Prague Uprising
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Prague 4, day 198: Saveljevova
Saveljevova was built in 1979. Mikhail Ivanovich Savelyev was born in 1896 in Poyarkovo, a village in Ryazan Governorate, Russia. From the age of twelve, he worked in a butcher’s shop in Moscow. In 1915, he was drafted into the army; after the October Revolution of 1917, he was involved in the disarmament of counterrevolutionary officers. Continue reading
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Prague 4, day 188: Kovriginova
Kovriginova was built in 1977. I want to start this one by taking you to https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/09/20/prague-4-day-178-goncarenkova/, and the story of when Soviet tanks entered Prague in May 1945. As well as Honcharenko, the crew of tank no. 24 included a loader, Nikolai Kovrigin. According to an article published earlier this year by a local newspaper Continue reading
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Prague 4, day 178: Gončarenkova
Gončarenkova was built in 1934. From 1934 to 1952, the street was called Podhájská; from 1952 to 1957, it was called Na Zvoničce; from 1957 to 1973, it was called Na Zvoničce II. I’m saying nothing about those names, as all will become clear in the next few days. Ivan Hryhorovych Hončarenko was born in Continue reading
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Prague 4, day 156: Jeremenkova
Jeremenkova has exited in its current form since 1952; before then, it consisted of two separate streets called Dvorecká (built 1906) and Pod vrstami (created 1938). More on those in future posts, as there are still streets with those names. Andrei Ivanovich Yeremenko was born to a peasant family in Markivka, near Kharkiv, in 1892. Continue reading
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Prague 4, day 114: Na Topolce
Na Topolce was built in 1925. Once upon a time, there was a vineyard around here. It was called Topolka. According to legend, water from the spring here was used to serve Vyšehrad (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/26/prague-2-day-118-vysehradska/). At some point, the local well also became known as Topolka; there are rumours that Libuše used drink from it (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/23/prague-2-day-93-libusina/), Continue reading
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Prague 4, day 86: Náměstí Hrdinů
In 1938, this square was first named individually on maps – but it was called Soudní náměstí (Court Square), after the Prague High Court, which had moved here in 1933 (see https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/03/25/prague-4-day-57-soudni/). During the Prague Uprising of May 1945 (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/02/05/prague-4-day-25-5-kvetna-5-may/), barricades stood in front of the court, aiming to stop the Nazis from reaching Pankrác; Continue reading
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Prague 4, day 82: Doudlebská
Doudlebská was built in 1941. Doudleby (coat of arms below) is a village less than ten kilometres from České Budějovice – so it’s quite appropriate that this street is just a stone’s throw from Budějovická. It’s named after the Doudleby tribe, who settled in the area of the village around 800. It was one of Continue reading
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Prague 4, day 40: Bartoškova
Bartoškova was built in 1910. Theodor Bartošek was born in Ždánice, in South Moravia, in 1877; his father was a judge. After finishing school in Brno in 1897, he moved to Prague to study law and philosophy, where one of the professors who had the greatest impact on him was one Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/01/prague-2-day-156-masarykovo-nabrezi/). Continue reading
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Prague 4, day 29: Náměstí Generála Kutlvašra
Náměstí Generála Kutlvašra (General Kutlvašr Square) was built in 1911. Karel Kutlvašr was born in Michalovice, near Havlíčkův Brod, in 1896. Graduating from business school in 1911, he first worked in Humpolec, then in Kyiv. However, when World War One started, he joined the Czech Company, a volunteer unit consisting of Czechs living in the Continue reading
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Prague 4, day 25: 5. května (5 May)
The road was built in 1931, and, until 1940 (and again from 1945 to 1978), it was named 1. listopadu – 1 November – in honour of the Battle of Vyšehrad in 1420: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/02/01/prague-4-day-21-na-vitezne-plani/. By May 1945, Bohemia and Moravia had been occupied by Nazi Germany for over six years. However, both Soviet and American Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 223: Náměstí Curieových
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 Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 203: U Radnice
Originally published on X on 16 April 2024. In the 14th century, this street became part of the marketplace that we now know as Old Town Square (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/10/12/prague-1-day-190-staromestske-namesti-old-town-square/). Sellers of bridles (Czech: uzdy) operated here, and the street became known as V uzdářích or Pod uzdáři for a couple of hundred years. Back on current-day Continue reading
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Prague 1, day 190: Staroměstské náměstí (Old Town Square)
Published on X on 2 and 3 April 2024 (there was a fair amount to say). Part 1: the history In 1338, John of Luxembourg (King of Bohemia from 1310 to 1346) gave the Old Town permission to build itself a town hall. This seemed like the perfect location, as a major market had existed Continue reading
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Prague 2, day 63: Rybalkova
Originally published on Twitter on 8 January 2023. Rybalkova was built before 1884. Prior to the Nazi occupation, and again from 1945 to 1946, the street was called Jablonského, after Boleslav Jablonský (1813-81), poet and priest. During the Nazi occupation, it was known as Labská, after the river Labe (and as in ‘Ústí nad’), known Continue reading
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Prague 2, day 7: Na Smetance
Originally published on Twitter on 13 November 2022. Na Smetance was built in 1889. Smetanka (translation: ‘Dandelion’) is a homestead and vineyard that used to lie in this spot. It’s old enough for it to be unclear when it was built. What we do know is that it housed a pub, and, from 1859, was Continue reading
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Prague 3, day 159: Novovysočanská
Originally published on Twitter on 29 September 2022. Novovysočanská was built in 1906. We’re at the ‘streets I didn’t realise were partially in Prague 3 / Žižkov’ stage of things. In my defence, there isn’t actually a single street sign in the Prague 3 part of Novovysočanská, and this pic is the nearest I can Continue reading
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Prague 3, day 89: Náměstí Barikád
Originally published on Twitter on 21 July 2022. Náměstí Barikád was built in 1904, bearing its current name (Barricade Square) since 1952. Until 1952, this was Perštýnovo náměstí, named after the Pernštejn family, a distinguished noble family from south-western Moravia. Recent followers of these posts will be *stunned* to know that they were Hussites. The Continue reading
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Prague 3, day 13: Pražačka
Originally posted on Twitter on 6 May 2022. Pražačka was built in 1947. It’s named after *another* farmstead (and vineyard) that no longer exists. The origin of the name ‘Pražačka’ isn’t clear, but original maps list the name as ‘Brasatscha’ – so, surprisingly, the name probably doesn’t have anything to do with ‘Praha’. The vineyard Continue reading
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Prague 3, day 1: Koněvova
Starting off where it all began – this was originally posted on Twitter on 24 April 2022. Here begins a series in which I walk along the very long street immediately to the north of my flat and examine the names of the streets leading off it, one by one. We’ll start with the very Continue reading
What's in a Prague street name 