1931
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Prague 4, day 152: Břidličná
Břidličná was built in 1931. ‘Břidlice’ means ‘slate’ – fine-grained sedimentary rocks made from claystones and siltstones. Slate is usually black or grey, and has excellent insulating properties. It also contains methane, which can be mined as shale gas. In Czechia, slate is most abundant in Nízký Jeseník – the country’s largest geomorphological region – Continue reading
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Prague 4, day 147: Pravá
Pravá was built in 1931. Go to https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/07/15/prague-4-day-145-leva/. Follow the instructions up until ‘pretty as they are’. Pravá is located, quite literally, to the right of Podolská (if you’re facing the correct way). OK, vocab time, based on the reminder that, sigh, so many people believe that the right is right: The ‘pravý opak’ would be Continue reading
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Prague 4, day 145: Levá
Levá was built in 1931. Get on a tram. The 2, the 3 and the 17 will all do nicely. Take that tram to Podolské nábřeží (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/07/05/prague-4-day-137-podolske-nabrezi/), ideally getting out at Kublov. Don’t ask me about Kublov, because I’m saving that for a later date. Just get out of the tram. Face away from the Continue reading
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Prague 4, day 126: Na lysině
Na lysině was built in 1931. ‘Lysina’ isn’t in common use as a word in modern Czech, but it exists in present-day Slovak, where it’s a bald spot. In Czech, that would be a ‘pleš’. ‘Łysina’, in Polish, means the same thing, but can also be used colloquially to denote an area devoid of vegetation. Continue reading
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Prague 4, day 122: Vápencová
Vápencová was built in 1931. ‘Vápenec’ is limestone. If you’re looking to me for advice on anything scientific, you need to get off the internet now, but here goes: Limestone is a fine-grained to solid sedimentary rock, of which over 80% is composed of of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) in the form of calcite or aragonite. Continue reading
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Prague 4, day 93: Pankrácké náměstí
Pankrácké náměstí (Pankrác Square) was built in 1931. I walked around – a lot – and couldn’t find a street sign, so here’s a picture of the square instead. Not Prague’s most beautiful. However, when it was first built, Pankrácké náměstí included a small stadium, Na Bělce, which belonged to a football club, SK Nusle. Continue reading
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Prague 4, day 89: Viktorinova
Viktorinova was built in 1931. Viktorín Boček z Kunštátu was a nobleman; the earliest written mention we have of him is from 1417. When the Hussite Wars broke out two years later, he became one of the most important Hussite commanders. In 1420, he participated in the Battle of Vyšehrad (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/02/01/prague-4-day-21-na-vitezne-plani/), but left Prague shortly Continue reading
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Prague 4, day 87: Hradeckých
Hradeckých was built in 1931. This one can be explained by pointing to a few previous stories. Hradečtí are people from Hradec Králové, which, with 94,000 inhabitants, is Czechia’s eighth-largest city, and has a street named after it in Prague 3: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/06/24/prague-3-day-176-hradecka/. By association, Hradečtí are also soldiers from Hradec Králové, and, near here, there Continue reading
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Prague 4, day 57: Soudní
Soudní was built in 1931. ‘Soudní’ would typically be translated as ‘judicial’, from ‘soud’ (‘court’, but also ‘trial’). In 1850, the High Provincial Court in Prague (Vrchní zemský soud v Praze) was established, replacing the General Court of Appeal. It was responsible for dealing with appeals in Bohemia (not Moravia), as well as checking up Continue reading
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Prague 4, day 56: Na Veselí
Na Veselí was built in 1931. ‘Veselí’ translates as ‘hilarity’, ‘merrymaking’ or ‘mirth’. And, much as it would be lovely to assume the street got its name from that, it’s just the name of a settlement that was one here instead. I assume it’s got something in common with ‘ves’, which translates as ‘village’. Continue reading
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Prague 4, day 55: V zálomu
V zálomu was built in 1931. ‘Zalomit’ is a verb translating as ‘to break’, ‘to bend’. It can also be used to mean ‘to wrap’, in the sense of ‘wrap text’. A ‘zálom’ would be a curve or a bend, but it doesn’t seem to be a very common word these days (Polish ‘załom’ gets Continue reading
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Prague 2, day 155: Jiráskův most
Originally published on X on 14 April 2023. Jiráskův most (Jirásek Bridge) was opened in 1931. It’s another ‘no, you’re not getting a street sign’ fest, and apparently I couldn’t even be bothered to walk up to the bridge itself. We covered Alois Jirásek yesterday (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/01/prague-2-day-154-jiraskovo-namesti/), but this bridge, the seventh to be built over Continue reading
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Prague 3, day 51: Malešická
Originally published on Twitter on 13 June 2022. Malešícká was built in 1931. The road leads to Malešice, a district which is located (mainly) in Prague 9 and (partially) in Prague 10. In the 1980s, archeologists discovered pieces of chipped stone from the late Paleolithic period in Malešice, making it the first safely proven Paleolithic Continue reading
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Prague 3, day 36: V Okruží
Originally published on Twitter on 29 May 2022. V Okruží was built in 1931. Does anybody like bad translations? Because the internet is giving me ‘in a ruff’. Which, if you replace the ‘r’ with an ‘h’, describes me as I try to make sense of this. Thankfully, my Lingea dictionary gives me the much Continue reading
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Prague 3, day 35: Křivá
Originally posted on Twitter on 28 May 2022. Křivá was built in 1931. Křivá means ‘crooked’, which is a reasonable representation of the street’s shape. It can also mean ‘trumped up’, but, as proved by the photo above, this is not a street that I have invented. Promise. As with Luční yesterday (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/11/19/prague-3-day-34-lucni/), there was Continue reading
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Prague 3, day 34: Luční
Originally published on Twitter on 27 May 2022. Luční was built in 1931. From 1931 to 1990, this was called Luční I. A nearby street was built in the same year, called, yes, Luční II. Clearly wanting to get a bit of that post-Berlin Wall vibe (or because Luční II got fed up with being Continue reading
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Prague 3, day 23: Jana Želivského
Originally posted on Twitter on 16 May 2022. Jana Želivského was built in 1931. It was originally named Mladoňovicova, after Petr z Mladoňovic (died 1451), a Hussite writer and scribe to Jan z Chlumu (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/11/19/prague-3-day-18-chlumova/). Jan Želivský (1380-1422) was a priest during the Hussite Reformation, with a taste for somewhat apocalyptic sermons. On 30 July Continue reading
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Prague 3, day 2: U kněžské louky
Originally published on Twitter on 25 April 2022. ‘U kněžské louky’ was built in 1931. It roughly translates as ‘at the priestly meadow’, and was named after the original name of the land. If anyone can explain why it’s ‘louky’ with an ‘ou’, when the nearby tram stop (Kněžská luka) only has a ‘u’, you Continue reading
What's in a Prague street name 