What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on X on 6 March 2024.

In this spot, there was once a rotunda devoted to St Lawrence (Vavřinec). In 1230, the Knights Templar bought the land and had the rotunda expanded into a church.

Pope Clement V disbanded the Knights Templar in 1312, largely due to the machinations of Philip IV of France, who was in considerable debt to them and had an interest in their cancellation.

The land and church were purchased by the Knights Hospitaller (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/10/prague-1-day-71-velkoprevorske-namesti/), and, just a year later, by the Dominican nuns who already had a convent on Újezd in Malá Strana (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/11/prague-1-day-81-ujezd/).

Their convent on the other side of the river had also had a church devoted to St Anne.

The convent (1313 Old Town Edition) was abolished in 1782 – like so many – and was converted into a printing house. Passing through various owners, it functioned as such until 1977.

The church, meanwhile, became a paper warehouse.

Since 1993, however, the middle wing of the convent building has been used by the National Theatre’s ballet troupe.

The former church, meanwhile, is the home of Pražská křižovatka, an ‘International Spiritual Center’ founded on the initiative of Václav and Dagmar Havel: https://prague.eu/cs/objevujte/kostel-sv-anny-centrum-prazska-krizovatka/.

Anenské náměstí is about 200 metres from Charles Bridge – and somehow it’s really, really quiet. Don’t spread the word.

It helps that the square got a considerable makeover in 2018, before which it largely served as a car park: https://www.praha1.cz/anenske-namesti-zkrasnelo/.

The street sign pic at the start of this thread is actually of Divadlo na Zábradlí, covered yesterday: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/10/02/prague-1-day-162-na-zabradli/.

There’s also a fountain in the centre of the square. It didn’t have any water in it the day I took this picture… and apparently it never has done. Which makes you wonder.

It’s originally from the Újezd Barracks, which were destroyed in 1932, at which point it was decided the well deserved a new home. It’s never been connected to a water source (on the square, that is).

According to Wikipedia, the former convent is on Anenská, Zlatá, Anenské náměstí, Liliová, Stříbrná *and* Náprstkova.

Multi-street-occupying buildings seem to be a thing in this part of Prague, so please forgive me if any of these threads sound disjointed as a result.