What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on X on 14 April 2023.

Jiráskův most (Jirásek Bridge) was opened in 1931.

It’s another ‘no, you’re not getting a street sign’ fest, and apparently I couldn’t even be bothered to walk up to the bridge itself.

We covered Alois Jirásek yesterday (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/01/prague-2-day-154-jiraskovo-namesti/), but this bridge, the seventh to be built over the Vltava in Prague, is also named after him.

During the Nazi occupation, it was renamed Dienzenhoferův most, after Kilian Ignaz Dientzenhofer (1689-1751), an architect whose works include the Kinský Palace on Old Town Square, St. Nicholas Church on Malá Strana and Saints Cyril and Methodius Cathedral on Resslova.

Quick bridge trivia, part 1: it used to have tram tracks across it until these were deemed unnecessary.

Quick bridge trivia, 2: it’s located in Prague 1, Prague 2 *and* Prague 5.

Quick bridge trivia, part 3: in order for the bridge to be built, a baroque pavilion on the Smíchov side had to be demolished.

And quick bridge trivia 4: in 2012, there was talk of renaming the bridge after Václav Havel (he lived on Jiráskovo nám. for years), but this hasn’t materialised: https://nasregion.cz/most-ktery-mel-byt-mostem-vaclava-havla-skryva-radu-zajimavosti-189829/.