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: Chapels
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Thomayerova was built in 1990. Josef Thomayer was born in Trhanov, near Domažlice in the Chodsko Region (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/01/30/prague-2-day-25-chodska/) in 1853. He went to school in Klatovy in the Plzeň region, where one of his classmates would later change his name to Jaroslav Vrchlický and become a famous poet. Thomayer then studied medicine in Prague, and…
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Nad Havlem was built in 1925. This one is nothing to do with Václav Havel, but if you want to read about him, you can: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/14/prague-1-day-104-namesti-vaclava-havla/. It is, however, to do with St Gall (he who gave his name St Gallen in Switzerland), who we discussed on https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/10/08/prague-1-day-175-havelska/. As mentioned on https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2026/08/18/prague-4-day-423-v-podzamci/, the Carmelites of…
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Dolnokrčská was built in or before 1920. The street is named after Dolní Krč – or Lower Krč, because, as discussed on https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2026/05/30/prague-4-day-390-hornokrcska/, this was once A Tale of Two Krčes. The first written mention of Krč that we know of is from the 1200s; there is also a document from 1620 in which Dolní…
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Originally published on X on 2 June 2024. Originally, the street was known either as U svatého Kříže – after a now-defunct church of the Holy Cross – or as U svaté Anežky (see yesterday: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/11/05/prague-1-day-243-anezska/). Around 1350, a hospital was built here, founded by one Bohuslav z Olbramovic, and completed at the instigation of…
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Originally published on X on 9 April 2024. Charles/Karel/Karl was born in 1316, as the son of John of Bohemia and his wife Elizabeth. Because these family trees aren’t confusing enough, his birth name was actually Václav, but he chose the name Charles at his confirmation. In 1323, his father sent him to France, where…
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Originally published on X on 4 March 2024. Originally, the street was called Svatého Ondřeje, after a church dedicated to St Andrew, consecrated in 1165, abolished in 1785, and destroyed in the 19th century (by which time it was used as a carpentry workshop) so the street could be extended: https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kostel_svat%C3%A9ho_Ond%C5%99eje_%28Praha%29#/media/Soubor:Kostel_sv._Ond%C5%99eje.jpg. Later on, the central…
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Originally published on X on 3 March 2024. In the Middle Ages, there was a Romanesque church here devoted to Saints Philip and James – and so the accompanying street became known as U Filipa a Jakuba. Between 1391 and 1394, a chapel – the Bethlehem Chapel / Betlémská kaple was also constructed. The intention…
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Originally published on X on 21 February 2024. In the 1200s, this area was a poor neighbourhood; one of its most well-known buildings was called ‘Benátky’ (Venice), and so the street’s first name was Benátská. In 1372, Jan Milíč from Kroměříž (Hussite Prague 3 flashback on https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/12/26/prague-3-day-121-milicova/) founded a preacher’s school and refuge for ‘repentant…
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Originally published on X on 8 September 2023. So this should be a brief one: ‘Ke Hradu’ means ‘Towards the Castle’, which is exactly where this street leads (depending which direction you’re going in, obvs). One achievement of the street was to make the Royal Route, i.e. the journey that kings had to travel on…
