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: Nusle
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Budějovická was given its named in 1925, having formerly been part of the road from Prague to… well, read on. In the early 1200s, a settlement was founded in South Bohemia, and was named Budivojovice, named after Budivoje ze Železnice, a courtier of King Přemysl Otakar I, and the most important judge in Bohemia. The…
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Vápencová was built in 1931. ‘Vápenec’ is limestone. If you’re looking to me for advice on anything scientific, you need to get off the internet now, but here goes: Limestone is a fine-grained to solid sedimentary rock, of which over 80% is composed of of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) in the form of calcite or aragonite.…
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Nad Pekařkou was named in 1972. ‘Pekařka’ translates as ‘baker’ (female). It was also the name of a farmstead which came into being in the early 1800s and was located around here. It later gained an inn, Na Pekařce. In the second half of the 20th century, the area was used by Polygrafia, a printing…
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K sídlišti was built in 1935. Until 1952, the street was called V rovinách II. I’ll say no more until we get to V rovinách (‘I’ no longer required). A ‘sídliště’ is a settlement, but it’s also the term for a housing estate – a residential area with multi-storey residential buildings – panel houses, or,…
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Na Hřebenech II was built in 1941. The street, obviously, got its name from the same source as Na hřebenech I (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/06/12/prague-4-day-115-na-hrebenech-i/). So let’s talk about the western part of Pankrác Plain, known as Kavčí hory, instead. A ‘kanec’ is a wild boar. According to Czech mythology, a man called Bivoj caught a ‘kanec’ in…
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Na Topolce was built in 1925. Once upon a time, there was a vineyard around here. It was called Topolka. According to legend, water from the spring here was used to serve Vyšehrad (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/26/prague-2-day-118-vysehradska/). At some point, the local well also became known as Topolka; there are rumours that Libuše used drink from it (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/23/prague-2-day-93-libusina/),…
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Dačického was built in 1900, or earlier. Mikuláš Daczický z Heslowa was born into a burgher family in Kutná Hora in 1555. He was educated at the Kladruby Monastery near Tachov. When Daczický was fifteen, his father died; he returned to Kutná Hora and lived off his inheritance. This was a period of drinking in wineries…
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Pod Děkankou was built in 1935. To find out why this area was called Děkanka (which this street is ‘under’), see https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/06/03/prague-4-day-107-dekanska-vinice-i/. To find out about the residential area called Na Děkance which existed for about 40 years in the 20th century, see https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/06/05/prague-4-day-109-u-dekanky/. In line with other similar ’emergency colonies’ set up in Prague…
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U Děkanky was built in 1988. To find out why we’re talking about deans and vineyards, take a look at https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/06/03/prague-4-day-107-dekanska-vinice-i/. Děkanka is also the name of the athletics stadium that’s located round here: https://iscus.cz/web/pasport/6229. In the 1920s, this area also became the location of an emergency colony, ie an area of makeshift housing, created…
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Děkanská vinice II was built in 1941. It will surprise precisely nobody that there’s not much I can say about Děkanská vinice II that wasn’t said about Děkanská vinice I (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/06/03/prague-4-day-107-dekanska-vinice-i/). Although I’m mildly amused that, on Mapy dot com (formerly CZ), Děkanská vinice II gets a user rating of 5.0, while poor old Děkanská…
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Děkanská vinice I was built in 1941. Let’s start by reminding ourselves that we’re not far from Vyšehrad, which has a more than significant place in Czech history (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/26/prague-2-day-118-vysehradska/, and maybe have a look round https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/category/vysehrad/ for more). Around the year 1070, the Vyšehrad Chapter / Vyšehradská kapitula was founded, a ‘chapter’ being an assembly…
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Plamínkové was built in 1968. Františka Plamínková was born in Prague in 1875, qualifying as a teacher in 1895 (astounding fact, at least to me: at that time, female teachers were required to be celibate). She taught until 1924. In 1903, she founded the Czech Women’s Club; two years later, she founded the Committee for…
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Kotorská was built in 1968. Kotor, population 13,347, is a town on the coast of Montenegro, located in the bay of the same name. I went in 2006, and again in 2019, so I’m going to populate this one with various pictures. Kotor was settled in Ancient Roman times, when it was part of the…
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Pujmanové was built in 1962. Marie Hennerová was born in Prague’s New Town in 1893. Her father, Kamil Henner, was a professor at the Law Faculty of Charles University, while her brother, Kamil, later became a renowned neurologist. Moving to České Budějovice in 1912, she married Vlastislav Zátka, a lawyer; the marriage was short-lived, and…
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Milevská was built in 1962. Milevsko is a town of 8,000 people in South Bohemia, located 22 kilometres from both Písek (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/03/19/prague-3-day-175-pisecka/) and Tábor (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/02/06/prague-4-day-26-taborska/). The earliest written mention of it is from 1184, which is three years before Jiřího z Milevska, a nobleman, arranged for a monastery to be built in the vicinity. As…
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A ‘strž’ (feminine) is a ravine, or a gully; its synonym, ‘rokle’, is more commonly used. In English, a ravine is typically larger than a gulley, but smaller than a valley. In any case, there was originally a ravine around here. At least as far back as 1841, a road was here which led from…
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V Občanském domově was built in 1934. Looking forward to finding out about this grand-sounding Občanský domov (Citizen’s Home, among various potential translations)? Wondering if we’re about to discover Nusle’s answer to Municipal House (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/10/10/prague-1-day-182-u-obecniho-domu/)? Glad we’ve escaped that multi-week period where a lot of nearby streets were named after the companies that built the…
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Lomnického was built in 1900. Šimon Lomnický was born into a poor family in Lomnice nad Lužnicí in 1552, but, thanks to Vilém z Rožmberka, a noble and one-time treasurer of Bohemia, he was able to have an education. He wrote a series of books about the seven deadly sins and their moral impact, including…
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Na Klikovce was built in 1937. Klikovka was a homestead that existed round here, near St Pancras’ Church (see https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/04/25/prague-4-day-84-na-pankraci/ for a bit more on that). A map of Nusle from 1914 indicates that, by that time, it was gone. I got excited a minute ago, because I thought I’d found a lot more information…
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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…
What's in a Prague street name 