What's in a Prague street name

Every street in Prague, one by one.

1998

  • Prague 4, day 289: Šífařská

    Šífařská was built in 1998. In Czech, a ‘ship’ is a ‘loď’. For those wondering, yes, ‘łódź’ is also Polish for ‘ship’, but there’s no consensus that that’s the reason why Łódź has its name. But it gives me a nice excuse to share some pictures of my 2013 trip to Łódź all the same. Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 286: Vltavanů

    Vltavanů was named in 1998. In 1871, an association was formed in Podskalí (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/26/prague-2-day-122-podskalska/). Its full name was ‘Vzájemně se podporující spolek plavců, rybářů a pobřežných Vltavan’, translating loosely as ‘The Mutually Supportive Association of Swimmers, Fishermen and Coastal Guards: Vltavan’. One of the founding members was František Dittrich, a Podskalí native who had once Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 245: Ledařská

    Ledařská was built in 1998. A ‘ledař” is someone who works with ice (and so you’d most likely hear the word, these days, in connection with ice hockey). A ‘ledárna’, meanwhile, would be an ‘icehouse’ or an ‘iceworks’. At the turn of the 20th century, the innkeepers of Prague were using the icehouse on Štvanice Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 197: Pod srázem

    Pod srázem was built in 1998. Hey, Prague 4! Can you get these people a street sign, or, if there is one, place it where it’s not covered by greenery (while please not getting rid of the greenery)? Street sign or no street sign, the street is under a ‘sráz’, i.e. a steep slope or Continue reading

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  • Prague 4, day 29: Náměstí Generála Kutlvašra

    Náměstí Generála Kutlvašra (General Kutlvašr Square) was built in 1911. Karel Kutlvašr was born in Michalovice, near Havlíčkův Brod, in 1896. Graduating from business school in 1911, he first worked in Humpolec, then in Kyiv. However, when World War One started, he joined the Czech Company, a volunteer unit consisting of Czechs living in the Continue reading

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  • Prague 3, day 62: Plavínová

    Originally published on Twitter on 24 June 2022. Plavínová was built in 1998 (making it newest street yet, but only until tomorrow). A plavín štítnatý, or plavín leknínovitý, or Nymphoides peltata, has its fair share of names in English too: fringed water lily, yellow floating heart, floating heart, water fringe or entire marshwort. It’s a perennial that grows in Continue reading

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