What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on X on 1 January 2024.

Around 1400, one of the houses on this street was owned by a Velík Křemenec, whose name literally translates as ‘Big Quartzite’, which is incredible.

We don’t know much about him other than that he was wealthy, the house he owned was named Na Křemenci, and he had a licence to brew beer in there.

Over time, the name of the street gradually got corrupted to ‘Skřemenná’, but, in the 1700s, it became known as Poštovská, because postal cars would travel through it as part of the journey from Malá Strana to Vienna.

If you’ve been in Křemencova, there’s quite a good chance that this was because you were at number 11, AKA U Fleků, possibly the oldest brewery in Prague (the pub was first mentioned in 1499).

I think this is the house originally owned by Mr Křemenec, but don’t quote me on that as it could also have been bought later by a descendant. These days, it’s named after Jakub Flekovský, who bought it in 1762.

Across the road, number 12 was built from 1892 to 1894 in order to provide better premises for the country’s first Realgymnasium (a secondary school that prepares children for university). It educated, amongst others, Vladislav Vančura, Jiří Voskovec and Jan Werich.

Like any self-respecting street, Křemencova also has its own ghost. It’s said that, twice a week, a carriage drives through here from Vyšehrad, containing a miller who stole a lot of money. And the ghost won’t give up the, well, ghost until the money is spent on a good cause.