What's in a Prague street name

Vysoká cesta was named in 1911.

‘Vysoká cesta’ translates as ‘high road’, and, in relation to the terrain directly to the west, this is accurate.

Though it kind of blows my mind that anywhere that looks like this qualifies for street status at all.

My mind is equally blown by the villa at number 24 – creatively referred to online as ‘Vila na Vysoké cestě’ – mainly because it took me a fair bit of time to identify where number 24 was at all, only to realise it looks like this.

The family house was built in the first quarter of the 1800s; only the perimeter walls are still standing.

From 1958 to 2012, it was listed as an immovable cultural monument, as it demonstrates Braník’s classicist suburban development, as well as the integration of housing into the landscape.

It’s a heck of a lot more integrated into the landscape than ever now, you could say.