What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on X on 22 November 2023.

A lázeň is a bath or a spa. You may know of Mariánské Lázně in western Bohemia, or, a bit closer to home, Karlovy Lázně, formerly a spa but now the biggest nightclub in Central Europe.

And, from 1345, there was at least one bath house here. A written document from 1503 refers to local spas in the plural.

Lázeňská’s most famous building is the Kostel Panny Marie pod řetězem / Church of Our Lady under the Chain, built by the Knights Hospitaller and administered by the Grand Priory of Bohemia (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/10/prague-1-day-72-u-sovovych-mlynu/).

The most popular theory on the church’s name is that there used to be a chain, stretching from Malá Strana across the Vltava in order to collect customs duties from passing ships.

The convent building is right next door.

Velkopřevorský palác – see link above – can also be accessed from Lázeňská.

While Dům V Lázních – named after the spa that was once here – used to be a hotel so prestigious that it was stayed in by Peter the Great, François René de Chateaubriand and Otto von Bismarck (not at the same time).

Lázeňská is seriously about the flashy guests, because Dům U zlatého a bílého jednorožce / The Golden-White Unicorn welcomed both Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1789) and Ludwig van Beethoven (1796).