1925
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Prague 4, day 189: U háje
U háje was built in 1925. A ‘háj’ is a a grove; you may also know its diminutive form, ‘hájek’ (but note that, no, Mexican-American actress and producer Salma Hayek doesn’t have secret Czech roots – her father is of Lebanese descent). This area used to be a grove; while there’s still a good deal of… Continue reading
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Prague 4, day 187: Nad lomem
Nad lomem was built in 1925. Braník is known for the Branické skály, or the Braník Rocks, designated as natural monument in 1968. From the 1700s (maybe earlier) until 1928, limestone was mined round here. Mining involves quarries, and the Czech for ‘quarry’ is ‘lom’ – hence this street being ‘Above the quarry’. However, wander… Continue reading
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Prague 4, day 183: Na Kavčích horách
Na Kavčích horách was built in 1925. I don’t know if it has a street sign, and felt like I might be walking on private property anyway, as fairly well proven by this picture, so I decided it was wise to stop looking for one. We already discussed the origin of the name Kavčí hory… Continue reading
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Prague 4, day 179: Za skalkou
Za skalkou was built in 1925. A ‘skalka’ is a rock garden, or a rockery. It’s the diminutive of ‘skála’, which is a rock or a cliff. Or a crag, if you want multiple options. Once upon a time, the area round here was called Za skalkou (we can find that on maps from around… Continue reading
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Prague 4, day 154: U vápenné skály
U vápenné skály was built in 1925. This translates as ‘by the limestone rock’, so go and take a look at https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/06/20/prague-4-day-122-vapencova/. Continue reading
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Prague 4, day 149: Na Podkovce
Na Podkovce was built in 1925. ‘Podkovka’ translates as ‘Hippocrepis’, which itself translates as ‘horseshoe’; it’s a genus of flowering plants, of which there are accepted to be 34 different species. And, because round here is round here, it was, once upon a time, the name of a local vineyard. Continue reading
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Prague 4, day 144: Na Zlatnici
Na Zlatnici was built in 1925. You may remember that Podolí was built in an area of vineyards – they’re mentioned on quite a large proportion of recent posts, such as https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/06/11/prague-4-day-114-na-topolce/, which is named after a vineyard called Topolka. There was another vineyard round here called Zlatnice. When used to describe a person, a… Continue reading
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Prague 4, day 135: Podolské schody
Podolské schody were built in 1925. There may be a proper street sign up at the top. These are the ‘Podolí Steps’, built around the same time as much everything else round here, when Podolí was newly part of Prague and expanding. The steps got a bit of attention in late 2023, when railings were… Continue reading
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Prague 4, day 133: Ve svahu
Ve svahu was built in 1925. A ‘svah’ is a slope or a hillside, and this street is, as you’ve already guessed, located on one. For vocabulary fans, a ‘lyžařský svah’ is a ski slope, whereas a steep slope would be a ‘příkrý svah’. Continue reading
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Prague 4, day 131: Hoffmannova
Hoffmannova was built in 1925, but remained nameless until 1955. The whole namelessness thing starts to make sense when you see that it feels more like a ye olde village road than anything else. Karel Hoffmann was born to a poor family in Smíchov in 1872, initially living near Anděl, then at Bertramka. As a… Continue reading
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Prague 4, day 130: Nad spádem
Nad spádem was built in 1925. ‘Spád’ can be translated as ‘momentum, ‘speed’, ‘cadence’, ‘flow’ and much else besides. In the context of this street, it would be a ‘gradient’, ‘slope’, etc., and ‘Nad spádem’ denotes that the street is above one. Continuing the theme of publishing companies quite liking setting up their headquarters in… Continue reading
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Prague 4, day 128: Voráčovská
Voráčovská was built in 1925. Apparently a previous name for the immediately surrounding area – presumably because of someone whose surname was Voráček, but all the ones listed on Czech Wikipedia were born too late for it to be them. I’m going to assume there was a villa, a farm or a vineyard involved. Based… Continue reading
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Prague 4, day 125: Doudova
Doudova was built in 1925. Václav Douda was born in Podolí in 1886. He qualified as a teacher, while also training, and acting in a management capacity, at the Podolí Sokol (guide to the Sokols on https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/26/prague-2-day-114-sokolska/). In 1913, he was part of the Czech team at the 6th World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, which took… Continue reading
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Prague 4, day 124: Pod Klaudiánkou
Pod Klaudiánkou was built in 1925. A pleasingly short one today, as I can just point you in the direction of https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/06/14/prague-4-day-117-na-klaudiance/. So, let’s take advantage of that and tell another story, that of the ‘číslo popisné’, literally ‘descriptive number’, AKA the unique number assigned to each building in Prague in addition to its street-specific… Continue reading
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Prague 4, day 114: Na Topolce
Na Topolce was built in 1925. Once upon a time, there was a vineyard around here. It was called Topolka. According to legend, water from the spring here was used to serve Vyšehrad (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/26/prague-2-day-118-vysehradska/). At some point, the local well also became known as Topolka; there are rumours that Libuše used drink from it (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/23/prague-2-day-93-libusina/),… Continue reading
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Prague 4, day 53: Svážná
Svážná was built in 1925. ‘Svažovat se’ is a verb translating as ‘slope (down)’, ‘descend’ or ‘dip’. And that’s exactly what this street does, towards central Nusle. The associated noun – ‘svah’ – translates as ‘slope’, as in ‘lyžařský svah’, which is a ski slope or a ski run. It can also be translated as ‘hillside’.… Continue reading
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Prague 4, day 52: Nad Nuslemi
Nad Nuslemi was built in 1925. It is, quite literally, ‘above Nusle’, and also serves as a reminder that, in Czech, Nusle is plural. I thought this might be because it was formed by the combination of Upper (Horní) and Lower (Dolní) Nusle… but it seems those were already plural too. One famous resident of… Continue reading
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Prague 4, day 50: Vyšší
Vyšší was built in 1925. If you’re walking up a hill, you might start in the lower parts (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/03/16/prague-4-day-48-dolni/). And then end up in the upper parts (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/03/17/prague-4-day-49-horni/). But sometimes, that’s not the peak, and you may end up even higher – which is exactly what Vyšší means. For some vocabulary – thankfully less filled… Continue reading
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Prague 4, day 49: Horní
Horní was built in 1925. The street sign pic is temporarily stolen from Prague 4’s website, because I can’t find the one I took. Readers of yesterday’s post (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/03/16/prague-4-day-48-dolni/) may not be too surprised to know that ‘lower’ is followed by ‘upper’ when it isn’t followed by ‘lowest’. Or, therefore, that the ‘horní komora’ or ‘horní… Continue reading
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Prague 4, day 48: Dolní
Dolní was built in 1925. Two streets ago, we talked about Jaurisova (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/02/26/prague-4-day-46-jaurisova/). Jaurisova goes up a hill from east to west. The first street leading off Jaurisova, when heading upwards, is this one. And ‘dolní’ is Czech for ‘lower’. I should warn you that this is part of a trilogy, so don’t go expecting… Continue reading
What's in a Prague street name 