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: Painters
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Radova was built in 1965. Vlastimil Rada was born in České Budějovice (recently covered on https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2026/04/26/prague-4-day-368-budejovicka/) in 1895, but lived in Prague from 1904. From 1908 to 1912, as well as going to regular school, he attended landscape painting classes given by Václav Jansa, and then studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts, graduating…
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Blažíčkova was built in 1962. They were busy round here in 1962. Oldřich Blažíček was born in Slavkovice in 1887. Along with his brother, he trained as a house painter, and then moved to Prague to develop his career. Eventually, he got a place at the School of Applied Arts (UPŠ), eventually transferring to and…
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Kremličkova was built in 1962. Rudolf Kremlička was born in Kolín in 1886, and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. Interested in impressionism, he became all the more so after visiting Paris, and the painter Édouard Manet became his role model. He became one of the leading members of Tvrdošíjní (‘The Stubborn…
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Fillova was built in 1962. Emil Filla was born in Chropyně, near Kroměříž, in 1882, and grew up in Brno. After graduating, he got a job as a clerk at an insurance company, but soon decided office life wasn’t for him and headed for Prague. He started studying monumental painting at the Academy of Fine…
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Rabasova was built in 1962. Václav Rabas was born in Krušovice (near Rakovník, and as in the beer) in 1885. After completing his military service, he started studying at Prague’s Academy of Fine Arts. This all went well enough until 1909, when a critical article he wrote about the Academy was published. Rabas’s studies were…
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Stará cesta was named in 1911. Which may also be when that street sign was last cleaned. Goodness. ‘Stará cesta’ translates as ‘old path’, and this is exactly what you have here. A bit further down the path, you’ve got the Marold Villa, where the painter Luděk Marold (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/02/23/prague-4-day-43-maroldova/) was brought up here by his…
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Sitteho was built in 1955. This is one of those cases where I’d like my (brief) research to tie in with itself a little bit better. The Pražský uličník – AKA my usual first port of all – says that Jindřich Sitte was the progressive headmaster of a school in Braník. It doesn’t say which…
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Kubištova was built in 1991. Bohumil Kubišta was born Vlčkovice near Hradec Králové in 1884; he was an illegitimate child, and his family was poor. Developing an interest in fine arts while at secondary school in HK, he started studying at Prague’s School of Applied Arts in 1903, but moved to the Academy of Fine…
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Maroldova was built in 1910. Luděk Marold was born in Malá Strana in 1865; he was illegitimate and took his mother’s family name. He lost both parents by the age of seven, and was then raised by his aunt, Josefa Maroldová. At the age of sixteen, he was accepted into Prague’s Academy of Fine Arts,…
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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…
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Originally published on X on 1 April 2024. In 965, Ibrahim ibn Yaqub, an Arabic-speaking, Sephardi Jewish traveller (and probable merchant) whose family came from what is now Tortosa in Catalonia, travelled to Prague. He wrote about his trip – and what he wrote is the oldest written reference to Prague that we have. He…
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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…
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Originally published on X on 27 November 2023. Josef Vojtěch Hellich was born in Choltice, 15 kilometres south-west of Pardubice, in 1807. He studied drawing and painting at Prague’s Academy of Fine Arts from 1825 to 1829, and then continued his studies in Vienna until 1833. After that, he went on a study tour, starting…
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Originally published on X on 2 November 2023. I’m going to be mildly lazy now and point you towards Vinohrady: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/01/18/prague-2-day-11-manesova/ The bridge was meant to replace Rudolf’s Footbridge (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/08/prague-1-day-56-u-zelezne-lavky/), and was meant to be named after him too. However, when it opened in March 1914, it was called the Archduke Franz Ferdinand Bridge, for…
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Originally published on X on 30 October 2023. Adolf Kosárek was born in Herálec, near (Havlíčkův) Brod, in 1830, and went to school in Kutná Hora before working as a clerk. He did drawing and painting in his spare time, eventually attracting the attention of Friedrich Prince zu Schwarzenberg, who had become Archbishop of Prague…
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Originally published on Twitter on 10 January 2023. Čermákova was built in 1896. Jaroslav Čermák was born in Prague’s Old Town in 1830. Born into a family of doctors, he suffered a major hip injury in his youth, and was confined to bed at times because of this – which may be why he developed…
What's in a Prague street name 