What's in a Prague street name

Originally posted on Twitter on 6 May 2022.

Pražačka was built in 1947. It’s named after *another* farmstead (and vineyard) that no longer exists.

The origin of the name ‘Pražačka’ isn’t clear, but original maps list the name as ‘Brasatscha’ – so, surprisingly, the name probably doesn’t have anything to do with ‘Praha’.

The vineyard was first documented in the 16th century. By 1785, there was a building, which was later extended to form a large farmyard – large enough to be visible from Karlín.

From 1800 onwards, the homestead was owned by the Stome family (Jan Stome was a wealthy baker who owned a mill on the Vltava).

As Žižkov’s population increased thirtyfold in the forty years to 1900, farming became a less viable option and activity on the farm was gradually reduced.

The Stome family owned Pražačka until 1947, when it was demolished and replaced by the streets that you see now.

Appropriately for current anniversaries (at the date of posting on Twitter, it was exactly 77 years since the Prague Uprising), here’s a picture of the settlement in May 1945, taken from https://nakrejcarku.info/historie-prazacky/….