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: Professions

  • Prague 3, day 69: U Staré cihelny

    Originally published on Twitter on 1 July 2022. U Staré cihelny was built in 1925. A cihelna is a brickyard, or a brick plant. So this street is ‘at the old brickyard’. This particular brickyard was possibly the one owned by Josef Vacek – see https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/11/20/prague-3-day-57-na-vackove/. Indeed, that brickyard is why the surrounding area was…

  • Prague 3, day 44: V Bezpečí

    Originally published on Twitter on 6 June 2022. V Bezpečí was built in 1938, and translates as ‘in safety’. Two options come to mind. Firstly, I’ve mentioned more than once that it’s really lovely and quiet round here. On the other hand, the street is close to Strážní (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/11/19/prague-3-day-7-strazni/), and stráž means ‘guard’. It’s also…

  • Prague 3, day 32: V Domově

    Originally published on Twitter on 25 May 2022. V Domově was built in 1925. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that Prague didn’t become the capital of an independent country until 1918, and that the civil service had previously been based in Vienna. As Prague gained in importance, its population grew rapidly too. In 1920, it…

  • Prague 3, day 8: Na Hlídce

    Originally published on Twitter on 1 May 2022. Na Hlídce was built in 1925. It’s the same story as yesterday’s: when this area of Prague (Balkán) was urbanised after World War I, many of the inhabitants were state employees and the street name reflected their jobs. Na hlídce means ‘on watch’ or ‘on guard’. The…

  • Prague 3, day 7: Strážní

    Originally posted on Twitter on 30 April 2022. Strážní was built in 1925. It’s also the name of a nearby tram stop. The area to the north-east of here (and immediately north of all the streets we’ve covered so far) is known as ‘Balkán’. It wasn’t urbanised until after World War I and most of…