What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on Twitter on 27 August 2022.

Náměstí Winstona Churchilla was built in 1935.

Until 1955, this was U Pensijního ústavu (‘At the Pension Institute’), named after the large functionalist building on the square, once the tallest office building in Czechoslovakia.

It became known as the Dům odborových svazů (House of Trade Unions) in 1951.

Since 2019, it’s been called the Dům Radost (House of Joy) and contains offices, a cinema, shops and a cafe.

From 1955 until 1977, this was Gustav Kliment Square, after a prominent member of the Communist Party who died in 1953.

From 1977 to 1990, it was Antonín Zápotocký Square. Zápotocký was PM of Czechoslovakia from 1948 to 1953, and President from 1953 until his death in 1957.

Post-communism, it became Winston Churchill Square. A statue of Churchill, identical to the one in Parliament Square in London, and sculpted by Ivor Roberts-Jones, was unveiled in 1999.

Its unveiling was attended by Margaret Thatcher, Churchill’s grandson and Václav Klaus. Aren’t you glad selfies weren’t a thing in 1999? https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/nov/18/kateconnolly.lucyward

You will probably remember this happening in 2020: https://www.irozhlas.cz/zpravy-domov/winston-churchill-black-lives-matter-praha_2006111043_pj

Searching for English-language articles about the statue being defaced led me to this good two-parter about Afro-Czechs: https://globalvoices.org/2020/06/24/afro-czechs-on-visibility-racism-and-life-in-the-czech-republic-part-one/.