What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on Twitter on 10 October 2022.

Kouřimská was built in 1925.

Kouřim is *another* small town (1,900 people) in the Kolín district.

The name is one accent mark away from being ‘kouřím’ (meaning ‘I smoke’), and, according to legend, Bohemian prince Lech (died 805) lit a fire here to let his ancestor Čech know that he had founded the settlement.

Stará Kouřim (Old Kouřim) was established in the 7th century, disappearing in the 10th.

It’s likely that modern-day Kouřim was founded by Václav I or by Přemysl Otakar II.

Around 1500, the town had 2,000 inhabitants (i.e. more than today) and significant prosperity; this declined with the Habsburg takeover, with the town being virtually destroyed in the Thirty Years’ War.

Kouřim didn’t really benefit from industrialisation, and wasn’t connected to anywhere else by rail until 1882.

However, its resulting time-wrap nature makes it a popular location for filming ads, TV series and films.

Here, meanwhile, is a documentary about the town, made in 1954: