What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on X on 7 February 2023.

Libušina was built so long ago that I can’t even guess the century.

Until the mid-19th century, the street was known as Převoznická (approx. ‘Ferry Street’), because this was where the once-upon-a-time ferry to/from Vyšehrad would stop / start.

As mentioned a couple of days back, Libuše was the youngest daughter of Krok, and, as happens so often with mythological siblings, was the wisest and the most beautiful.

When her father died, Libuše ruled over the tribe as queen, which many male members of the tribe found displeasing.

Society’s come a long way since th… yeah, no, it hasn’t, has it.

In particular, when Libuše ruled in favour of one man in a dispute, the other man asked for a male ruler.

She predicted the existence of a ploughman, and instructed her men to let a horse loose, as the horse would subsequently find this man.

The horse went all the way to Stadice, which is now in Ústí nad Labem district, and found the man, exactly as Libuše had said.

His name Přemysl Oráč (the Ploughman). They married.

Horses: the original dating app. Who knew?

(Painting by Josef Mathauser)

Legend has it that Libuše and Přemysl would go on to have three sons: Nezamysl (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/20/prague-2-day-83-nezamyslova/), Radobýl and Lidomír.

Libuše’s gift of prophecy was important for another reason. Standing on top of Vyšehrad, she looked out and predicted the future existence of of a wonderful city ‘whose glory will touch the stars’.

She could, of course, have been talking about Blackpool or somewhere. We will never know.

But she did request the building of a castle, and predicted that the next few centuries would not be the easiest.

Famous representations of Libuše include Bedřich Smetana’s 1881 opera of the same name.

On 11 June in that year, it became the first piece to be performed at the National Theatre.

Just two months later, the Theatre would be devastated by a fire; when it reopened in 1883, the first piece fo be performed was, once again, Libuše.

Libuše was also the subject of 2009 film The Pagan Queen, directed by Constantin Werner. Some American critics were fairly complimentary about it; Czech critics… were not.

The street is also located just below the ruins of Libušina lázeň – Libuše’s spa, a pentagonal building built as a guardhouse in the 14th century, apparently in the spot where Libuše used to bathe.