What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on Twitter on 2o December 2022.

Šubertova was built in 1905.

Like Ibsenova (which is on the other side of the Vinohrady Theatre), this was originally called U divadla (By the Theatre).

However, while what is now Ibsenova was renamed to Divadelní in 1920 (and Ibsenova in 1928), its other half maintained its original name until 1931.

František Adolf Šubert was born in Dobruška, in the Hradec Králové region, in 1849.

After finishing secondary school in HK (Alois Jirásek attended the same school at the same time), he moved to Prague to study philosophy.

However, he quit after a year to devote himself to journalism, writing for publications such as Politik, and running his own magazine, Brousek, from 1873 to 1878.

He also wrote poems and historical novels.

When the National Theatre was inaugurated in 1883, Šubert became its first director, a position he would hold until 1900, when he quit to become the director of the Czech Graphic Union.

However, he returned to the theatre in 1907, when he became the director of the newly opened Vinohrady Theatre, although he only held the role for a year.

After that, he focused on journalism again, until he died in 1915.