What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on Twitter on 27 December 2022.

Belgická was built in 1880.

Around 1800, the area where the street is now was the location of Wimmerovy sady, named after Jakub Wimmer (after whom Jana Masaryka was previously named – https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/03/17/prague-2-day-46-jana-masaryka/).

He was pretty well-off in the first place, and became more so when put in charge of arranging transport for the construction of Terezín fortress in the late 1800s (he would also create the Austrian army’s transport department during the Napoleonic Wars).

He used his wealth to buy multiple estates, including Nusle and Vršovice, and took the then-unused vineyards of Vinohrady, turning them into a public garden – Wimmerovy sady.

We’ll hear more from Wimmer when we get to Prague 1 at some point in 2023.

Before 1880, it seems that there was an avenue here called Růzové aleje – Rose Avenue.

Then, it became Komenského, after Comenius, who now has a square in Žižkov and can therefore be read about here: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/11/26/prague-3-day-82-komenskeho-namesti/

It then became Belgická in 1926, as part of Vinohrady Allied Renaming Fun Day.

I’m quite glad there’s a bit of a backstory to this street, as, based on my searches, Belgian-Czech relations, while warm, are not hugely eventful, even with all the scope for arguing about who has the best beer.

And Wikipedia lists a grand total of *two* prominent Belgians of Czech origin. In a pleasing change from the other countries I’ve covered, though, they’re both women.

Hena Maes-Jelinek (1929-2008) was a literary scholar known for her pioneering work on Caribbean literature. Her stepfather was a Czech Jew.

While Alizée Poulicek, Miss Belgium 2008, unintentionally caused one of those incredibly tedious (and incredibly ‘internet in 2008’) controversies when, in the show where she was crowned, she didn’t understand a question in Flemish and answered in French.

This led to her getting booed by audience (the show took place in the decidedly Flemish city of Antwerp).

But apparently she speaks it quite well now. Never underestimate society’s ability to get mad at an attractive woman before anybody else.

And, with studies indicating that under 20% of Wallonians know Flemish, she can hardly be seen as an isolated case.