What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on X on 21 March 2024.

The New Market / Nové tržiště was founded round here in 1232, and, for a time, all the streets covered in the last few days were named after it (see https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/10/08/prague-1-day-175-havelska/ for the start of the story).

The street then underwent market-related name changes: in the early 1800s, the western part was called Vaječný trh (Egg Market), and the eastern part was Husí trh (Goose Market).

The current name has been in place since about 1850 – but, for its origins, we need to go back about five centuries, specifically to 1347.

This is the year in which Charles/Karel IV – he of the University, the Bridge, the Square, Karlštejn, Karlovy Vary, and much of Prague Castle as we currently know it fame – was crowned King of Bohemia.

As part of the festivities, knightly tournaments were carried out in the area where the street is now, and guests were served by knights (rytíři) on horseback.

The tournaments would continue to be carried out until the 1700s; sadly, the knight-waiter concept was not.

Kind of amazingly, the historians of Charles University carried out a reenactment of Charles’s coronation in 2016 (no knights fighting, though):

Things on Rytířská include number 12, originally a complex comprised of Stará rychta (The Old Bailiff’s House) and the Havel gate – part of the Old Town fortifications.

Now existing in classicist style, it’s the headquarters of the Health Station of the City of Prague.

While Wimmer Palace (number 18) got royally screwed over by unauthorised modifications in 2004/5, and hasn’t been used since.

To put even more of a downer on your morning (it’s certainly put one on mine), the same is true of its neighbour, Palác Hrobčických (on the left).

Also closed to the public is the Old Town Market building, built in the mid-1890s.

Its proposed reconstruction is going about as well as you might expect: https://www.expats.cz/czech-news/article/prague-s-old-town-market-renovation-put-on-hold-due-to-cost.

Except – and this is exceptionally timely, as this article was published yesterday, we may be getting somewhere thanks to the possibility of a ‘competitive dialogue’: https://www.prazskypatriot.cz/praha-planuje-vypsat-soutez-k-budoucimu-vyuziti-staromestske-trznice/.

Finally, across the road, you’ve got the Hungarian Cultural Centre, and, if you look a bit more closely, they’re currently celebrating the most Hungarian anniversary ever.