What's in a Prague street name
Every street in Prague, one by one.
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I could talk about myself for ages, or I could point out that https://english.radio.cz/ed-ley-englishman-recording-stories-pragues-streets-one-one-8806941 is over two years old but still largely stands (other than the Twitter links).
Category: 1884
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Originally published on X on 28 April 2023. Na Rybníčku was built in 1844. Until 1880, the street was known either as Nová Štěpánská (due to its proximity to the church described in https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/01/prague-2-day-167-stepanska/), or, at other times, as Štěpánský hřbitov, after the church’s cemetery. Rybníček, or Rybník, both meaning pond, is a settlement which…
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Originally published on X on 9 March 2023. Svobodova was built in 1884. Czech Wikipedia’s disambiguation page lists 17 different Jan Svobodas. So please give me a minute. Jan ’10 of 17’ Svoboda was born in 1800 or 1803 in Hořepník, near Pelhřimov. He studied at the seminary in Klagenfurt, which I’m mentioning mainly because…
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Originally published on X on 7 March 2023. Na Děkance was built in 1884. Until 1909, this was Komenského, as in Comenius, as in https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/11/26/prague-3-day-82-komenskeho-namesti/. The land on this street was owned by the Vyšehrad deanery, i.e. the děkanství. In 1885, a school called Na Děkance was opened here. There had been two local schools…
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Originally published on X on 6 March 2023. Vinařického was built in 1884. Karel Alois Vinařický, despite his surname, was born into a German-speaking family in Slaný in 1803. It wasn’t until his teens that he started to take an active interest in the Czech language and the national movement. After studying philosophy in Prague,…
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Originally posted on Twitter on 2 January 2023. Bruselská was built in 1884. Until 1926, this was Erbenova, after Karel Jaromír Erben (1811-1870), a poet whose best-known work is Kytice (if you haven’t read it, you may well have seen the early-2000s film adaptation). Given it’s only been a week since Belgická (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/06/30/prague-2-day-51-belgicka/), I really…
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Originally published on Twitter on 28 December 2022. Rumunská was built in 1884. In the 19th century, a homestead, Šafránka, was built here (it had completely disappeared by 1911). It was later purchased by Čeněk Vávra, who was mayor of Vinohrady from 1868 to 1873. When the street was built, it was therefore called Vávrova.…
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Originally published on Twitter on 26 December 2022. Americká was built in 1884. Until 1926, this was Krameriova, after Václav Matěj Kramerius (1753-1808), writer, publisher and journalist who was one of the early figures of the National Revival. Then, the Big Vinohrady Allied Renaming Extravaganza happened in 1926 (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/12/23/prague-2-day-1-italska/). Interestingly, it took until 1943 –…
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Originally published on Twitter on 25 December 2022. Varšavská was built in 1884. Until 1926, this was Kollárova, after Ján Kollár (1793-1852), Slovak poet, archaeologist, politician and renowned Pan-Slavist. Varšava is obviously Warsaw, which is obviously the capital of Poland, which obviously got a lot of coverage on https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/01/27/prague-2-day-14-polska/. And a bit more coverage on…
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Originally published on Twitter on 24 December 2022. For those who don’t use X/Twitter: a) you’re sensible; b) I’m still knocking these posts out each day on there, but am not so good at putting them on here. However, with only two weeks left until I’ve finished Prague 1, I’m going to transfer everything over…
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Originally published on Twitter on 21 December 2022. Francouzská was built in 1884. Like Anglická (and Moskevská in Prague 10), this was formerly part of the highway leading to Vršovice: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/03/02/prague-2-day-39-anglicka/. Then, also like Anglická (and Moskevská), it was renamed to Palackého until 1926. In 1940, both Anglická and Moskevská became Bismarckova, after Otto von…
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Originally published on Twitter on 18 December 2022. Náměstí Míru – Peace Square in English, Mirák to locals – was built in 1884. Until 1926, it was called Purkyňovo náměstí after Jan Evangelista Purkyně (1787-1869), anatomist, physiologist and coiner of the word ‘protoplasm’. Then, in 1926, when Vinohrady underwent its Allied Renaming Extravaganza (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/12/23/prague-2-day-1-italska/), it…
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Originally published on Twitter on 14 December 2022. Vocelova was built in 1884. Jan Erazim Wotzel was born in Kutná Hora in 1802. He studied in both Prague and Vienna, and, at some point in these years, adapted his surname to its Czech form, Vocel. In Prague, he also befriended František Palacký. Upon graduating, he…
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Originally published on Twitter on 13 December 2022. Mikovcova was built in 1884. Ferdinand Mikovetz was born in Sloup v Čechách / Bürgstein (near Česká Lípa) in 1826. Despite being born into a German-speaking family, he became fascinated by Czech patriotism during his school years. In the early 1840s, he studied history and art history.…
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Originally published on Twitter on 8 December 2022. Římská was built in 1884. Řím is Rome. And yet I’m writing this from the airport in Athens. I bet there’s a Latin or a Greek word for this. Awesome sunrise from where I’m sitting right now, too. Until 1926, the street – which was shorter at…
What's in a Prague street name 