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: New Town
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Originally published on X on 12 March 2023. Podskalská was built in 1870. We touched briefly on the settlement of Podskalí yesterday: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/26/prague-2-day-121-na-vytoni/. It was incorporated into Prague’s New Town in 1348, and then burned down in 1420 during fighting over Vyšehrad. After the Hussite Wars, three of Podskalí’s four churches were rebuilt. The district…
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Originally published on X on 11 March 2023. Na Výtoni was built in 1894, and was called Vejtoňská until 1903. Once upon a time, there was a settlement here called Podskalí. The first written mention is from 1198, but it’s likely to have originated a long time before that. The locals made a living by…
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Originally published on X on 10 March 2023. Na hrobci was built around 1890. Hrobec is presumably a no-longer-used diminutive of hrob, or ‘grave’. And it’s theory time. Theory number one is that, back the the olden days when things were decidedly pagan, there was a burial ground here. Theory number two is that this…
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Originally published on X on 8 March 2023. Vyšehradská was created in 1869 by joining the roads from Karlovo náměstí to Trojická and from Trojická to Botič. We’ve covered quite a lot of the history of Vyšehrad already – see https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/23/prague-2-day-93-libusina/, https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/24/prague-2-day-94-k-rotunde/ and https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/24/prague-2-day-95-v-pevnosti/ for the goods. And, even though it’s not on this street,…
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Originally published on X on 7 March 2023. Na Děkance was built in 1884. Until 1909, this was Komenského, as in Comenius, as in https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/11/26/prague-3-day-82-komenskeho-namesti/. The land on this street was owned by the Vyšehrad deanery, i.e. the děkanství. In 1885, a school called Na Děkance was opened here. There had been two local schools…
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Originally published on X on 4 March 2023. Until 1867, the street was called Horní Hradební, due to its location in the upper part of Novoměstské hradby, i.e. the New Town Walls. From 1978 to 1990, the street was called Vítězný únor (Victorious February), after the Communist coup d’état of 21 to 25 February. In…
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Originally published on X on 3 March 2023. We don’t know exactly Apolinářská was built, but it could date back as far as the early 1300s. Until about 1860, the street was known as Věterná hora, Větrov nebo Na Větrově, after the local hill, Větrov, so called because it was known for getting pretty windy…
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Originally published on 2 March 2023. Albertov was built in 1905. Eduard Albert was born in Žamberk in 1841, and studied medicine in Vienna, graduating in 1867. Six years later, he became head of the surgical clinic in Innsbruck. In 1881, he applied for a similar position in Prague, but was turned down. He had…
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Originally published on X on 1 March 2023. Ke Karlovu was built a very long time ago. Until 1857, it was Karlovská; then, it was U Karlova until 1947, when it gained its current name. All three names point to the fact that the street leads to Karlov, which you can find more out about…
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Originally published on X on 27 February 2023. Studničkova was built in 1906. Until 1947, this was Preslova, after Jan Svatopluk Presl (1791-1849), a botanist who taught zoology and mineralogy at Charles University. František Karel Studnička was born in Prague in 1870. He graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at Charles University in 1895. Four…
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Originally published on X on 26 February 2023. Like yesterday’s Hlavova, the area was built up gradually and the street got a name in 1963. Emil Votoček was born in Hostinné in 1872. He studied technical engineering at what is now ČVUT, and subsequently studied in both Mulhouse and in Göttingen (where he studied sugar…
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Originally published on X on 25 February 2023. Hlavova, like its surroundings, was built up before and after WW2, but not named until 1963. Jaroslav Hlava was born in Dolní Kralovice, near Benešov, in 1855. He graduated in medicine from Charles University in 1879. By 1887, he had become a ‘full’ professor of pathological anatomy…
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Originally published on X on 20 February 2023. We don’t know when Horská was built, but it’s decidedly old. The first documented names for the street are Ztracená (Lost) and Na Ztracené vartě (At the lost guard-post), presumably because, back before multiple roads and public transport were a thing, this was quite a long way from…
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Originally published on X on 19 February 2023. Korčákova was built in 2009. Jaromír Korčák was born in Vrážné, near Svitavy, in 1898. After studying natural history and geography in Prague, he became a commissioner at the State Statistical Office. In 1948, he qualified as an Associate Professor in demography at the Charles University, becoming…
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Originally published on X on 18 February 2023. Františka Lenocha was built in 2009. František Lenoch was born in 1898. Graduating from Charles University’s Faculty of Medicine in 1923, he later qualified in physiatry, balneology and internal medicine. In the 1930s, he worked in Trenčianske Teplice, a spa town in Slovakia, and stayed in Slovakia…
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Originally published on X on 2 February 2023. Na Slupi was built in 1448 and was called Slupská until 1870. Sometimes we go *way* back. And, the further back we go, the more likely it often becomes that we don’t entirely know where street names come from. It’s likely that, before the New Town was…
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Originally published on Twitter on 4 January 2023. Wenzigova was built in 1893. Josef Wenzig was born in Prague in 1807. After working as a private tutor, he became a professor at the Prague German School, staying there from 1833 to 1849, when he set up the První česká reálka (First Czech Secondary School) on…
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Originally published on Twitter on 3 January 2023. Fügnerovo náměstí was built in 1893. Jindřich Fügner was born in 1822 on Růžová in Prague’s Old Town, as Heinrich Anton Fügner. He held jobs in trade and industry, but was more interested in education, music and sports. When he met Miroslav Tyrš (coming up within this…
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Originally published on Twitter on 12 December 2022. Žitná was built between the 15th and 18th centuries, possibly making this one 400 years older than any other street we’ve covered so far. Žitná is the feminine form of the adjective stemming from žito, rye. (I guess I’ve never mentioned that these streets are almost all…
What's in a Prague street name 