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: Poland
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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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Mečislavova was built in 1892. Mečislav is more commonly known as Měšek in Czech; in English, we use his Polish name, Mieszko. That was long thought to be a diminutive form of Mieczysław – still a common name in Poland – but many modern historians disagree. Mieszko was born… at some point (take your pick…
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Otakarova was built in 1900. Přemysl Otakar II was born in or around 1233, the son of Václav I, who had been King of Bohemia since 1230, and his wife, Kunigunde of Hohenstaufen. His older brother, Vladislav, became Margrave of Moravia and Duke of Austria in 1246, but died suddenly in 1247, probably of natural…
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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…
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Originally published on X on 26 January 2024. George, not Denzel, Dinah or Poussey. I could tell the George Washington story, but you might already know it quite well and/or feel it’s not got enough/any Czech connections (it won’t shock you to learn that GW never set foot in Bohemia). So let’s go looking for…
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Originally published on X on 22 January 2024. You know where Kraków is. Like me, you may also be wondering when people stopped spelling it ‘Cracow’ in English (full disclosure: I was never a fan of that spelling). Kraków is named after Krakus, the alleged founder of the city (and its castle, Wawel), who apparently…
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Originally published on X on 9 January 2024. Jan Evangelista Purkyně was born on the noble estate at Libochovice (near Litoměřice) in 1787. He joined the Piarists as a monk in 1804, but quit at the age of twenty and became a tutor to a noble family before studying medicine at Prague University from 1813…
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Originally published on X on 9 August 2023. Badeniho was built in 1905 and shared with Prague 6 and Prague 7 (yes, I know that’s a 6 on the sign). Kazimierz Feliks Badeni was born into a noble family in the village of Surochów (then Galicia, now south-east Poland) in 1846. Graduating from his law…
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Originally published on Twitter on 13 January 2023. You know who Niklas Koppernigk was, but probably under the name of Nicolaus Copernicus or (if you’re Czech) Mikuláš Koperník. He was born in Toruń, now in Poland, in 1473. This is the (fairly 1970s, right?) pic of him in the Town Hall there. He put forth…
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Originally published on Twitter on 25 December 2022. Varšavská was built in 1884. Until 1926, this was Kollárova, after Ján Kollár (1793-1852), Slovak poet, archaeologist, politician and renowned Pan-Slavist. Varšava is obviously Warsaw, which is obviously the capital of Poland, which obviously got a lot of coverage on https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/01/27/prague-2-day-14-polska/. And a bit more coverage on…
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Originally published on Twitter on 29 November 2022. Kladská was built in 1896. Kladsko in Czech is Kłodzko in Polish – a town of just under 27,000 people in Lower Silesia. First mentioned in 981, its name derives from the Czech word kláda (log), as its first bridges, houses and fortifications were made of wood.…
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Originally published on Twitter on 26 November 2022. Krkonošská was built in 1908. The Krkonoše – Riesengebirge in German, and Giant Mountains in English – are located in north-eastern Bohemia and in Polish Silesia. They’re the tallest mountain range in the Czech Republic. They also form part of the Sudetes, a ‘geomorphological subprovince’ shared by…
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Originally published on Twitter on 24 November 2022. Chopinova, built in 1910, was called ‘U Riegrových sadů’ (which it is) until 1965. In 1965, the Polish Fryderyk Chopin Society asked for a street to be named after their idol; in exchange, the Warsaw district of Mokotów got itself an ‘ulica Bedrzycha Smetany’. Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin…
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Originally published on Twitter on 20 November 2022. Polská was built in 1900. Until 1940, it was Nerudova, after Jan Neruda, journalist, writer, poet, art critic and figurehead of Czech Realism. More on him when I get to Prague 1. Then, from 1940-5, it was Stifterova, after Adalbert Stifter (1805-68), an Austrian writer known for…
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Originally published on Twitter on 28 August 2022. Siwiecova was built in 1980. Until 2009, this was Havelkova, Václav Havelka (1893-1967, and yes, that was his actual name), was a Communist functionary, so it’s quite amazing the street maintained this name for so long. Not least given that the street is the home of the…
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Originally posted on Twitter on 14 July 2022. Komenského náměstí was built in 1872. Named after John Amos Comenius / Jan Amos Komenský (1592-1670). There’s a lot to say about this guy. Komenský was born into the Moravian Brethren, a pre-Reformation Protestant denomination, whose last bishop he ultimately became. The religious wars forced him to…
What's in a Prague street name 