What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on Twitter on 2 May 2022.

Za Žižkovskou vozovnou was built in 1925. The name is fairly unambiguous this time: ‘behind Žižkov Depot’.

Vozovna Žižkov / Žižkov Depot is one of Prague’s seven tram depots, and the second-oldest, as it was built in 1912. It’s the only depot to have a circular track in its yard.

This is often where the trams stop when there are works on the line in the summer. This tends to be when it’s 30+ degrees outside and walking the last couple of stops feels like a challenge because you’ve just been in the beer garden for five hours.

Again, there’s a grammatical difference between the street name and what it’s named after: the road is behind Žižkovská vozovna even though that is actually known as Vozovna Žižkov.