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: Communists
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Rabasova was built in 1962. Václav Rabas was born in Krušovice (near Rakovník, and as in the beer) in 1885. After completing his military service, he started studying at Prague’s Academy of Fine Arts. This all went well enough until 1909, when a critical article he wrote about the Academy was published. Rabas’s studies were…
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Olbrachtova was built in 1962. Welcome to the Krč era! Karel Zeman (bear with me) was born in Semily, near Liberec, in 1882. His father, Antonín, was a lawyer who also wrote novels under the name of Antal Stašek (this will be relevant in a future post). Even while studying at the gymasium in Dvůr…
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Židlického was built in 1986. Vlasta Židlický was a member of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, and, during WW2, was a member of the illegal Union of Friends of the Soviet Union (Svazu přátel Sovětského svazu). Due to his opposition to the Nazi occupation, he was executed on 6 February 1944.
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Nedvědovo náměstí was nameless until 1906. From 1906 to 1934, the square was called Komenského náměstí, of which there is still one in Prague 3: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/11/26/prague-3-day-82-komenskeho-namesti/. From 1934 to 1948, it was called Podolské náměstí. Miloš Nedvěd was born in 1908. His father, František Nedvěd, would later co-found the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in the early…
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Brabcova was built in 1938. It’s not been easy to find information on this one. Apparently, Karel Brabec was born in 1909, was a labourer, and a member of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. He was executed in 1942 for taking part in resistance activities. Before 1952, the street was named after Hynek Krušina z…
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Kischova was built in 1900. It was originally named Třebízského, after the historical novelist Václav Beneš Třebízský, who still has a street named after him in Vinohrady: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/01/27/prague-2-day-17-trebizskeho/. Egon Erwin Kisch was born into a Jewish family in 1885, and grew up on Melantrichova in Prague’s Old Town, where his father, a cloth merchant, ran…
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Pujmanové was built in 1962. Marie Hennerová was born in Prague’s New Town in 1893. Her father, Kamil Henner, was a professor at the Law Faculty of Charles University, while her brother, Kamil, later became a renowned neurologist. Moving to České Budějovice in 1912, she married Vlastislav Zátka, a lawyer; the marriage was short-lived, and…
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Sinkulova was built in 1892. It was initially called Krušinova, after Hynek Krušina z Lichtenburka, a noble who first fought on the Hussite side in the 1400s, then on the side of the Catholics. Having been lengthened by taking over another street in the 1930s, the street has had its present name since 1948. Václav…
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Štětkova was built in 1898. Until 1940, and again from 1945 to 1948, the street was called Horymírova, and you can learn a thing or two about Horymír on https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/01/29/prague-4-day-7-kresomyslova/. Then, from 1948 to 1952, it was called Mikešova, after Mikeš Divůček z Jemniště, a mintmaster from Kutná Hora who was good friends with Jan…
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U gymnázia was built in the 1930s, and given a name in 1947. A ‘gymnázium’ is a well-known false friend: it’s a grammar school (if you’re British), or a high school (if you’re American). Around the spring of each year, your local friends who have kids may talk about how insanely competitive their entry examinations…
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Pikrtova was formerly part of 5. května (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/02/05/prague-4-day-25-5-kvetna-5-may/), but construction of the nearby main road changed its shape so much that it was declared a separate street in 1977. We don’t have tremendous amounts of information about Josef Pikrt – for example, we don’t know his year of birth. We do know that he was…
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Bartoškova was built in 1910. Theodor Bartošek was born in Ždánice, in South Moravia, in 1877; his father was a judge. After finishing school in Brno in 1897, he moved to Prague to study law and philosophy, where one of the professors who had the greatest impact on him was one Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/01/prague-2-day-156-masarykovo-nabrezi/).…
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Kongresová was built in 1986. In 1971, a spatial plan determined that some sort of ‘service centre’ should be built in this location, which was also the site of improved transport links – Nusle Bridge (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/21/prague-2-day-86-nuselsky-most/) would be opened in 1973, and Prague’s first metro line would follow in 1974. After a drawn-out selection procedure…
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Originally published on X on 7 July 2024. This is the closest you’re getting, and if you were there, you’d understand. Back in the 15th century, there was a royal spa here. It was owned by a Jakub Holba, who I can’t find any more information about. Between then and its current status as what…
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Originally published on X on 15 June 2024. ‘Nábřeží’ = ‘Embankment’. Ludvík Svoboda was born in Hroznatín, a village in Vysocina Region, in 1895. His father died a year later (apparently after being kicked by a horse), and his mother remarried in 1898. He attended the Agricultural School in Velké Meziříčí, and was then called…
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Originally published on X on 20 March 2024. For the name, we can go back 48 hours and learn about St Gall and a town-within-a town: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/10/08/prague-1-day-175-havelska/. Until the 1700s, Havelská ulička was nameless, and was part of the surrounding market. There was also quite a gap between people using the current name and its…
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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…
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Originally published on X on 29 January 2024. When the New Town was founded, this street was named Angelova, after Angelo of Florence (died 1408), court apothecary under Charles IV and his son, Wenceslas IV. In 1757, it was renamed Bredovská after the noble Bredow family (Josef Breda was the governor of Prague’s Old Town,…
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Originally published on X on 3 December 2023. I think the best way to start this one is to take a look at two of the plaques on the ground. Between 1948 and 1989, 205,486 people were convicted. 248 were executed, and a further 4,500 died in prison. 327 people died trying to cross Czechoslovakia’s…
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Originally published on Twitter on 25 September 2022. Baranova was built in 1885. It was named Vratislavova until 1940 and again from 1945 to 1947, after Vratislav II, who is in this bumper here’s-all-the-Přemyslids-thread from a few days back: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/02/26/prague-3-day-152-premyslovska/. It was then called Habánská from 1940 to 1945, after the Habaners, the Hutterites (that’s…
What's in a Prague street name 