What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on X on 8 August 2023.

Thomas was one of Jesus’s Twelve Apostles, specifically the one who had a particular talent for doubting. A ‘doubting Thomas’ in Czech is a nevěřící Tomáš.

(Side note: in Polish, it’s a niewierny Tomasz, which would make most Czechs assume that Tom is cheating on you)

To Christians, he’s the patron saint of India, and they celebrate 3 July, the Feast of Saint Thomas, as Indian Christians’ Day. Further to the west, he’s given his name to the island nation of São Tomé e Principe.

As mentioned in (As mentioned in (https://x.com/ed__ley/status/ed__ley/status/1688070989836419072…), Mariánské hradby consisted of multiple bastions named after saints, of which St Thomas’s Bastion / bašta sv. Tomáše was number 18.), Mariánské hradby consisted of multiple bastions named after saints, of which St Thomas’s Bastion / bašta sv. Tomáše was number 18.

The current road follows the same route as the former bastion.

Number 5 in the street is the villa both built and lived in by nobleman-slash-architect Rudolf Stockar (1886-1957), in the geometric modernist style.