What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on X on 24 April 2023.

Lazarská was built around 1348, when the New Town was founded.

Until the early 18th century, this was known as Dolejšek Dobytčího trhu, i.e. the part just below the Livestock Market, i.e. present-day Karlovo náměstí (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/01/prague-2-day-164-karlovo-namesti/).

After 1848, when Karlák got its current name, this street came to be known as Pod Karlovským náměstím, though the name U masných krámů was also used.

A masný krám is a shop selling meat. Such shops had stood here ever since 1359, and would do so until 1898, when they were destroyed to make way for new buildings and streets.

The name Lazarská first appeared around 1880, while the first mention of St. Lazarus’ Church / Kostel svatého Lazara is from 1280. It was a hospital church, with a cemetery which included mass graves for the victims of plague and famine.

In the early 15th century, the church was purchased by the butchers’ guild of the New Town, but somehow it survived the Hussite Wars. It was used for a Jesuit service in the 1640s, but the Jesuits never took the church over.

In 1788, the church was abolished; the butchers of the New Town set up a warehouse and workshop in it.

Once the Imperial-Royal Criminal Court was due to be built at the turn of the 20th century, the building’s days were numbered. Despite protests, it was gone by 1901.

However, painter Václav Jansa (1859-1913) produced this painting of the courtyard in front of it.

We’re also lucky enough to have an undated photo of the building before its destruction.

In 1985, Prague introduced night trams, and Lazarská has been the main transfer point between those trams ever since.

I can’t be the only person who hears ‘Lazarská’ and automatically remembers freezing their butt off for half an hour while being in desperate need of sleep on many a night in 2007-10.

And who is therefore grateful for ridesharing apps, for all their evils.

Update, August 2024: Lazarská was recently the scene of a horrific accident, when a ledge fell from a building, hitting and killing a man who was standing at a nearby tram stop: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/tram-prague-death-police-latest-b2593307.html.