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 4
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Pobřežní cesta was named in 1938. I couldn’t find a street sign, so here’s the nearby tram stop instead. ‘Pobřežní cesta’ translates as ‘coastal road’ if you’re by the sea. We’re not. So I guess we can make do with ‘river bank road’. And this street – more of a path – does exactly what it…
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Nad vinohradem was named in 1911. Until 1947, it was named ‘Horní’ (Upper). These days, it’s part three of our vineyard street trilogy, after https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/11/13/prague-4-day-228-pod-vinohradem/ and https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/11/16/prague-4-day-231-na-vinohradu/. (I’ve been resisting the urge to include a ‘Not everything in Prague is about Vinohrady, you know, expats’ in all three of these posts, and can hold it…
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Branická was built in 1911. Originally, it was three separate streets. The first one was called Hlavní, because it was the main street in, yes, Braník (which wasn’t yet part of Prague). The second one was called Husova, after Jan Hus – see https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/10/05/prague-1-day-169-husova/ for a bit more on him. The third one was nameless.…
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U staré pošty was built in 1911. The street name refers to an old – and long-gone – post office. There was also a post office nearby on Jiskrova (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/11/15/prague-4-day-230-jiskrova/) until recently, but, as those of you living in Prague will be very aware, 300 post offices were closed down in 2023. This was one…
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Na vinohradu was built in 1911. Until 1947, the street was called Příčná, which translates as ‘transverse’, and of which there is still one in the New Town: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/15/prague-1-day-119-pricna/. Na vinohradu, meanwhile is so called because it’s in the same former vineyard territory as https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/11/13/prague-4-day-228-pod-vinohradem/.
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A street with this name was founded in Braník in 1935, but was destroyed in 1990 during construction works. In 1991, this street – about a kilometre away from the original Jiskrova – was given the name instead. Internet searches indicate that it was originally part of Modřanská (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/09/29/prague-4-day-185-modranska/), but the map above isn’t helping…
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Ke Krči was built in 1935. Ke Krči leads (to an extent) towards Krč, a district with about 27,300 inhabitants (about twice as many as either Braník or Podolí). It also has about 135 streets and is in Prague 4, hence my relative silence about the area for now.
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Pod vinohradem was named in 1911. Until 1947, the street was known as ‘Dolní’, which translates as ‘lower’. There’s still a street in Prague 4 called this (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/03/16/prague-4-day-48-dolni/), and presumably many others across the country. A ‘vinohrad’ is a vineyard, and, as mentioned in several posts to date, this area used to be full of…
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Vlnitá was built in 1935. A ‘vlna’ is a wave (it also translates as ‘wool’, but not here). If you’re into the radio and living here, you may know, or want to know, the phrases ‘krátké vlny’ (short wave), ‘střední vlny’ (medium wave) and ‘dlouhé vlny’ (long wave). And if you’re into physics, you might…
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U Ryšánky was built in 1935. Until 1957, U Ryšánky was part of Na usedlosti (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/11/05/prague-4-day-220-na-usedlosti/). For the story of Ryšánka, see yesterday’s post: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/11/10/prague-4-day-225-k-rysance/. Ryšánka has also given its name to the surrounding area. The number 13 tram ran round here from 1938 to 1970, when it was closed, as the red line of…
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K Ryšánce was built in 1925. This area was originally covered by vineyards. Around 1858, a neo-Gothic farmstead was built here, joining nearby farmsteads such as Dobeška (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/10/08/prague-4-day-192-na-dobesce/) and Zemanka (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/10/23/prague-4-day-207-na-zemance/). The residential building was converted into a chateau around 1860; the owner at the time was one Mr Ryšánek. The farmstead, which had initially been…
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Nad Zemankou was named in 1941. It’s in Braník as well as Krč, but you won’t find a street sign confirming the former. Zemanka (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/10/23/prague-4-day-207-na-zemance/) was such a big deal round here that four streets have been named after it; this is the fourth.
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Nad Šálkovnou was built in 1981. Eight days ago, we looked at the former farmstead known as Šálkovna: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/10/31/prague-4-day-215-u-salkovny/. As part of the cooperation between Prague 4 and Pankrác Prison, prisoners have recently been repairing the fence in the street, helping not only the residents but also helping the prisoners to reintegrate into society: https://www.vs.gov.cz/organizacni-jednotky/vazebni-veznice-praha-pankrac/clanky/detail/vv-a-upvzd-praha-pankrac-spolupracuje-s-mc-praha-4.
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Pod Zemankou was built in 1935. Repetition time: pop back to day 207 to learn something about Zemanka (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/10/23/prague-4-day-207-na-zemance/).
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Pod Křížkem was built in 1938. Quick one today: we recently spoke about the somewhat distinctive building called Na Křížku, because there’s a street called ‘Nad Křížkem’ which is above it: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/11/04/prague-4-day-219-nad-krizkem/. Pod Křížkem, on the other hand, is beneath it.
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Na usedlosti was built in 1935. An ‘usedlost’ is a homestead, a farmstead or an estate. In English, the difference between a homestead and a farmstead is that the former intends to feed its own inhabitants, whereas the latter’s role is agricultural production. Czech makes no distinction between the two, which is why I’ve been…
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Nad Křížkem was built in 1938. In the late 1800s, a Neo-Renaissance chateau, with quite an irregular form, was built round here on the site of an earlier building; it was named Na Křížku (‘At the small cross’). It originally served as a farmstead. However, in the early 20th century, it was turned into a…
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Ve dvoře was built named around 1900. As mentioned yesterday (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/11/02/prague-4-day-217-na-mlejnku/), the Dominican Order of Saint Giles was given part of Braník in 1625, as part of Emperor Ferdinand II’s re-Catholicisation drive. However, Braník was outside the Prague city walls, and therefore suffered quite badly during the Thirty Years’ War. By 1650, reconstruction was sorely…
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Na Mlejnku was named in 1938. In 1625, the Dominican Order of St Giles (see https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/10/06/prague-1-day-171-jilska/ for a bit more about him and them) came to Braník and acquired the local fortified manor. At some point, they had a water mill – a vodni mlýn – built. It lasted a good while, being purchased by…
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Nad kostelem was built in 1934. And that’s a particularly satisfying street sign pic. ‘Nad kostelem’ translates as ‘Above the church’. The church in question is Kostel svatého Prokopa v Braníku (the Church of St. Prokop in Braník), the tower which you can see in this picture. The single-nave, Romanesque Revival-style church was consecrated in 1901;…
What's in a Prague street name 