What's in a Prague street name

Vltavanů was named in 1998.

In 1871, an association was formed in Podskalí (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/26/prague-2-day-122-podskalska/). Its full name was ‘Vzájemně se podporující spolek plavců, rybářů a pobřežných Vltavan’, translating loosely as ‘The Mutually Supportive Association of Swimmers, Fishermen and Coastal Guards: Vltavan’.

One of the founding members was František Dittrich, a Podskalí native who had once worked as a raft swimmer (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/01/prague-2-day-150-dittrichova/).

The association provided material support to those who worked on the Vltava: people involved in processing and transporting timber, lifeguards, and those involved in cross-river transport, as well as to their families.

The idea caught on; by 1902, there were four Vltavan associations, even if, by this time, much of Podskalí had been destroyed in the name of ‘sanitation’.

Revived in 1990, the association organises an annual commemoration for those who have drowned in the river: https://www.paroplavba.cz/tryzna-za-utonule-2025.

The association has its headquarters in the former customs house (and now museum) on https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/26/prague-2-day-121-na-vytoni/. Don’t let the last picture on that page disappoint you.