What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on Twitter on 5 July 2022.

Olšanská was built in 1947.

Olšany, a village located where the road now is, was built in 1306. It was named after ‘olše’, the alder tree. It’s hard to believe now, but there were several ponds and a stream here.

The manors here had various owners, before being taken over by the people of Prague at the time of the Hussite riots, before undergoing multiple ownership changes yet again.

In 1557, the land became the exclusive property of the Old Town of Prague. The court was destroyed by the Swedes during the Thirty Years’ War, and, after 1662, was attached to the Libeň court.

Plague broke out in 1680; the city of Prague therefore established three cemeteries in Olšany: the Old Town cemetery, the New Town cemetery, and the Jewish cemetery.

In 1788, the village district of Viničné Hory was created. Western Olšany became part of this, while the remainder became part of Strašnice. Olšany became part of Žižkov in 1875, and of Prague in 1922.

There are plans to give Olšanská a revamp (article from a few days ago: https://idnes.cz/praha/zpravy/olsanska-architekti-studie-zmena-revitalizace-uzemi-praha-3.A220629_145206_praha-zpravy_baky…). It’s fair to say it could do with one.