What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on X on 9 July 2024.

Some of the mills which used to be here – and are taking up quite a large chunk of recent threads – were owned by the Helm family, one of the richest in the New Town.

Their name is first mentioned in connection with the mills in 1398; here are the mills in 1853, as painted by Bedřich Havránek.

Originally, the street was called Mlýnská ulička, which needs very little additional explanation: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/11/10/prague-1-day-278-mlynarska/.

Eventually, the street became known as U Helmových mlýnů (ditto), before changing to Helmovská in 1869, and Helmova in 1894.

The last of the Helm mills was also the last mill standing in the New Town; it was ultimately destroyed in 1929.

Here’s one of the mill buildings, as painted by Václav Jansa (1859-1913).