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: Town halls
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Originally published on X on 1 May 2024. Mordecai Meisel was born in Prague in 1528 (the oldest mention of a member of the Meisel family living in Prague dates from 1425). Moredcai, meanwhile, is first mentioned in writing in 1569; he was a banker and businessman who eventually became a member of the court…
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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…
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Originally published on X on 15 April 2024. Svatý Linhart is Leonard of Noblac (died 559), who is closely associated with the Limousin region of France, where he lived as a hermit. He’s the patron saint of imprisoned people, including political prisoners and prisoners of war. As well being the patron saint of horses, and…
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Originally published on X on 14 April 2024. A long time ago, there was a village here called Na Louži. A ‘louže’ is a puddle or a pool, and the name possibly came from the fact that the area, not being too far from the Vltava, was vulnerable to flooding. In what is now the…
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Originally published on X on 13 April 2024. Originally, the street was called ‘Ostrožná’ or ‘Ostrožnická’, because an ‘ostroh’ is a spur, and spur-makers set up shop in this area. A ‘plát’, meanwhile, is, yes, a plate, as in an iron or a steel one. Therefore, a ‘platnéř’ would be a platemaker, but, rather than…
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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…
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Originally published on X on 15 January 2024. Helena Vodičkova, a singer, was born in 1947 in… no, sorry, my mistake. The street was founded around the same time as the New Town (1348), and was originally known as Pasířská (see https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/14/prague-1-day-102-mikulandska/ to find out what a ‘pasíř’ is). The name later changed to Stará…
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Originally published on 12 January 2024. Josef Jungmann was born in Hudlice, near Beroun, in 1773. His family wanted him to make a career in the church, and sent him to attend the local Piarist school. However, he transferred to a grammar school on Panská in Prague’s New Town, graduating in 1792 and then studying…
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Originally published on X on 12 October 2023. In 1257, Přemysl Otakar II founded a town here, just below the castle, and gave it the Latin name of Nova civitas sub castro Pragensi (New City under Prague Castle), or just Nova civitas, or – and this is where you may get confused if you’re a…
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Originally published on X on 21 September 2023. You may remember me mentioning the former town hall in Loretánská yesterday, largely because it’s awesome: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/08/prague-1-day-22-loretanska/ In Czech, a town hall is called a radnice, because a council (rada) would meet there (see also: the German Rathaus). The adjective from radnice is radnický, and schody are…
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Originally published on X on 20 September 2023. We talked about Loreto and The Loretas recently: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/07/prague-1-day-17-loretanske-namesti/. But this is Hradčany, so we can happily move on to talking about beautiful buildings instead. Number 1 is Hradčany Town Hall, built around 1600. It fulfilled this role until 1784, when the four historical districts of Prague…
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Originally published on X on 23 April 2023. Karlovo náměstí (Charles Square, or Karlák if you’re a local) was built in 1348. The square promptly became the centre of the New Town, being called Dobytčí trh (Livestock Market) until 1848. Upon its construction, it was the largest town square not only in Prague, but also…
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Originally published on X on 31 March 2023. Na Poříčním právu was built in 1925. A řeka is a river. This leads to the adjective říční, as in říční koryto (riverbed), říční síť (river system) and říční přístav (river port). Put a prefix onto říční, and you get poříční, another adjective which also means ‘river’…
What's in a Prague street name 