Old Town
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Prague 1, day 236: Benediktská
Originally published on X on 24 May 2024. Originally, the street was called Za masnými krámy, on which see yesterday: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/11/03/prague-1-day-235-masna/. However, before the meat shops (probably – I can’t say for certain when those appeared), there was also the Church of St Benedict, built at some point between 1150 and 1175. The Teutonic Knights Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 235: Masná
Originally published on X on 23 May 2024. In the early 1300s (we’ll call this the ‘John of Bohemia era’), there were already meat shops around here. The local butchers formed their own guild in 1359, and regarded St Jacob’s as their place of worship (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/10/11/prague-1-day-185-jakubska/). The street (which was smaller at the time) therefore Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 234: V Kolkovně
Originally published on X on 22 May 2024. ‘Kolkovné’ is stamp tax or stamp duty; I would explain in detail what that is, but it’s been fifteen years since my tax exams, and stamp duty was one of the chapters that I don’t think I fully understood at the time. We believe stamp duty originated Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 233: Dlouhá
Originally published on X on 21 May 2024. Dlouhá is also popularly known as Dlouhá třída, and there’s still at least one street sign with that variant. ‘Dlouhá’ means long, and the map in the previous post confirms that this name is appropriate. The street is first mentioned in writing in 1310. It understandably became Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 232: Salvátorská
Originally published on X on 20 May 2024. In 1610, a Protestant nobleman, Jáchym Ondřej Šlik, bought a plot of land for the construction of a German Evangelical church; the foundation stone was laid a year later, and the church (Kostel svatého Salvátora / St Salvator’s Church) was consecrated in 1614. Salvátor is a Czech Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 231: Kostečná
Originally published on X on 17 May 2024. You know what a kostka is. Six sides. Numbers from 1 to 6 totalling 21. An item which may indirectly lead you to realise which of your friends gets seriously competitive about Monopoly. Reminds you of that shopping place near the airport. Or, if you’re feeling like Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 230: Vězeňská
Originally published on X on 16 May 2024. A ‘vězení’ or a ‘věznice’ is a prison, and apparently there was once one here. The name can be traced back to the 18th century, but the prison… sorry, I’m drawing a blank. Across the country, there are ‘vazební věznice’ (remand prisons, i.e. prisons in which people Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 226: Bílkova
Originally published on X on 12 May 2024. Bělidlo’ is bleach, whitener or a bleaching agent. It can also be used to denote a bleachery, the part of a textile factory where chemical bleaching of textiles is carried out. If you recognise the word, it might be because you’ve read Babička (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/25/prague-2-day-110-bozeny-nemcove/), as part of Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 225: Náměstí Miloše Formana
Originally published on X on 11 May 2024. Miloš Forman was born as Jan Tomáš Forman in Čáslav (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/07/02/prague-3-day-178-caslavska/) in 1932. His mother, Anna, was arrested by the Nazis for lying about her involvement in the distribution of anti-Nazi leaflets, and died of typhus at Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1943. His father, Rudolf (actually not his biological Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 224: Elišky Krásnohorské
Originally published on X on 10 May 2024. Alžběta Dorota Pechová was born in Prague’s Old Town in 1747, the seventh of her father’s eight children (he was married twice). Her father believed that his family was from Krásná Hora, near Příbram – apparently, this wasn’t actually true, but it did result in the pseudonym Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 223: Náměstí Curieových
Originally published on X on 9 May 2024. Pierre Curie was born in Paris in 1859. He was educated at home by his parents (his father was a doctor), and took his baccalaureate in science when he was 16. Two years later – when he was just 18 – he would already have a degree Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 222: Čechův most
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 Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 221: Dvořákovo nábřeží
Originally published on X on 7 May 2024. Antonín Leopold Dvořák was born in Nelahozeves, in Mělník District, in 1841, as the eldest of nine children. He started learning the violin at the age of six, also studying music theory, piano and organ during his schooldays. In 1857, he went to Prague to study at Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 218: Červená
Originally published on X on 4 May 2024. I’m not in Prague today, but if you are, and have cleaning tools and a ladder, here’s an idea for a fun day out. ‘Červená’ means ‘red’. Jewish butchers had their shops round here, and these were painted red. Originally, the street was called Řeznická (a ‘řezník’ Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 217: Pařížská
Originally published on X on 3 May 2024. Paříž is the capital of Francie, and I’m now realising that I somehow haven’t been since 2016. Here are two photos from that day. I’ve mentioned the ‘asanace’ (rehabilitation) of Prague at the start of the 20th century several times, mainly to talk about things that were Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 213: Na rejdišti
Originally published on X on 29 April 2024. A ‘rejdiště’ is a riding stable – in modern Czech, we would call this a ‘jízdárna’ – and one was inaugurated around here in 1660. More specifically, ‘around here’ means ‘number 2 Alšovo nabřezí’ (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/10/22/prague-1-day-210-alsovo-nabrezi-ales-embankment/), which, nowadays, is called Prádlo or Na Prádle, was built in the Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 210: Alšovo nábřeží (Aleš Embankment)
Originally published on X on 26 April 2024. Mikoláš Aleš was born in Mirotice, in Southern Bohemia, in 1852. He started drawing at the age of four, later taking up painting. In 1869, he enrolled in Prague’s Academy of Fine Arts. He was later expelled (in 1876) after taking part in a demonstration against a Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 209: Veleslavínova
Originally published on X on 25 April 2024. Daniel Adam was born into a well-off family in Prague in 1546. After studying history at Prague University, he lectured there from 1569 to 1576. Also in 1576, he married Anna Melantrichová, daughter of the famous publisher Jiří Melantrich (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/10/14/prague-1-day-194-melantrichova/), and started to work at his father-in-law’s 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
What's in a Prague street name 