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: 1925
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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…
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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…
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V podluží was built in 1925. Yesterday, we discussed how a ‘luh’ is a meadow, and that the area around here once had that name too (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/02/13/prague-4-day-33-v-luhu/). We’re not straying at all far from that story today, because ‘podluží’ would translate as ‘the area under the meadow’. Shove ‘Podluží’ into Wikipedia, and you’ll find out…
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V luhu was built in 1925. A ‘luh’ is a riparian forest, i.e. a forest that’s next to a body of water. It can also be translated as ‘meadow’, and it seems that that’s what the area round here was once known as. I would apologise for the days on which these posts are short,…
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Pod vilami was built in 1925. The street name translates as ‘below the villas’, and, well, that’s pretty self-explanatory. The corner of Pod vilami and Vladimírova features St Wenceslas Church (Kostel svatého Václava), built in 1898, the year in which Nusle, not yet part of Prague, was elevated to the status of royal town.
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Originally published on X on 2 April 2023. Náměstí Pod Emauzy was built in 1925. In 1347, a year after the founding of Prague’s Old Town, Karel IV received permission from the Pope to found a Benedictine monastery in Podskalí. In the 1370s, the monastery was supplemented by a church: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/31/prague-2-day-140-pod-slovany/ Karel wanted the monastery…
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Originally published on X on 31 March 2023. Na Poříčním právu was built in 1925. A řeka is a river. This leads to the adjective říční, as in říční koryto (riverbed), říční síť (river system) and říční přístav (river port). Put a prefix onto říční, and you get poříční, another adjective which also means ‘river’…
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Originally published on X on 14 March 2023. Ladova was built in 1925. Until 1961, this was ‘V Ohradách’, ‘In the Enclosures’ (approx). Until the 19th century, there were warehouses here where firewood and wood for construction purposes were stored. Josef Lada was born in Hrusice (nowadays in Prague-East) in 1887. An accident at the…
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Originally published on Twitter on 12 October 2022. Horní Stromka was built in 1925. There’s no street sign (more on that later). For the story of Horní Stromka, please go back 24 hours to https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/03/08/prague-3-day-171-v-horni-stromce/. One thing I’ve learned in the last 172 days (don’t worry, there aren’t that many to go) is that whoever…
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Originally published on Twitter on 10 October 2022. Kouřimská was built in 1925. Kouřim is *another* small town (1,900 people) in the Kolín district. The name is one accent mark away from being ‘kouřím’ (meaning ‘I smoke’), and, according to legend, Bohemian prince Lech (died 805) lit a fire here to let his ancestor Čech…
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Originally published on Twitter on 8 October 2022. Votička was built in 1925. Votice is a town of 4,500 people in the Benešov District, about 60 km from Prague. It’s within a mountainous region known as ‘Česká Sibiř’ / ‘Czech Siberia’. It was first mentioned in writing in 1359, but had probably existed for over…
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Originally published on Twitter on 5 October 2022. U Vinohradské nemocnice was built in 1925 and translates as ‘By Vinohrady Hospital’. What is now known as the University Hospital of Královské Vinohrady (Fakultní nemocnice Královské Vinohrady) was opened in 1902, and, a year later, was named ‘Všeobecná veřejná nemocnice císaře a krále Františka Josefa’. Catchy.…
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Originally published on Twitter on 4 October 2022. Soběslavská was built in 1925. Soběslav is a town of 6,800 inhabitants, 18 kilometres south of Tábor in South Bohemia. It was first mentioned in 1293, when its castle and surroundings belonged to the wealthy Rosenberg family. Key historical events include Václav IV (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/02/26/prague-3-day-153-lucemburska/) being imprisoned in…
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Originally published on Twitter on 3 October 2022. Hollarovo náměstí was built around 1925, remaining nameless until 1955. Václav Hollar was born to a wealthy family in Prague in 1607. An artist from a young age, he was introduced to the practice of engraving when he was 18. In 1627, he left Bohemia and moved…
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Originally published on Twitter on 2 October 2022. U Vinohradského hřbitova, built in 1925, translates as ’By the Vinohrady Cemetery’. Vinohrady Cemetery was built in 1885, and was mainly used for the burial of upper-class Prague citizens. It was expanded over the next forty years, and is now the second-largest cemetery in Prague in terms…
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Originally published on Twitter on 28 July 2022. Na Třebešíně was built in 1925. It’s mainly in Prague 10, but street signs don’t lie. Also, it was originally designated as a square. Třebešín is the name of the residential district located here on a long hill. It’s significantly more villa-based than the areas that surround…
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Originally published on Twitter on 27 July 2022. Pod Kapličkou was built in 1925. Yes, I thought we were only going to get more central from here on, but then my atlas kindly reminded me that there’s a few streets on the outskirts of Prague 3 that I forgot about. I found out that Pod…
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Originally published on Twitter on 3 July 2022. K Červenému dvoru was built in 1925. Červený dvůr (Red Court) is another local settlement that no longer exists. It’s recorded that there were vineyards here as early as the mid-15th century. By the mid-18th century, there was a farming estate called Direktorka. Direktorka was renamed Červený…
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Originally published on Twitter on 2 July 2022. Na Viktorce was built in 1925. A farming settlement was founded here in 1873. From the end of the nineteenth century onwards, it was owned by one Viktor Kos (1858-1911), hence the name. Kos set up a brickyard here… which now has me playing a game of…
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Originally published on Twitter on 1 July 2022. U Staré cihelny was built in 1925. A cihelna is a brickyard, or a brick plant. So this street is ‘at the old brickyard’. This particular brickyard was possibly the one owned by Josef Vacek – see https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/11/20/prague-3-day-57-na-vackove/. Indeed, that brickyard is why the surrounding area was…
What's in a Prague street name 