, the acclaimed Latvian musician still performs, charming audiences with his catchy melodies.
Although his colleagues, such as Johannes Kepler and Tycho Brahe, are more remembered today, Šibenik-born Fausto Veranzio can be credited with many inventions, including the suspension bridge, parachute, and wind turbine - all in the 17th Century.
Florentina loved to be in the spotlight, but even more than that, she loved being in the laboratory studying chemistry and nuclear physics. And unlike in the cinema world, she did not need spotlights to shine - her talent and hard work were enough to have all eyes on her.
Polish woodworkers in the colony of Virginia were skilled in producing materials for shipbuilding but were not allowed to vote in the colony's first election. So they went on strike, and they won.
On April 24, known as Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, Armenians in Bulgaria will pay their respects to the victims of the systematic murder of up to 1.5 million Armenians, which took place in the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century.
Born in Austria and Raised in Estonia, this czarist officer ended up as a self-appointed anti-communist Mongolian leader; his story is mind-boggling.
Sometimes the best things in life come from moments of tension and difficulty. That's how Luka Modrić started his football career - in exile from a raging war. How did he go from shepherd to Ballon d'Or winner?
We bet you're familiar with the famous sailor who gets superhuman strength from downing cans of his ever-present favorite snack - spinach. Generations of people are. However, not everyone knows that he was based on a real person.
Pioneering female architect Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky may have stayed close to the stereotype by choosing not to focus on designing monumental architecture but rather on a kitchen laboratory. Nonetheless, her designs started a revolution.
Who is Romania's most skilled neurosurgeon – and the most internationally admired for his abilities and heart of gold? The story of Europe's best surgeon, who often operates free of charge, is quite phenomenal.
Rebel Empress Elizabeth of Austria is well-remembered in "her" city of Vienna, but with the release of her new biopic movie, word of her unusual nature is going global.
Have you ever wondered to whom you owe the fact that you can write every day with that tool that you call a pen? The answer might just surprise you.
Almost everyone knows Michael Jackson's 1980s worldwide smash hit song "Smooth Criminal", but slightly fewer people know how a cover of this song brought viral fame to two cellists. So how did 2CELLOS become a world-famous musical sensation from Croatia?
3Seas Europe's Galina Ganeva sits down with Maria Plachkova, a Ukrainian-born journalist of Bulgarian descent, to talk about the past and, most importantly, the future of the many minorities populating Ukraine.
The story feels like a Hollywood movie script: a trained miller-turned-composer inspires musical master Mozart. This is the story of a man who was nicknamed Il Divino Boemo – The Divine Czech.
The loss of a beloved artist is always a painful loss. The loss of Stoyanka Mutafova in 2019, who, at 97 years old, was one of the oldest actors in the world still working, shook Bulgaria profoundly. After all, the country lost its uncontested "Queen of Comedy."
He was an inventor, an engineer, and an aviator. He inspired thousands of pilots around the world, like astronaut Neal Armstrong, the first person to walk on the moon. And yet, Assen Jordanoff, the Bulgarian-American inventor of, among other things, the airbag, is hardly known in his home country.
In Lithuania's capital, pedestrian crossing lights recently got a makeover as part of the celebration to commemorate 100 years of women’s right to vote in the country. Lights featuring figures wearing skirts now dot the intersections of a bustling Vilnius neighborhood.
"Tytus, Romek i A'Tomek" was the longest-running Polish comic book series. But its creator's biography extended beyond the adventures of a monkey born from an inkblot.
"Every Tangle of Thread and Rope" is the title of Magdalena Abakanowicz's retrospective in the most notable British modern art museum. The late artist's relationship with her body takes the form of unusual sculptures.
Latvia's second-largest city, Daugavpils, is home to the Mark Rothko Art Center, named after one of the most famous artists in the world, who was born in the city in 1903.
Africa is known for its diamonds, but how many of you know that a European country supplies the world with much more popular, dazzling, and kinder stones to your wallet? There is a chance you own one.
Romania’s most renowned bacteriologist, Victor Babeș, dreamt of being an artist – until a tragic event changed the path of his life forever.
Before becoming a genius physicist, Marie Skłodowska-Curie was a Polish language teacher and a national-democratic activist.
A corpse found on the border between Austria and Italy seemed so fresh that the tourists who found it called the police. But it was archeologists would eventually dispute the nationality of the ice man.
Elisa Leonida Zamfirescu was born into a family of intellectuals and scientists. Out of eight bright siblings, she had to face the harshest conditions, all because her passion for engineering did not agree with her gender.
Though merchant Levi Strauss is mainly credited for the invention of jeans, little would have happened in this area if not for Latvian-born tailor Jacob Davis. In 1871 in Reno, Nevada, Davis found denim to be the perfect fabric for workhorse pants.
Born Idek Trzmiel in Łódź, Poland, Jack Tramiel was the creator of the Commodore 64, the computer that holds a Guinness World Record for being the best-selling machine of its kind.
Ivo Boscarol is a Slovenian entrepreneur and aircraft designer with a great success story. Throughout his continuing success, he has remained true to his birthplace and dedicated a lot of made money to local causes.
Karel Gott's story is about passion and love for music. After becoming a revered Czech pop legend, his talent and name spread to the world, becoming a symbol.
Writer Kapka Kassabova has made it her mission to go back to the Balkans, bringing closer to readers a part of Europe that is still either unknown or misunderstood.
Ita Rina was a movie superstar in Europe in the 1930s, when she starred in many successful movies, the only Slovenian to make it that far. She was even offered work in Hollywood but turned it down to focus on her family. Today she is a forgotten yet legendary icon of that period in film history.
Long before anybody had any idea of sustainable energy Nicola Tesla was preoccupied with finding new energy sources. Europe’s first hydropower plant is just one of his genius inventions. Get to know the man behind your dynamo.
Meet Martin Strel from Slovenia. He is a 67-year-old retired guitar teacher, he is overweight, he enjoys Cviček, a sort of wine from his native Lower Carniola region, a bit too much, and he might just be the most powerful athlete alive.
Eponymous with both luxury supercars and the designer of the Beetle, the most renowned democratic car of the first half of the 20th century, Ferdinand Porsche is the most important Czech-Austrian contribution to automotive history.
Gogea Mitu was Romania’s tallest sportsman and the world’s tallest boxer. With a promising future in front of him, Mitu was just about to make his debut in the United States when he tragically – and mysteriously - died. What really happened to the “Romanian Goliath”?
Born in Budapest and educated in the West, Edith Bone was imprisoned for alleged espionage in Communist Hungary. The story of her 7-year solitary confinement is an extraordinary account of human survival skills.
Do you enjoy the experience of watching a 3D movie and getting to “live” every minute of it? It is all thanks to the Romanian inventor Theodor Ionescu who brought 3D images to TV and cinema and created one of the biggest industries in the world.
Born in Piaski Szlacheckie, an inconspicuous village near Lublin, Poland, Antoni Patek made his name as part of the most prestigious brand in the history of watchmaking. A true trailblazer in the industry.
3Seas’s Creative Director, Danuta Nierada, recently sat down with Marisa de Lempicka, the great-granddaughter of iconic artist Tamara de Łempicka, to talk about the life and times of the third most expensive female painter ever, also widely considered the greatest Art Deco artist of all times.
In one famous photo, a woman dines in her house at the table together with a half-ton wild boar. The same woman grieved the loss of her lynx as if it was her daughter. Am I talking about a fictional character from children’s books? No. In fact, I am recalling an actual Polish larger-than-life zoopsychologist.
There aren’t many cities visually influenced by one man. However, every so often, a genius is born who leaves such a mark to the point of it being recognized as a world heritage site. Meet Jože Plečnik (1872-1957), the man who changed Ljubljana.
The Independent called him “the most influential cell biologist ever.” He was the first Romanian to win the Nobel Prize. George Emil Palade, the founder of modern molecular biology, was not just a genius - he was a very lucky man, too.
Harry Houdini, son of a Rabbi from Budapest, was not only a pioneer in his discipline of entertainment but also a master in breaking the chains of countries’ boundaries as he gained truly international fame.
For thousands of years, at least since Icarus, man dreamed of flying. Only recently, we’ve been lucky enough to see the world from above, with taking a plane almost as easy as taking a bus these days. But that didn’t happen overnight – it took innovators like Edvard Rusjan.
Every now and again, a genius is born. A person of so many talents that during their lifetime they come to invent several everyday items later generations cannot imagine their lives without. One of such people came from Croatia.
How high is too high? For Oradea-born pianist Thurzó Zoltán, there is no such height. Zoltán, internationally renowned for his out-of-this-world attempts to enter the Guinness World Book of Records, has finally made it with his concert atop Mount Everest.
A bob. The symbol of strong femininity. Famously used in a short story of innocence lost, written by an American writer. However, Fitzgerald’s tale would never have been without that iconic haircut. And it so happens that a Pole wielded the scissors.
Tomáš Baťa, a businessman from the Moravian city of Zlín, inspires entrepreneurs from all around the world to this day. Not only entrepreneurs but also politicians. Have you ever heard the expression "To run a country as a company"? Take a seat then - the journey starts in Zlín.
The frustration that boils your blood when a computer crashes just as you were to save the work you have been sweating over the past hour is known to all. Our great grandfathers could relate, as an inkblot could ruin a carefully written page of a letter. Someone had to put an end to it!
Have you ever thought about how what you eat or drink may influence your perception? Had a cup of coffee this morning? Maybe a cigarette? Chances are, these could make you produce a piece of art different from what you would have created after a cup of tea with a biscuit. At least in theory.
A NASA engineer and inventor who developed heart-monitoring equipment and originated the first-ever digital wristwatch. These are just some of the accomplishments used to describe Bulgarian inventor Petar Petroff. But, before becoming one of the twentieth century's most productive inventors, Petroff led an eventful and adventurous life that few know about.
In 1905, novelist and journalist Bertha von Suttner was the first person ever to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
While Józef Piłsudski worked on his leading role in the politics of future Poland, his brother Bronisław became an ethnographer. He is credited with the only remaining recordings of a lost spoken Japanese language.
Millions of people worldwide wear contact lenses every day. However, not many of these people know the origin story of this simple-looking yet genius invention.
"The Art of Love," a guide to satisfactory sex, effective conception, and contraception, was a scandal – and an immediate success – in Poland in the 1970s.
One of the many passions of Gregor Johann Mendel, an Augustinian monk, was gardening. And it was this passion, along with the help of a few pea plants, that helped him discover the laws of heredity. To this day, we know him as the "father of modern genetics."
On 18 July 1976, history was made. And it was made by Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci, who achieved the first perfect 10 in the history of the Olympics. A score so high, the scoreboard couldn't even display it.
Artist and minority activist Małgorzata Mirga-Tas's work has taken the Polish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale of Art 2022 by storm. Her exhibition shows tapestries, attempting to weave the history and contribution of the Roma community back into European art history.
His sculpture La Jeune Fille Sophistiquée is the fifth most expensive sculpture ever sold. His work is adored and coveted all over the world. Discover the life of Constantin Brâncuși, a pioneer of modernism and one of the most influential sculptors of the 20th century.
Famed Pritzker Prize-winning architect Shigeru Ban has created a novel solution to grant refugees dignity and privacy. His work has been successfully introduced in Poland during the Russian war on Ukraine.
By combining lessons learned from his time in Sweden and Japan, Péter Árvai returned to Hungary and took the position as CEO of what would become one of the world’s largest visual communications software companies.
Moving to a new country can be a daunting but enlightening experience. We've asked expats from around the Three Seas countries the same five questions to give us a bit of insight into the good, bad and unexpected aspects of their new homes.