What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on X on 3 January 2024.

When this street was built in the 14th century, it was named Pasířská, because it was inhabited by pasíři – craftsmen making belts from metal, i.e. girdlers.

When they moved to another nearby street – which we’re getting to soon-ish – they were replaced by makers of fur coats and goods, and the street was renamed Kožešnická (a ‘furrier’ in Czech is a kožešník).

By 1791, the German name Nikolander Gasse had been introduced, and the Czech name Mikulandská appears on a map from 1816.

Apparently, one of the houses in the road was owned by a Mikuláš or a Nikolaus, although we don’t know any more about him.

Mikulandská included the first German Realschule in Prague; its most famous teacher was Jan Neruda, who, in the late 1850s, gave Czech classes to, amongst others, the writer Jakub Arbes. It later became a primary school.

The building gained a certain degree of notoriety in 2018, when it collapsed during renovations; three workers were injured. Police charged two people with causing the accident in 2021.