What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on Twitter on 23 August 2022.

Havlíčkovo náměstí was built in 1875.

Until 1910, this was Basilejské náměstí, now the name of another square slightly to the east (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/11/26/prague-3-day-94-basilejske-namesti/).

Between 1940 and 1945, it was Husovo náměstí (limited explanation required).

Karel Havlíček Borovský was born in 1821 and studied in Německý Brod (now Havlíčkův Brod, after him), moving to Prague in 1838 to study philosophy at Charles University.

In Prague, he joined the seminary, but was expelled in 1841, having developed a strong aversion to the Roman Catholic Church’s conservatism and anti-national spirit.

Originally a Russophile and Pan-Slav, he went to Russia for a year, returning in 1844 with a conviction that Pan-Slavism was not going to work.

In 1846, he became editor of Pražské noviny, leaving to found Národní noviny in 1848. This became the Czech liberals’ paper – but Havlíček felt that revolution was a bad idea, as the Czechs were not strong enough yet and the potential repercussions if they lost were huge.

In July 1848, just after the failed Prague Uprising, he was elected to the Austrian Reichstag, but quit soon afterwards to focus on his journalism.

Arrested for criticism of the regime in 1849, he was acquitted by a sympathetic jury.

Národní noviny was forced to cease publication in 1850. Havlíček moved to Kutná Hora and set up a satirical magazine, there, Slovan (‘The Slav’), but this too was banned in 1851.

He was exiled to Brixen (South Tyrol) in 1851, writing some of his most famous works there. Returning to Bohemia in 1855, he found that his wife had died a few days before.

Havlíček himself succumbed to tuberculosis in 1856. He was only 35.

His funeral became a major event, attended by, amongst others, František Palacký, František Ladislav Riegr, Václav Hanka, Karel Jaromír Erben and Božena Němcová, who allegedly placed a crown of thorns on Havlíček’s coffin as a symbol of martyrdom.

Havlíček is buried in Olšany Cemetery. Slightly further afield, there is also an asteroid named after him: https://waymarking.com/waymarks/wm11QAW_2706_Borovsky_Karel_Havlcek_Borovsk_Praha_Czechia….

The square is the location of the Žižkov Town Hall (see https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/11/20/prague-3-day-64-olgy-havlove/ for two rounds of Havel-marriage-related Town Hall activity).

A statue of Havlíček, sculpted by Josef Strachovský, was placed here in 1911. It was removed during the occupation in 1943, but was recast three years later.

The park underwent renovation in 2015, and now contains paving stones including famous quotes from Havlíček’s works.