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: Poets
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Antala Staška was built in 1935. Until 1952, it was called U krčské vodárny II, which we’ll get onto in an imminent-ish post. Antonín Zeman was born in Stanový, a village near Jablonec, in 1843, as the eldest of ten children. He went to school in Jičín (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/02/26/prague-3-day-158-jicinska/) and Kraków. He then studied law in…
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Halasova was built in 1962. František Halas was born in Brno-Husovice in 1901. His parents were textile workers; his father had been imprisoned for his communist beliefs, and his mother died in 1908. These experiences would greatly influence his career as a poet. When WW1 started, Halas’s father was called up to the front, where…
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Originally published on X on 27 June 2024. Originally, part of the street was called Florenc – more on that tomorrow – and another part was called Slaměná (‘sláma’ is straw, which was sold round here). In the 1700s, the street became known as Blátivá, then as Na blátě, after the surrounding gardens – ‘bláto’…
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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…
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Originally published on X on 30 April 2023. The street was part of Na Rybníčku (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/01/prague-2-day-169-na-rybnicku/) at first, gaining its own status/name in 1886. Vincenc Hálek was born as Vincenc Hálek in Dolínek, nowadays in Prague East, in 1835. He entered a seminary in Prague, but moved to the Academic Gymnasium (on Štěpánská – https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/01/prague-2-day-167-stepanska/)…
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Originally published on X on 6 March 2023. Vinařického was built in 1884. Karel Alois Vinařický, despite his surname, was born into a German-speaking family in Slaný in 1803. It wasn’t until his teens that he started to take an active interest in the Czech language and the national movement. After studying philosophy in Prague,…
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Originally published on Twitter on 7 January 2023. Máchova was built before 1884. Ignác Mácha* was born on Újezd, on Malá Strana, in 1810. In 1830, he started to study at Charles-Ferdinand University, taking philosophy and law. *He would later change Ignác to Hynek, and, taken with Czech patriotism, also added the doesn’t-get-much-more-Czech Karel. During…
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Originally published on Twitter on 6 January 2023. Šafaříkova was built around 1880. Pavol Jozef Šafárik was born in Kobeliarovo, near Košice, in 1795. The dramatic landscapes and Slovak folk culture here would impact him significantly. By the age of eight, he had allegedly read the entire Bible twice. He then went to school in…
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Originally published on X on 1 January 2023. Koubkova was built in 1883. Jan Pravoslav Koubek was born into a wealthy family in Blatná, in Strakonice District, in 1805. He went to secondary school in Písek (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/03/19/prague-3-day-175-pisecka/) and later in Prague, where he was taught by Josef Jungmann. In 1827, he went to Charles-Ferdinand University…
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Originally published on Twitter on 11 December 2022. Čelakovského sady was/were (sady – gardens – is plural) built in 1882. František Ladislav Čelakovský was born in Strakonice in 1799. After graduating from the gymnasium in České Budějovice, he moved to Prague to study philosophy. Financial constraints forced him to drop out and continue his studies…
What's in a Prague street name 