What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on Twitter on 14 August 2022.

Kostnické náměstí was built in 1889.

Kostnice is the Czech name for the German town that we’re allowed to call either Konstanz or Constance in English.

It lies on Lake Constance, which you’ll hear many people calling Bodensee instead.

Konstanz became a major spiritual centre in the late 6th century; in 1192, it was granted a certain amount of autonomy within the Holy Roman Empire by being declared an Imperial City.

In the Czech/Bohemian context, it was the Council of Constance, held between 1414 and 1418, at which Jan Hus was burned at the stake.

There is a Jan Hus Museum in Konstanz to this day: https://www.konstanz.de/kultur++freizeit/museen++ausstellungshaeuser/hus-haus.

Not inappropriately, Konstanz has been twinned with Tábor since 1984. And Richmond upon Thames, for the Londoners among us.

It was also the birthplace of Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, inventor of the eponymous airship.

Back on the square, the centre was revitalised in 2018 and 2019.

I went and sat at the outdoor cafe there last weekend and would recommend doing so to anybody.