Libraries
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Prague 1, day 212: 17. listopadu
Originally published on X on 28 April 2024. From the 16th century, this street was called Sanytrová, after ‘sanytr’, an Old Czech word for saltpetre, which is used to make gunpowder. In the 19th century (until 1870), it was known as V krechtách, after the nearby pits and ditches by the Vltava. Sanytrová was used Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 207: Žatecká
Originally published on X on 23 April 2024. Žatec is a town of approximately 19,000 inhabitants in the Ústí Region, named after a hillfort which existed there in the early 10th century. It was an important city in Hussite times – when preachers predicted that it was one of five cities which would survive the Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 201: Mariánské náměstí
Originally published on X on 14 April 2024. A long time ago, there was a village here called Na Louži. A ‘louže’ is a puddle or a pool, and the name possibly came from the fact that the area, not being too far from the Vltava, was vulnerable to flooding. In what is now the Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 200: Platnéřská
Originally published on X on 13 April 2024. Originally, the street was called ‘Ostrožná’ or ‘Ostrožnická’, because an ‘ostroh’ is a spur, and spur-makers set up shop in this area. A ‘plát’, meanwhile, is, yes, a plate, as in an iron or a steel one. Therefore, a ‘platnéř’ would be a platemaker, but, rather than Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 197: Seminářská
Originally published on X on 10 April 2024. So I guess anyone who felt I only mentioned the Klementinum very briefly yesterday will feel better now. The name comes from the Church of St Kliment, which the Dominicans moved into in 1227, when they also created a monastery. The monastery was severely damaged by fire Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 30: Strahovské nádvoří (Strahov Courtyard)
Originally published on X on 28 September 2023. For the beginnings of Strahov, take a look at yesterday’s thread and pretend it’s 1143: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/08/prague-1-day-29-strahovska/. A little bit of tribute should also be paid to Jindřich Zdík, bishop of Olomouc from 1126 to 1150, who was as instrumental in founding the monastery as Vladislav II was. Continue reading
What's in a Prague street name 