What's in a Prague street name

Every street in Prague, one by one.

1911

  • Prague 4, day 240: Branické náměstí

    Branické náměstí was built in 1911. Until 1947, the square was named after Jan Hus (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/10/05/prague-1-day-169-husova/). Branické náměstí is pretty small, and currently feels even smaller, because it’s fenced off (pics of Jan Hus behind bars below). It was recently given a facelift which was completed in August 2025 (about a year later than intended), but Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 236: Pod svahem

    Pod svahem was named in 1911. Until 1947, the street was called Pod vinicí (Under the vineyard), which takes us back to the trilogy of streets which started on https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/11/13/prague-4-day-228-pod-vinohradem/. The vineyards were located on a slope – or a ‘svah’. So, in 1947, the street went from being ‘Below the vineyard’ to being ‘Below Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 234: Nad vinohradem

    Nad vinohradem was named in 1911. Until 1947, it was named ‘Horní’ (Upper). These days, it’s part three of our vineyard street trilogy, after https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/11/13/prague-4-day-228-pod-vinohradem/ and https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/11/16/prague-4-day-231-na-vinohradu/. (I’ve been resisting the urge to include a ‘Not everything in Prague is about Vinohrady, you know, expats’ in all three of these posts, and can hold it Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 233: Branická

    Branická was built in 1911. Originally, it was three separate streets. The first one was called Hlavní, because it was the main street in, yes, Braník (which wasn’t yet part of Prague). The second one was called Husova, after Jan Hus – see https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/10/05/prague-1-day-169-husova/ for a bit more on him. The third one was nameless. Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 232: U staré pošty

    U staré pošty was built in 1911. The street name refers to an old – and long-gone – post office. There was also a post office nearby on Jiskrova (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/11/15/prague-4-day-230-jiskrova/) until recently, but, as those of you living in Prague will be very aware, 300 post offices were closed down in 2023. This was one Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 231: Na vinohradu

    Na vinohradu was built in 1911. Until 1947, the street was called Příčná, which translates as ‘transverse’, and of which there is still one in the New Town: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/15/prague-1-day-119-pricna/. Na vinohradu, meanwhile is so called because it’s in the same former vineyard territory as https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/11/13/prague-4-day-228-pod-vinohradem/. Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 228: Pod vinohradem

    Pod vinohradem was named in 1911. Until 1947, the street was known as ‘Dolní’, which translates as ‘lower’. There’s still a street in Prague 4 called this (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/03/16/prague-4-day-48-dolni/), and presumably many others across the country. A ‘vinohrad’ is a vineyard, and, as mentioned in several posts to date, this area used to be full of Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 214: Mezivrší

    Mezivrší was first given a name in 1911. Until 1947 (other than during the Nazi occupation), it was called Kateřinská, supposedly an old name for the immediate surrounding area. One has to assume there was a church or other institution named after St Catherine. For a still-existing street called Kateřinská to the north of here, Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 209: Školní

    Školní was built in 1911. Školní is named after the elementary school at number 3, which, as implied by its website, has been operating since 1894: https://www.zsskolni.cz/. It seems things have come full circle, and the school is now named after the street. The school got a significant makeover in 2018: https://praha4.cz/rekonstrukce-zs-v-braniku-konci/. This street got Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 203: Stará cesta

    Stará cesta was named in 1911. Which may also be when that street sign was last cleaned. Goodness. ‘Stará cesta’ translates as ‘old path’, and this is exactly what you have here. A bit further down the path, you’ve got the Marold Villa, where the painter Luděk Marold (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/02/23/prague-4-day-43-maroldova/) was brought up here by his Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 186: Vysoká cesta

    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 Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 180: V podhájí

    V podhájí was built in 1911. A ‘háj’ – the plural of which is Háje, as in the last stop on the red metro line – is a ‘grove’, or a dense collection of trees which isn’t big enough to qualify as a forest. I guess a reasonable translation of ‘podhájí’ would be ‘undergrowth’. Once Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 90: Na bitevní pláni

    Na bitevní pláni was built in 1911. You may remember a nearby street whose name translates as ‘On the Victory Plain’, and which commemorates the Battle of Vyšehrad of November 1420: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/02/01/prague-4-day-21-na-vitezne-plani/. Well, today’s street translates as ‘On the Battle Plain’ – or ‘On the Battlefield’ – and commemorates exactly the same battle. Continue reading

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  • Prague 2, day 5: Lichnická

    Originally published on Twitter on 11 November 2022. Lichnická was built in 1911. It seems we’re not done with the castle ruins just yet – Lichnice is another set, this time located in the Iron Mountains (Železné hory), 15 kilometres south of Chrudim (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/06/24/prague-3-day-177-chrudimska/). It was founded by Smil ze Žitavy, a Czech nobleman, in Continue reading

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  • Prague 2, day 3: Kunětická

    Originally published on Twitter on 9 November 2022. Kunětická was built in 1911. Kunětická hora is the name of both a hill near Pardubice and the ruins of a castle standing on it. Traces of fortifications indicate that the hill was already inhabited in prehistoric times. Václav Hájek of Libočany’s Chronicle (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/11/19/prague-3-day-15-hajkova/) – admittedly not Continue reading

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  • Prague 3, day 192: Orlická

    Originally published on Twitter on 1 November 2022. Orlická was built in 1911. The Orlické (‘Eagle’) Mountains are in north-east Bohemia; they’re named after the river Orlice, a tributary of the Elbe. Part of one of the Orlice’s own tributaries, Divoká Orlice (Wild Eagle), forms the Czech-Polish border. The three highest peaks in the range Continue reading

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  • Prague 3, day 182: Kolínská

    Originally published on Twitter on 22 October 2022. Kolínská was built in 1911. It was founded as a royal city, probably in the mid-1200s, by Přemysl Otakar II, because what wasn’t. There’s even a fresco in the Town Hall there, showing him supervising the construction (picture taken from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kolin_town_hall_fresco_1.png). In 1421, the city was captured Continue reading

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  • Prague 3, day 181: Libická

    Originally published on Twitter on 21 October 2022. Libická was built in 1911. Libice nad Cidlinou, population 1,200, is a village in Nymburk district. It was first mentioned in 981, although archeological finds indicate that the land the village lies on was already inhabited in the Bronze Age. In the 10th century, the Slavník family Continue reading

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