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: Prague 1
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Originally published on 13 July 2024. And today, we come to the end of the road(s). For the story of the name Těšnov, see yesterday: TESNOV Commissioned in 1980, the 360-metre excavated road tunnel connects Nábřeží Ludvíka Svobody (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/11/10/prague-1-day-284-tesnov/) with Rohanské nábřeží (on the other side, and therefore in Prague 8). It’s near the Ministries…
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Originally publishe3d on X on 12 July 2024. The first written mention of Těšnov, a settlement just outside the New Town walls, and only consisting of a few guardhouses, dates from 1437. (Photo of the Pořící gate before its destruction in 1875) You might remember that Pořící – immediately to the west – was largely…
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Originally published on X on 11 July 2024. Antonín Stárek was born in 1841. We don’t know much else about him, but we do know he worked as a miller – which would explain why he has a street named after him round here (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/11/10/prague-1-day-258-nove-mlyny/). We also know that he was a New Town councillor…
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Originally published on X on 10 June 2024. Once upon a time, there was a street called U hradeb na Poříčí. This was partly because it was located near the New Town hradby, AKA fortifications: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/11/09/prague-1-day-251-hradebni/. And partly because this street is located in the former settlement of Poříčí: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/11/10/prague-1-day-272-na-porici/. In the mid-1400s, there was…
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Originally published on X on 9 July 2024. Some of the mills which used to be here – and are taking up quite a large chunk of recent threads – were owned by the Helm family, one of the richest in the New Town. Their name is first mentioned in connection with the mills in…
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Originally published on X on 8 July 2024. That translates as ‘ship mills’, as does the name the street had in the 14th century (Lodecké mlyny). The ship mills have already been covered here, just a few metres away: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/11/10/prague-1-day-263-lodecka/. There were both upper and lower ship mills around here, and the street was named…
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Originally published on X on 7 July 2024. This is the closest you’re getting, and if you were there, you’d understand. Back in the 15th century, there was a royal spa here. It was owned by a Jakub Holba, who I can’t find any more information about. Between then and its current status as what…
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Originally published on X on 6 July 2024. Repetition alert (not inappropriate for svátek 2 of 2): the street is named after the mills that used to be here (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/11/10/prague-1-day-258-nove-mlyny/). Or, if we’re being really accurate, the people who worked in them – a ‘mlynář’ is a miller. Mlynářská has had its name since 1890;…
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Originally published on X on 5 July 2024. In the early 1400s, this street – along with Mlynářská, which is one of the eight streets we haven’t covered yet – was called Mezi pekaři (Among the bakers), because they had set up shop round here. At a later stage, it was called Mlýnská, after the…
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Originally published on X on 4 July 2024. Kind of a svátek for me today, as most of this was covered in the last two days (including on https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/11/10/prague-1-day-275-biskupska/). And a quick note that, if you search for Biskupský dvůr online, the results are just as likely to take you elsewhere (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/09/prague-1-day-63-drazickeho-namesti/). Here’s a nice…
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Originally published on X on 3 July 2024. Yesterday, we spoke about St Peter’s Church (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/11/10/prague-1-day-274-petrska/). When plans for the church to be used by Cistercian nuns didn’t come to fruition, the church came to be used by the Knights of the Cross with the Red Star (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/10/16/prague-1-day-198-krizovnicke-namesti/). Between 1561 and 1594, the Grand Masters…
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Originally published on X on 2 July 2024. The original church – a Romanesque basilica – appeared around 1150, and served as the parish church for the village of Poříčí (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/11/10/prague-1-day-272-na-porici/). Around 1200, Vladislav Jindřich, Margrave of Moravia, allowed the Order of Teutonic Knights to move into the church, where they established a hospital. However,…
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Originally published on X on 1 July 2024. The road originated in the late 1300s, and was initially called Štercéřská, after Oldřich Štercéř, a citizen of the New Town. Zlato is gold; a zlatník is a goldsmith. And, along with the butchers, weavers, joiners, fishmongers, butchers, and, well, just look at every third post in…
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Originally published on X on 30 June 2024. Poříčí – meaning ‘Riverside’ – existed as a settlement by the year 1000 (its local church was mentioned in writing in 993: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/11/10/prague-1-day-261-klimentska/). It was mainly settled by German merchants, as demonstrated by the name of the trade route leading through it – Vicus Teutonicum. A second…
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Originally published on X on 29 June 2024. It’s likely that Florenc first appeared in or soon after 1348, when Charles IV founded the New Town and needed traders to settle in it – so he invited people from, among other places, Florence. The name is first documented in 1392. Florenc became an important transport…
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Originally published on X on 28 June 2024. A quick diversion today – only 400 metres away, from one train station to another, because this blink-and-you’ll-miss-it street is one I, erm, blinked and missed. Once upon a time, what is present-day Wilsonova (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/12/25/prague-2-day-9-wilsonova/) was a bit less hectic and uncrossable than it is now. U…
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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 26 June 2024. A ‘celnice’ is a custom house. Originally, the Old Town’s custom house was located just by Old Town Square: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/10/12/prague-1-day-189-tynska/. Apparently, it then moved to Haštalská (I need to verify this), but, by the early 1800s, the former Dům U Hybernů, which was no longer serving as…
What's in a Prague street name 