Fortifications
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Prague 1, day 282: Půtova
Originally published on X on 10 June 2024. Once upon a time, there was a street called U hradeb na Poříčí. This was partly because it was located near the New Town hradby, AKA fortifications: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/11/09/prague-1-day-251-hradebni/. And partly because this street is located in the former settlement of Poříčí: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/11/10/prague-1-day-272-na-porici/. In the mid-1400s, there was Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 251: Hradební
Originally published on X on 9 June 2024. Soběslav I, Duke of Bohemia from 1125 to 1140 (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/24/prague-2-day-96-sobeslavova/), started the process of fortifying Prague (‘hradby’ are fortifications). However, the process of fortifying the Old Town (and Malá Strana) really got going during the rule of Václav I (1230-1235, and, unlike Soběslav, as King), and would Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 181: U Prašné brány
Originally published on X on 24 March 2024. When the Old Town was still surrounded by fortifications, there was a gate here named after St Ambrose, as was a church on nearby Hybernská (see https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/20/prague-1-day-134-hybernska/). The gate was then renamed Horská, because what is now Hybernská ultimately led to Kutná Hora. Once the Old Town Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 162: Na Zábradlí
Originally published on X on 5 March 2024. A ‘zábradlí’ is a banister, railing, handrail or balustrade. In the context of this street, there was once a church on the corner called Church of St. John the Baptist ‘Na zábradlí’. It was built around 1130. It was most likely part of the wall that was Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 28: Na náspu
Originally published on X on 26 September 2023. A násep or násyp is a ’causeway’, ’embankment’ (a železniční násep is a ‘railway embankment’) or ‘rampart’. Another word for ‘rampart’ is hradba. As in this lot: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/07/prague-1-day-6-marianske-hradby-the-marian-walls/. When fortifications were built around here, this street was artificially raised. The street was called Na Mariánských hradbech for a Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 8: Na baště sv. Tomáše
Originally published on X on 8 August 2023. Thomas was one of Jesus’s Twelve Apostles, specifically the one who had a particular talent for doubting. A ‘doubting Thomas’ in Czech is a nevěřící Tomáš. (Side note: in Polish, it’s a niewierny Tomasz, which would make most Czechs assume that Tom is cheating on you) To Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 6: Mariánské hradby (the Marian Walls)
Originally published on X on 6 August 2023. At the end of the Thirty Years’ War, if you’d asked a Swede what he thought about Prague, he might well have said ‘Det är verkligen lätt att komma in i staden och belägra den. Inga problem med det alls. Lokalbefolkningen verkade dock inte gilla oss’. In Continue reading
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Prague 2, day 95: V Pevnosti
Originally published on X on 9 February 2023. V Pevnosti was named in 1900 but presumably built some time before then. Its name translates as ‘In the fortress’. Czech monarchs lived at Vyšehrad until 1140, when their residence moved back to Prague Castle. It wasn’t until 1348, and the rule of Charles IV, that Vyšehrad Continue reading
What's in a Prague street name 