What's in a Prague street name

Every street in Prague, one by one.

Category: Cinemas

  • Ve dvoře was built named around 1900. As mentioned yesterday (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/11/02/prague-4-day-217-na-mlejnku/), the Dominican Order of Saint Giles was given part of Braník in 1625, as part of Emperor Ferdinand II’s re-Catholicisation drive. However, Braník was outside the Prague city walls, and therefore suffered quite badly during the Thirty Years’ War. By 1650, reconstruction was sorely…

  • Originally published on X on 10 March 2024. This is one for which we don’t have a definitive explanation, which is odd when you consider that the name has only been used since the late 1700s. ‘Liliová’ is the feminine adjective derived from ‘lilie’, which is, yes, a lily. On the one hand, some sources…

  • Originally published on X on 8 February 2024. A příkop is a ‘ditch’ or a ‘moat’. Way back in the 1230s, work was underway to create the walls of the Old Town, and, during the process, a moat was excavated here. The moat wouldn’t be filled in until 1760, when the street was created. Originally…

  • Originally posted on X on 1 February 2024. Back in the early days of the New Town, this street was called Sedmihrady, which is Czech for Transylvania (see also: the German ‘Siebenbürgen’), and if you want to know a little bit about Czechs in Romania, take a look at https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/06/30/prague-2-day-52-rumunska/. However, it’s more likely that…

  • Originally published on X on 24 and 25 January 2024 (it’s a two-partner). Václav (Wenceslas, as in ‘Good King’) was born around 907, the son of Vratislav (Wrocław-founding) and Drahomíra (pagan; murderous), and the granddaughter of Ludmila (Christian; victim of said murderousness; later saintly) and Bořivoj (the first verifiable Czech leader). He became Prince of…

  • Originally published on X on 15 January 2024. Helena Vodičkova, a singer, was born in 1947 in… no, sorry, my mistake. The street was founded around the same time as the New Town (1348), and was originally known as Pasířská (see https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/14/prague-1-day-102-mikulandska/ to find out what a ‘pasíř’ is). The name later changed to Stará…

  • Originally published on X on 7 November 2023. A ‘most’ is a bridge. And this street connects a very, very well-known one with Malostranské náměstí (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/08/prague-1-day-38-malostranske-namesti/). This is the Malá Strana Bridge Tower at the end of the street, although your eye may be drawn more to the huge crowds. Mostecká connects Charles Bridge and…