What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on X on 16 May 2024.

A ‘vězení’ or a ‘věznice’ is a prison, and apparently there was once one here.

The name can be traced back to the 18th century, but the prison… sorry, I’m drawing a blank.

Across the country, there are ‘vazební věznice’ (remand prisons, i.e. prisons in which people are detained who have been charged but not convicted), and regular ‘věznice’, which house those who have been convicted.

Of the 25 non-remand prisons in the country, none are in Prague; of the ten remand prisons, two are in Prague – in Pankrác and Ruzyně.

We’ve covered a few former prisons in previous posts, though: this one includes a mention of the White Tower at Prague Castle: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/11/19/prague-3-day-21-cerninova/.

And we can’t talk about Prague Castle without talking about the Daliborka: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/05/prague-1-day-4-zlata-ulicka-u-daliborky/.

Nor without heading outside of the Castle and looking at Domeček, used by the Austro-Hungarians, the Nazis and the communists: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/07/prague-1-day-16-kapucinska/.

There was also one in the New Town in the 19th century, supposedly the biggest in Bohemia at the time (it’s not mentioned in the thread, and I’ll see if it’s mentioned in the thread for a neighbouring street): https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/01/prague-2-day-150-dittrichova/.

So, it turns out it was placed in the ‘hrádek’ (small castle) built here: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/01/prague-2-day-159-na-zderaze/.

Realising that these Prague 3 / Prague 2 posts still have things that could be added to them is a reminder of just how endlessly this city fascinates me.

Not that that’s enabling me to tell you about the prison I was *actually* supposed to write about today.