New Town
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Prague 1, day 131: Jindřišská
Originally published on X on 2 February 2024. ‘Jindřich’ is Henry, and the two don’t seem so different once you realise that one of the German versions of ‘Henry’ is ‘Heinrich’. And one famous German Henry was Henry II (973-1024), Holy Roman Emperor, also known as Saint Henry the Exuberant. He essentially incorporated Bohemia into Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 130: Jeruzalémská
Originally posted on X on 1 February 2024. Back in the early days of the New Town, this street was called Sedmihrady, which is Czech for Transylvania (see also: the German ‘Siebenbürgen’), and if you want to know a little bit about Czechs in Romania, take a look at https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/06/30/prague-2-day-52-rumunska/. However, it’s more likely that Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 129: U Půjčovny
Originally published on X on 31 January 2024. In the early days of the New Town, written sources refer to the street as ‘nová ulice faráře svatojindřišského’, or the ‘New Street of the parish priest of St Henry’s’. This was partly because the street was next to the church on Jindřišská (coming up on day Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 128: Růžová
Originally published on X on 30 January 2024. ‘Růžová’ means two things: firstly, it’s the feminine adjective from růže (rose); secondly, it’s a colour which is prominent in Barbie, a film which there were one or two or three million op-eds about on this site last week. Before the New Town was founded in the Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 127: Politických vězňů (Political prisoners)
Originally published on X on 29 January 2024. When the New Town was founded, this street was named Angelova, after Angelo of Florence (died 1408), court apothecary under Charles IV and his son, Wenceslas IV. In 1757, it was renamed Bredovská after the noble Bredow family (Josef Breda was the governor of Prague’s Old Town, Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 126: Olivova
Originally published on X on 28 January 2024. Alois Oliva was born in Kutná Hora in 1822, but went to school in Dresden, where he had relatives. Going straight into employment after he finished school, he was, by the age of 20, a procurator. He then joined a sugar factory in Ruzyně, eventually becoming a Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 125: Opletalova
Originally published on X on 27 January 2024. Jan Opletal was born on either 31 December 1914 or 1 January 1915 to a poor family in Lhota nad Moravou, near Olomouc. He was the youngest of eight children. He had to work from a very early age to support his family, but also excelled at Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 124: Washingtonova
Originally published on X on 26 January 2024. George, not Denzel, Dinah or Poussey. I could tell the George Washington story, but you might already know it quite well and/or feel it’s not got enough/any Czech connections (it won’t shock you to learn that GW never set foot in Bohemia). So let’s go looking for Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 123: Václavské náměstí
Originally published on X on 24 and 25 January 2024 (it’s a two-partner). Václav (Wenceslas, as in ‘Good King’) was born around 907, the son of Vratislav (Wrocław-founding) and Drahomíra (pagan; murderous), and the granddaughter of Ludmila (Christian; victim of said murderousness; later saintly) and Bořivoj (the first verifiable Czech leader). He became Prince of Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 122: Mezibranská
Originally published on X on 23 January 2024. Between 1348 and 1350, Charles IV arranged for the construction of Gothic-style walls all around the (then brand) New Town. Like pretty much every settlement in Bohemia, the New Town had an incredibly rough time of it during the Thirty Years’ War (1618-48). Therefore, new, improved fortifications Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 121: Krakovská
Originally published on X on 22 January 2024. You know where Kraków is. Like me, you may also be wondering when people stopped spelling it ‘Cracow’ in English (full disclosure: I was never a fan of that spelling). Kraków is named after Krakus, the alleged founder of the city (and its castle, Wawel), who apparently Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 120: Ve Smečkách
Originally published on X on 21 January 2024. A smečka is a pack (e.g. of dogs or wolves), or a pride (of lions). It originally meant ‘loop’ or ‘dog-collar’, before being attributed to a whole group of animals rather than simply to one animal’s neck. This could be the reason for the street’s name, but Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 119: Příčná
Originally published on X on 20 January 2024. Příčná is the feminine form of příčný, which means ‘transverse’ or ‘cross(wise)’. And Příčná runs across three streets – Navrátilova and Řeznická, which were also the two most recent threads, and Žitná, which I’ll link to here because I wrote about it ages ago: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/02/27/prague-2-day-36-zitna/. Příčný is Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 118: Řeznická
Originally published on X on 19 January 2024. A řezník is a butcher. And butchers were a well-respected group round this area in the Middle Ages. So much so that they formed a guild and ended up purchasing the church on nearby Lazarská: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/01/prague-2-day-165-lazarska/. The name has been in place since the 1400s; before then, Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 117: Navrátilova
Originally published on X on 18 January 2024. And the prize for ‘most numerous and least helpful Google results for a Prague street name’ goes to… Josef Matěj Navrátil was born in Slaný in 1798, but lived in Prague from 1801. As a child, his father taught him how to paint rooms. So logically, after Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 116: Školská
Originally published on X on 17 January 2024. In the very early days of Prague’s New Town, this was known as Jáma, V jámě or Nad jámou (see yesterday’s https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/15/prague-1-day-115-v-jame/). As there was a Jewish cemetery nearby (see https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/14/prague-1-day-107-charvatova/), the local Jewish population moved here, and the street was renamed Židovská. However, they were pushed Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 115: V Jámě
Originally published on X on 16 January 2024. A jáma is a pit, a hole, or a hollow; a synonym for this is a prohlubeň. And, expectedly, pits/hollows are what the terrain round here once consisted of. The hollows round here had water in them, and, in the early days of the New Town, were Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 114: Vodičkova
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 Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 113: Palackého
Originally published on X on 14 January 2024. Again, I get to direct you to one I wrote earlier: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/31/prague-2-day-145-palackeho-namesti/. Palacký spent his final years – and, in 1876, died – at number 7. The street was first mentioned in 1383, under the name of Tandléřská – a tandléř, derived from southern German, being a Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 112: Jungmannovo náměstí
Originally published on X on 13 January 2024. I promise this is a square, and not a pair of glasses or a bikini top. On the one hand, I can cheat a bit on this one and send you back 24 hours: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/15/prague-1-day-111-jungmannova/. On the other hand, the square itself deserves some attention. In 1347, Continue reading
What's in a Prague street name 