What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on X on 3 November 2023.

Before I get onto the seminar itself, here’s a (not terribly brief) guide to who would qualify as lužický: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/02/14/prague-2-day-28-luzicka/

If you don’t want to read that: Sorbs are a Slavic ethnic group who currently live in Lusatia, which is in Saxony and Brandenburg in Germany. They were previously under Czech rule.

In 1692, two brothers from Upper Lusatia, Martin Norbert and Georg Joseph Schimon, had set up a foundation in Malá Strana, in order to support Lusatian Sorb students.

Deciding that they needed larger premises than the brick house they were using, the Schimons purchased a plot of land in 1706. However, it would take another twenty years before construction work started.

The first students moved in in 1728: two theologians, two philosophers and 15 high school students. Good relations between Saxony and the Habsburgs, and generous donations, meant that the Sorb students in Prague were exempt from tuition fees.

In 1846, a group of pupils, led by Jakob Bus, founded Serbowka, a Sorbian school and student association.

When World War I ended in 1918, and Czechoslovakia became independent, the seminar could no longer rely on donations (the Empire was gone, and Germany was about to enter its hyperinflationary era).

It was dissolved in 1922, after which Sorbian students would have to use alternative facilities in Lusatia itself. It was revived as a centre for Sorbs after WW2 (the Society of Friends of Lusatia), but was closed down in 1955, and handed over to Charles University.

It wouldn’t be until 2009 that the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports gave the Society of Friends of Lusatia permission to use the premises again.

This plaque on the front of the building is a great opportunity to compare and contrast the Czech and Sorbian languages:

The street also includes the entrance to Vojanovy sady, reputedly Prague’s oldest park, and named after the actor Eduard Vojan, who was born on nearby Míšeňská. For somewhere so close to Charles Bridge, it’s an absolute, crowd-free gem.