What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on Twitter on 16 October 2022. I’m really rubbish at transferring these to the website so far.

Hradecká was built in 1908.

Hradec Králové (German: Königgrätz), population 91,000, literally translates as ‘Queen’s Castle’.

It’s the capital of the eponymous region (Královéhradecký kraj in Czech, so… eponymous-ish), in north-East Bohemia.

Originally just called Hradec (‘little castle’) since its founding in the late 1000s, the Králové was added in the early 1300s when the castle became the official residence of Czech queens after they had been widowed.

By the time of the Hussite Wars, HK was the most important city in Bohemia after Prague. During said wars, the city became a major centre for Žižka’s supporters (and he was buried there).

In the mid-1500s, HK suffered hard for its support of the anti-Habsburg movement.

Worse was to come with the Thirty Years’ War (1618-48), during which the city was occupied by the Swedes and was practically destroyed.

Prussian invaders caused a devastating fire in 1762. These invasions compelled Josef II to build a huge military fortress in the city.

In 1866, HK was the scene of the Battle of Königgrätz), the defining battle of the Austro-Prussian War (and a Prussian victory).

It’s been immortalised by Johann Gottfried Piefke’s Königgrätzer Marsch, which some of you may know from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade:

Side note: I’ve just realised why, back (way back) when I was living in Austria as a student, locals used to refer to Germans as ‘Piefkes’.

Famous names associated with HK include current world No. 1 in tennis doubles, Kateřina Siniaková, and Detroit Red Wings defence man, Filip Hronek.

While, for those who like their twinnings, HK’s quite glam set of sister cities includes Arnhem, Banská Bystrica, Chernihiv, Metz and Wrocław.

And, to add to yesterday’s Pisek, North Dakota, ND also has a New Hradec. There are some pretty great photos on here: http://hradec.org/dakota/hradec.html

While there are some great panoramas of The Original HK on https://www.virtualczech.cz/virtualni-prohlidka.php?p=176-hradec-krlov.