Dissidents
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Prague 1, day 104: Náměstí Václava Havla
Originally published on X on 5 January 2024. Václav Havel was born in 1936 in Prague. His family was well-off and well-known: his grandfather Vácslav (1861-1921) had built Lucerna, while his father (also Václav; 1897-1979) had created Barrandov Terraces. Meanwhile, his maternal grandfather, Hugo Vavrečka (1880-1952), had been a renowned war correspondent, and was also Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 20: Nový Svět (New World)
Originally published on X on 18 September 2023. Nový Svět was originally a village, developing outside Hradčany in the early 1300s, and, in 1360, being attached to it as ordered by Charles IV. Not surprisingly, many of its residents worked at the Castle. And its attachment to Hradčany is why it became known as a Continue reading
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Prague 2, day 153: Resslova
Originally published on X on 12 April 2023. Until 1870, the street was known as U Hurta, Nad Hurtem, Hurtova or Hurtovská, all named after a building here (U Hurta) which hosted the municipal forge. Josef Ressel, meanwhile, was born to a Czech-German family in 1793 in Chrudim, which garnered him a quick mention on Continue reading
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Prague 2, day 150: Dittrichova
Originally published on X on 9 April 2023. Podskalí was built in 1894. František Dittrich was born in Podskalí – i.e. here – in 1801. Being deprived of both parents and his inheritance at an early age, he started to work as a raft swimmer on the Vltava, ultimately making enough money to open a Continue reading
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Prague 2, day 74: Fričova
Originally published on X on 19 January 2023. Fričova was built in 1896. Josef Václav Frič was born in 1829 in Prague. His father was Josef František Frič, a patriotic poet and professor at Charles University. In 1848, he became head of a radical student association, Slávie, and encouraged students to take to the barricades Continue reading
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Prague 3, day 193: Dagmar Burešové
Originally published on Twitter on 17 May 2023. Dagmar Burešové was definitely built in 2022 but only given a street sign in the last month in the spring of 2023. Dagmar Kubištová was born in Prague in 1929. Her father was a lawyer, and the entire family was strongly anti-communist. In 1950, she married a Continue reading
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Prague 3, day 155: Baranova
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 Continue reading
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Prague 3, day 145: Škroupovo náměstí
Originally published on Twitter on 15 September 2022. Škroupovo náměstí was built in 1910. Until 1940, and again from 1945-7, this was Smetanovo náměstí, after Bedřich Smetana (1824-84), composer of Má vlast, and often called the father of Czech music. From 1940-5, it was Sukovo náměstí, after Josef Suk (1874-1935), composer and son-in-law of Antonín Continue reading
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Prague 3, day 127: Siwiecova
Originally published on Twitter on 28 August 2022. Siwiecova was built in 1980. Until 2009, this was Havelkova, Václav Havelka (1893-1967, and yes, that was his actual name), was a Communist functionary, so it’s quite amazing the street maintained this name for so long. Not least given that the street is the home of the Continue reading
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Prague 3, day 64: Olgy Havlové
Originally published on Twitter on 26 June 2022. Olgy Havlové was built in 2012. I normally try to get a photo where you can actually read the street sign, but isn’t this one awesome despite completely failing on that count? Olga Šplíchalová was born in Žižkov (specifically Vackov) in 1933. In the early 1950s, she Continue reading
What's in a Prague street name 