What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on X on 28 April 2023.

Na Rybníčku was built in 1844.

Until 1880, the street was known either as Nová Štěpánská (due to its proximity to the church described in https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/01/prague-2-day-167-stepanska/), or, at other times, as Štěpánský hřbitov, after the church’s cemetery.

Rybníček, or Rybník, both meaning pond, is a settlement which can be traced as far back as 993.

In the early 12th century, a rotunda – the Rotunda of St Stephen – was built here, and served as Rybníček’s parish church.

Once the New Town was founded, though, the rotunda was insufficient for the number of churchgoers, hence the creation of current-day St Stephen’s. The rotunda itself was rededicated to St. Longinus.

Longinus is a name given to the soldier who, in the Bible, used the Holy Lance to pierce Jesus’s side after his crucifixion to prove that he was indeed dead. He then reputedly converted to Christianity.

(Fresco by Fra Angelico, c. 1440)

Nowadays, Rotunda svatého Longina / St. Longin’s Rotunda is one the few surviving Romanesque rotundas in Prague. It serves the Greek Catholic Church.