What's in a Prague street name

Kunratická was built in 1927.

We know of a text from 1287 which refers to a local settlement called ‘Chunratitz’, the name being derived from Kunrat/Konrad. By 1336, it was known as Kunratice, and was owned by a servant of John of Luxembourg (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/02/26/prague-3-day-153-lucemburska/).

In 1407, King Wenceslas IV purchased the village; in 1421, King Sigismund assigned it to his courtier. It then passed through various owners, with its stronghold being restored in 1549. The stronghold, in turn, was upgraded to a chateau in 1688.

In 1728, the owner of the chateau, Jan Arnošt of Golč, also purchased three neighbouring villages: Šeberov, Hrnčíře, and Chodov. Based on a personal recommendation, Empress Maria Theresa visited the estate in 1754.

Eventually, Kunratice became a separate municipality, Kunratice u Prahy; in 1968, when it was joined to Prague, the ‘u Prahy’ was, of course, dropped.

In the 1990s, a new housing estate, Flora, was built in Kunratice. Local residents, however, complained about the expansion of the estate – arguing that 8 to 12-storey buildings would disturb the local forest (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2026/09/12/prague-4-day-443-pod-krcskym-lesem/).

The protests were successful, and the plans for building further residences were shelved. That said, Kunratice has changed significantly in recent years – its population trebled between 2005 and 2015.

Kunratice is not in the Prague 4 Municipal District (Městská část Praha 4, which we’ve been covering for the last 461 posts); however, it is in the Prague 4 district (okres), which also includes parts of the Municipal Districts of Prague 11, Prague 12 and Libuš, as well as all of Šeberov and Újezd.

And, on maps, Praha-Kunratice is called exactly that, with no numbers. Except all of the places listed in the previous paragraph have street signs which *do* say Prague 4 (not 11, 12, Kunratice or whatever).

I had been putting off trying to explain this for as long as possible, but am glad it’s done now.