Embassies
-
Prague 1, day 139: Panská
Originally published on X on 10 February 2024. The oldest documented name for this street, around 1380, is Nová (New) – because, sometimes, these street names just aren’t that creative. On the corner with Na Příkopě, there was once land and gardens belonging to – great word alert – a maltman called Kříž or Křížalova, Continue reading
-
Prague 1, day 132: Senovážné náměstí
Originally published on X on 3 February 2024. Your regular reminder that a ‘náměstí’ is a square, but doesn’t necessarily have to be square in shape. Let’s start with a language lesson: seno is ‘hay’, while váha means both ‘weight’ and ‘weighing machine’. So, a senováha is a hay scale, and this is Hay Scale Continue reading
-
Prague 1, day 98: V Jirchářích
Originally published on X on 30 December 2023. Remember a tanner and his family being brought up yesterday (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/13/prague-1-day-97-pstrossova/)? Well, we’re still on this topic. Jircha is tanned leather, derived from the Latin ‘hircus’, which is a buck or male goat. So a jirchář is a tanner, but is not exactly as the same as Continue reading
-
Prague 1, day 94: Na Struze
Originally published on X on 23 December 2023. A strouha is a gutter or a drain – and, in the 14th century, the term was also attributed to the bay of the Vltava located here. It was also in the 14th century that we have the first written mention of a church here – St Continue reading
-
Prague 1, day 74: Maltézské náměstí
Originally published on X on 21 November 2023. For brief bits and pieces about the Knights of Malta in the Czech Lands, see https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/10/prague-1-day-71-velkoprevorske-namesti/. The Knights Hospitaller arrived in Bohemia in the 12th century (when their headquarters were still in Jerusalem). The Grand Priory was created in 1626, and they moved into their palace here Continue reading
-
Prague 1, day 73: Nosticova
Originally published on X on 20 November 2023. The Nostitz / Nostic family were first mentioned in 1280, originating in Upper Lusatia (now in Germany – take a look at https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/02/14/prague-2-day-28-luzicka/ for a primer). Around 1600, the family started to make a career at the Bohemian court; their conversion to Catholicism would be useful to Continue reading
-
Prague 1, day 47: Valdštejnská
Originally published on X on 23 October 2023. You can read the long, devious, side-swapping story of Albrecht z Valdštejna here: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/08/prague-1-day-46-valdstejnske-namesti/. But I’m also going to suggest that you take a look at the story of Johannes Kepler: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/08/prague-1-day-19-keplerova/. Because, in 1608, a young Valdštejn was in Prague and, as was customary for anyone Continue reading
-
Prague 1, day 41: Thunovská
Originally published on X on 17 October 2023. In the 1300s, this area was given the hugely creative and cryptic name of ‘Pod stupni Pražského hradu’ (Under the steps of Prague Castle), and you can read about those steps here: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/08/prague-1-day-40-zamecke-schody/ At some point, the name ‘Kavčí hora’ also appears, which will be hugely distracting Continue reading
-
Prague 1, day 37: Nerudova
Originally published on X on 11 October 2023. We’re very much in ‘your friends and family who only visited Prague once have walked along here’ territory now. Jan Nepomuk Neruda was born on Újezd in Malá Strana in 1834. Four years later, his dad opened up a shop at U Dvou slunců (The Two Suns) Continue reading
-
Prague 1, day 36: Tržiště
Originally published on X on 10 October 2023. Until the Middle Ages, this was the location of a stream, flowing from Strahov to the Vltava. This was then replaced with a street – Vlašská (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/08/prague-1-day-31-vlasska/). Then, in the late 1700s, the marketplace on Malostranské náměstí was moved to here. And – as you might be Continue reading
-
Prague 1, day 25: Promenáda Raoula Wallenberga
Originally published on X on 23 September 2023. Raoul Wallenberg was born on Lidingö, an island in the Stockholm Archipelago, in 1912. His father had died of cancer three months earlier. His grandfather was, at this time, Swedish Ambassador to Japan, and made it his mission to show Raoul the world. Wallenberg studied in Paris, Continue reading
-
Prague 1, day 24: Úvoz
Originally published on X on 22 September 2023. An úvoz is a ‘sunken lane’ or a ‘hollow way’. The longer name for one of these is an úvozová cesta. ‘One of those’ being a road which cuts into the terrain, and is therefore a good bit lower than the land on either side of it. Continue reading
-
Prague 2, day 6: Helénská
Originally published on Twitter on 12 November 2022. Helénská was built in 1910. Until 1937, this was Doudlebská, after Doudleby, a village in České Budějovice District that was the centre of its region until České Budějovice was founded in 1265. The Helénové, meanwhile, are the Hellenes – the inhabitants of Ancient Greece. ‘Greece’ itself, as Continue reading
What's in a Prague street name 