What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on Twitter on 2 September 2022.

Sladkovského náměstí was built in 1890.

Karel Sladkovský was born in Malá Strana in 1823, and studied law in Vienna. He returned to Prague in 1848, becoming a leader of the student movement.

He became famous after a speech at Svatováclavské Lázně (which no longer exists, having been destroyed in 1908 – this is where Dittrichova now is in the Old Town), in which he condemned the rules for election to the Czech Land Assembly.

He took part in the fighting in the Prague June Uprising; following the city’s surrender, he was regarded as a mutineer and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

In 1849, he was arrested for his role in planning a second uprising (the May Conspiracy). Sentenced to death in 1851, this was later commuted to twenty years’ imprisonment.

Amnestied in 1857, he joined the editorial staff of Čas (the first Czech newspaper authorised by the Habsburg authorities) in 1860, and then, in 1862, of Hlas, a radical democratic magazine. The publications merged in 1865.

From 1862 to 1880, he was a member of the Czech Regional Assembly, supporting universal suffrage and democratic rights. In 1867, he was elected to the Imperial Council in Vienna.

In 1874, he co-founded the Young Czech Party (Mladočeši) and acted as its first chairman. The party claimed to be the heirs of Karel Havlíček Borovský (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/12/26/prague-3-day-122-havlickovo-namesti/).

After eight years of boycotting the Imperial Council in Vienna, the party agreed to enter it in 1879. However, Sladkovský was unable to play a key role due to ill health, and died the following year.

Looking at Twitter right now, it’s a shame certain other people get to go to parliaments and assemblies and the like.