What's in a Prague street name

Originally posted on Twitter on 14 July 2022.

Komenského náměstí was built in 1872.

Named after John Amos Comenius / Jan Amos Komenský (1592-1670). There’s a lot to say about this guy.

Komenský was born into the Moravian Brethren, a pre-Reformation Protestant denomination, whose last bishop he ultimately became.

The religious wars forced him to seek refuge in Poland.

While in exile, he became one of the earliest champions of universal education.

He advised governments across Protestant Europe (including in Sweden and England) on this in the mid-17th century.

Among the innovations he introduced were textbooks written in languages other than Latin, prizing logical thinking over memorisation and equal opportunities for women and the poor.

There’s a strong chance that you see Komenský’s face every single day, even without realising.

28 March, his birthday, is celebrated as Teachers’ Day in the Czech Republic.

Comenius University in Bratislava is Slovakia’s largest university, founded in 1919. More recently, the University of Jan Amos Komenský was opened in Prague in 2001.

In the 1980s, nearly all the 19th century buildings in the square were destroyed and replaced by paneláky.

There were plans to destroy the school in the square, too, but 1989 and the Velvet Revolution arrived before the bulldozers could.

The square has undergone some major revitalisation in recent years, swapping a parking lot for a park and a pedestrian zone.

You can see pictures of the renovation – performed by MCA atelier s.r.o. in 2018 – here: https://www.earch.cz/architektura/clanek/atraktivni-verejny-prostor-misto-zanedbaneho-parkoviste-mca-atelier-navrhl-revitalizaci-komenskeho-namesti-na-zizkove