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: Havel
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Originally published on X on 1 April 2024. In 965, Ibrahim ibn Yaqub, an Arabic-speaking, Sephardi Jewish traveller (and probable merchant) whose family came from what is now Tortosa in Catalonia, travelled to Prague. He wrote about his trip – and what he wrote is the oldest written reference to Prague that we have. He…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Originally published on X on 14 April 2023. Jiráskův most (Jirásek Bridge) was opened in 1931. It’s another ‘no, you’re not getting a street sign’ fest, and apparently I couldn’t even be bothered to walk up to the bridge itself. We covered Alois Jirásek yesterday (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/01/prague-2-day-154-jiraskovo-namesti/), but this bridge, the seventh to be built over…
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Originally published on Twitter on 21 December 2022. Francouzská was built in 1884. Like Anglická (and Moskevská in Prague 10), this was formerly part of the highway leading to Vršovice: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/03/02/prague-2-day-39-anglicka/. Then, also like Anglická (and Moskevská), it was renamed to Palackého until 1926. In 1940, both Anglická and Moskevská became Bismarckova, after Otto von…
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Originally published on Twitter on 5 December 2022. Slovenská was built around 1900. As with Moravia, I don’t want to do a ‘this is the history of […] in 15-20 tweets’ thing. So this seems like a good opportunity to remember that the Velvet Revolution happened in Slovakia too. The Slovaks prefer to call it…
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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…
What's in a Prague street name 