Originally published on X on 25 June 2024. This was an important area for centuries – see https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/10/10/prague-1-day-183-kralodvorska/, for example – but, as the border between the Old Town and the New Town, it was long dominated by a moat, then by the city walls. The square was constructed in the 1860s, at the same…
Originally published on X on 24 June 2024. In the 14th century, the street was named Štercéřská after the owner of one of the houses, but also Hrnčířská after the potters (hrnčíři) who lived and worked there. Continuing the trades and crafts theme that’s been quite prevalent in this series, a ‘truhlář’, also known as…
Originally published on X on 28 November 2023. The verb ujezdit means to ride on something until it’s smooth – i.e. to plough (although the more common verbs for ‘to plough’ are orat and kypřit). An újezd is, therefore, land which can be ploughed or cultivated – and, in the 12th century, it was the…
Originally published on X on 28 October 2023. I’m linking to the Brusnice thread far too often lately, but here’s one more reminder: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/07/prague-1-day-12-u-brusnice/ The street itself dates from 1931; the barracks it’s named after closed down a mere 168 years earlier, in 1763, before being converted into military accommodation in 1779. That housing, in…
Originally published on X on 24 September 2023. In 1091, Kosmas’s Chronicle referred to a market settlement here. However, it was destroyed in a fire a few years later, and, when the market was rebuilt, it was placed on the other side of the Vltava. Pohořelec – a name used for the area since the…
Originally published on X on 19 September 2023. In 1572, the Ursuline religious order, or the Company of Saint Ursula (Czech: Řádu svaté Voršily) was founded in Italy. The order gradually spread around Europe, with seven nuns from Liège arriving in Prague in 1655 and, in 1664, setting up a convent in the New Town.…
What's in a Prague street name 