What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on X on 3 July 2024.

Yesterday, we spoke about St Peter’s Church (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/11/10/prague-1-day-274-petrska/).

When plans for the church to be used by Cistercian nuns didn’t come to fruition, the church came to be used by the Knights of the Cross with the Red Star (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/10/16/prague-1-day-198-krizovnicke-namesti/).

Between 1561 and 1594, the Grand Masters of the order were given the title of Archbishop of Prague, and the area around the church became known as Biskupský dvůr (Bishop’s Court).

For completists, the first four of these archbishops were Antonín Brus z Mohelnice (1561-80; picture 1), Martin Medek z Mohelnice (1581-90), Zbyněk Berka z Dubé a Lipé (1592-1606; picture 2) and Karel z Lamberka (1607-12).

And the next four were Jan Lohelius (1612-22), Arnošt Vojtěch z Harrachu (1623-67), Jan Vilém Libštejnský z Kolovrat (1667-8) and Matouš Ferdinand Sobek z Bílenberka (1668-75).

Followed by Jan Bedřich z Valdštejna (1675-94).

Biskupská also features the church’s Neo-Renaissance parsonage, built in 1893 based on a a design by Konstantin Mráček. The façade – and its sgraffito designs – are the work of Antonín Wiehl.

For those keeping count, we have ten streets to go before we’re done.