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: Journalists
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Poláčkova was built in 1962. Karel Poláček was born in Rychnov nad Kněžnou in 1892; his father was a Jewish merchant. He also went to school there, but was expelled from grammar school for behaving badly and getting poor grades. Eventually, he ended up finishing his schooling on Truhlářská (AKA one of the streets that…
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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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Durychova was built in 1976. Until 1995, the street was called Dolejšího, after Vojtěch Dolejší (1903-1972), a Communist journalist who worked for Rudé právo, among other publications, and was chairman of the Czechoslovak Union of Journalists from 1957 to 1963. Jaroslav Durych was born in Hradec Králové (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/06/24/prague-3-day-176-hradecka/). He graduated from the Faculty of Medicine…
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Štúrova was built in 1969. Ľudovít Velislav Štúr was born in Uhrovec, a village near Trenčín, Slovakia, in 1815. His father, Samuel, had moved from Trenčín to take up a position as a teacher. Originally educated by his father, Ľudovít moved to Ráb (present-day Győr, Hungary) in 1827 to study at the gymnasium. A Slovak-born…
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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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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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Originally published on X on 27 June 2024. Originally, part of the street was called Florenc – more on that tomorrow – and another part was called Slaměná (‘sláma’ is straw, which was sold round here). In the 1700s, the street became known as Blátivá, then as Na blátě, after the surrounding gardens – ‘bláto’…
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Originally published on X on 12 June 2024. Milan Rastislav Štefánik was born in Košariská, a village nowadays in the Trenčín Region of Slovakia, in 1880. He was the son of an evangelical priest, Pavol Štefánik, who raised his children to be interested in Slovak history and culture. Leaving his village at nine, he went…
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Originally published on X on 8 May 2024. Svatopluk Čech was born in Ostředek, near Benešov, in 1846; his father, František, was a patriot who worked as a journalist in 1848/9, when the Austrian Empire’s first elected parliament operated from Kroměříž. After finishing the Piarist grammar school in Prague (see https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/22/prague-1-day-137-na-prikope/), Čech started to study…
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Originally published on 6 April 2024. ‘Kůže’ means skin, but also leather. There are two modern-day adjectives derived from this: kožní and kožený. ‘Kožná’ is the feminine form of… well, neither, actually. Anyway, in the 18th century, number 8 in the street was a kožnice, i.e. a warehouse and shop for leather goods. Indeed, from…
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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,…
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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)…
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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…
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Originally published on Twitter on 2o December 2022. Šubertova was built in 1905. Like Ibsenova (which is on the other side of the Vinohrady Theatre), this was originally called U divadla (By the Theatre). However, while what is now Ibsenova was renamed to Divadelní in 1920 (and Ibsenova in 1928), its other half maintained its…
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Originally published on Twitter on 30 November 2022. Sady Bratří Čapků was created (sort of) in 2016. This was part of a larger park, opened in 1903, and, originally called Městský sad (City Garden) until 1928. In 1928, it became Bezručovy sady, after Petr Bezruč, the pseudonym of Vladimír Vašek (1867-1958), a poet most known…
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Originally published on Twitter on 2 September 2022. Sladkovského náměstí was built in 1890. Karel Sladkovský was born in Malá Strana in 1823, and studied law in Vienna. He returned to Prague in 1848, becoming a leader of the student movement. He became famous after a speech at Svatováclavské Lázně (which no longer exists, having…
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Originally published on Twitter on 23 August 2022. Havlíčkovo náměstí was built in 1875. Until 1910, this was Basilejské náměstí, now the name of another square slightly to the east (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/11/26/prague-3-day-94-basilejske-namesti/). Between 1940 and 1945, it was Husovo náměstí (limited explanation required). Karel Havlíček Borovský was born in 1821 and studied in Německý Brod (now…
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Originally published on Twitter on 11 July 2022. Sabinova was built in 1875. Until 1962, the street was called Jaboukova (named after either Jakoubek ze Stříbra or Jakoubek z Vřesovic, both prominent Hussites in the early 15th century). Karel Sabina (1813-77) was, among other things, a writer, poet, playwright, journalist and politician. Despite growing up…
What's in a Prague street name 