What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on X on 24 December 2023.

The island was gradually formed by deposits of sand during the 16th century. It was initially settled by dyers, and therefore got the name of ‘Barvířský’ (a ‘dyer’ being a barvíř, derived from barva, which means colour).

After flooding in 1784, walls were added to the island, and trees were planted; in 1801, one František Antonín Engel opened a cotton-goods factory on the island, and the name ‘Engelův ostrov’ started to be used.

A spa-inn complex was added to the island in 1817, and, in 1836, the then-owner of the island, Václav Antonín Novotný, opened a new restaurant.

He named it – and the island – Žofín, after Princess Sophie of Bavaria (1805-72), mother of the future Franz Joseph I.

In June 1848, the Slavic Congress met here. The first congress of its kind, it was cut short due to the Prague Uprising ten days later, but gave the island its current name (plenty of us still say Žofín, though).

The Municipality of Prague purchased the island in 1884, when the palace was rebuilt in the form we know it in today.

It’s still one of Prague’s most important venues, although somebody should probably tell its web team to update their English-language event calendar (the next event is apparently a New Year’s Party on 31 December… 2019).

The island also features a 1955 sculpture, by Karel Pokorný, of Božena Němcová (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/25/prague-2-day-110-bozeny-nemcove/) – the location quite apt, as the palace was where she first met fellow poet Václav Bolemír Nebeský, whom she would fall in love with.

Also on the island is this 1927 statue by Ladislav Šaloun, Souzvuk (Harmony).

Slovanský ostrov was also home to Bohemia’s first steam locomotive – a 1:4 scale model of its British counterpart which was launched in 1841 and ran for all of 160 metres.

You can see it at the front of this drawing from the time.

Prague 1 has introduced a replacement, which was already off for its winter holidays when I went to take pictures of it on Monday: https://www.facebook.com/detskyvlacek/?locale=cs_CZ

I hope it, and you, have an enjoyable day, and that our wonderful city has better days ahead.