What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on Twitter on 5 August 2022.

Prvního Pluku has had this name since 1947. It translates as ‘(the street of) the First Regiment’.

In 1877, three pre-existing streets – Anenská, Křížová and Mlýnská – were joined together to form a street called Vinohradská (not that one).

This became Pibranser Straße – Příbram Street – under the Nazi occupation, before becoming Vinohradská again until 1947.

The Karlín barracks, with a capacity of up to 2,000 men, were built here in the 1840s, with the location chosen partly because it was above the highest point the Vltava had ever reached.

They were known as Ferdinand’s Barracks until 1918.

During the Second World War, they were used by the Wehrmacht and known as the Hindenburg Barracks.

In 1968, they were used for some of the anti-occupation broadcasts made by Czechoslovak Radio.

The barracks hosted various units and facilities of the Prague garrison until 2008.

In 2017, on the 200th anniversary of the founding of Karlín, the barracks were reopened as a cultural centre that I am going to make a point of visiting: https://kasarnakarlin.cz/en/o-nas.

From 1906, Infantry Regiment no. 91 was housed here. This was the battalion that Jaroslav Hašek’s Švejk belonged to.

I really need to reread Švejk.

Update, June 2024: Unfortunately, the cultural centre was forced to close by the local building authority, apparently because it hadn’t received permission to carry out its activities within the interior spaces: https://www.expats.cz/czech-news/article/popular-kasarna-karlin-cultural-center-ordered-to-close-with-immediate-effect.

Good piece about the situation here: https://balkaninsight.com/2024/07/18/the-sound-and-the-fury-reasoned-debate-over-social-noise-in-prague-drowned-out/.