-
Prague 1, day 138: Nekázanka
Originally published on X on 9 February 2024. Prague’s New Town was founded by Charles IV in 1348, which I *may* have mentioned 1,348 times to date. Charles was a busy man, what with also having been crowned King of the Romans in 1346, and also experiencing the death of his first wife (Blanche of… Continue reading
-
Prague 1, day 137: Na Příkopě
Originally published on X on 8 February 2024. A příkop is a ‘ditch’ or a ‘moat’. Way back in the 1230s, work was underway to create the walls of the Old Town, and, during the process, a moat was excavated here. The moat wouldn’t be filled in until 1760, when the street was created. Originally… Continue reading
-
Prague 1, day 136: Senovážná
Originally published on X on 7 February 2024. An underwhelming post (if you’re reading), or a nice and easy one (if you’re me): Senovážná leads directly off Senovážné náměstí: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/19/prague-1-day-132-senovazne-namesti/ That said, for a street that’s less than 140 metres long, Senovážná serves us some pretty good views. Namely of Obecní dům and Prašná brána… Continue reading
-
Prague 1, day 135: Dlážděná
Originally published on X on 6 February 2024. Dlažba means ‘pavement’, ‘cobbles(tones)’ or ‘paving’, whereas something that is dlážděný is ‘paved’. Paving didn’t happen anywhere in Prague at all until 1329, and, when the New Town was founded just under twenty years later, was still the exception rather than the rule. As well as looking… Continue reading
-
Prague 1, day 134: Hybernská
Originally published on X on 5 February 2024. In the pre-New Town was founded, this street was called Horská, because it led to Kutná Hora. It then became known as Na Dlážděném from 1348, and if I explain that now, I’ll ruin tomorrow’s post. In 1355, a church was built, and dedicated to St Ambrose,… Continue reading
-
Prague 1, day 133: Bolzanova
Originally published on X on 4 February 2024. Bernard Bolzano was born in Prague in 1781. His father was an Italian-born arts dealer, while his mother came from a German-speaking family which had arrived in Prague from Austria around 1700. Graduating from the Piarist gymnasium in 1796, he then studied mathematics and philosophy, switching to… Continue reading
-
Prague 1, day 132: Senovážné náměstí
Originally published on X on 3 February 2024. Your regular reminder that a ‘náměstí’ is a square, but doesn’t necessarily have to be square in shape. Let’s start with a language lesson: seno is ‘hay’, while váha means both ‘weight’ and ‘weighing machine’. So, a senováha is a hay scale, and this is Hay Scale… Continue reading
-
Prague 1, day 131: Jindřišská
Originally published on X on 2 February 2024. ‘Jindřich’ is Henry, and the two don’t seem so different once you realise that one of the German versions of ‘Henry’ is ‘Heinrich’. And one famous German Henry was Henry II (973-1024), Holy Roman Emperor, also known as Saint Henry the Exuberant. He essentially incorporated Bohemia into… Continue reading
-
Prague 1, day 130: Jeruzalémská
Originally posted on X on 1 February 2024. Back in the early days of the New Town, this street was called Sedmihrady, which is Czech for Transylvania (see also: the German ‘Siebenbürgen’), and if you want to know a little bit about Czechs in Romania, take a look at https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/06/30/prague-2-day-52-rumunska/. However, it’s more likely that… Continue reading
-
Prague 1, day 129: U Půjčovny
Originally published on X on 31 January 2024. In the early days of the New Town, written sources refer to the street as ‘nová ulice faráře svatojindřišského’, or the ‘New Street of the parish priest of St Henry’s’. This was partly because the street was next to the church on Jindřišská (coming up on day… Continue reading
-
Prague 1, day 128: Růžová
Originally published on X on 30 January 2024. ‘Růžová’ means two things: firstly, it’s the feminine adjective from růže (rose); secondly, it’s a colour which is prominent in Barbie, a film which there were one or two or three million op-eds about on this site last week. Before the New Town was founded in the… Continue reading
-
Prague 1, day 127: Politických vězňů (Political prisoners)
Originally published on X on 29 January 2024. When the New Town was founded, this street was named Angelova, after Angelo of Florence (died 1408), court apothecary under Charles IV and his son, Wenceslas IV. In 1757, it was renamed Bredovská after the noble Bredow family (Josef Breda was the governor of Prague’s Old Town,… Continue reading
-
Prague 1, day 126: Olivova
Originally published on X on 28 January 2024. Alois Oliva was born in Kutná Hora in 1822, but went to school in Dresden, where he had relatives. Going straight into employment after he finished school, he was, by the age of 20, a procurator. He then joined a sugar factory in Ruzyně, eventually becoming a… Continue reading
-
Prague 1, day 125: Opletalova
Originally published on X on 27 January 2024. Jan Opletal was born on either 31 December 1914 or 1 January 1915 to a poor family in Lhota nad Moravou, near Olomouc. He was the youngest of eight children. He had to work from a very early age to support his family, but also excelled at… Continue reading
-
Prague 1, day 124: Washingtonova
Originally published on X on 26 January 2024. George, not Denzel, Dinah or Poussey. I could tell the George Washington story, but you might already know it quite well and/or feel it’s not got enough/any Czech connections (it won’t shock you to learn that GW never set foot in Bohemia). So let’s go looking for… Continue reading
-
Prague 1, day 123: Václavské náměstí
Originally published on X on 24 and 25 January 2024 (it’s a two-partner). Václav (Wenceslas, as in ‘Good King’) was born around 907, the son of Vratislav (Wrocław-founding) and Drahomíra (pagan; murderous), and the granddaughter of Ludmila (Christian; victim of said murderousness; later saintly) and Bořivoj (the first verifiable Czech leader). He became Prince of… Continue reading
-
Prague 1, day 122: Mezibranská
Originally published on X on 23 January 2024. Between 1348 and 1350, Charles IV arranged for the construction of Gothic-style walls all around the (then brand) New Town. Like pretty much every settlement in Bohemia, the New Town had an incredibly rough time of it during the Thirty Years’ War (1618-48). Therefore, new, improved fortifications… Continue reading
-
Prague 1, day 121: Krakovská
Originally published on X on 22 January 2024. You know where Kraków is. Like me, you may also be wondering when people stopped spelling it ‘Cracow’ in English (full disclosure: I was never a fan of that spelling). Kraków is named after Krakus, the alleged founder of the city (and its castle, Wawel), who apparently… Continue reading
-
Prague 1, day 120: Ve Smečkách
Originally published on X on 21 January 2024. A smečka is a pack (e.g. of dogs or wolves), or a pride (of lions). It originally meant ‘loop’ or ‘dog-collar’, before being attributed to a whole group of animals rather than simply to one animal’s neck. This could be the reason for the street’s name, but… Continue reading
-
Prague 1, day 119: Příčná
Originally published on X on 20 January 2024. Příčná is the feminine form of příčný, which means ‘transverse’ or ‘cross(wise)’. And Příčná runs across three streets – Navrátilova and Řeznická, which were also the two most recent threads, and Žitná, which I’ll link to here because I wrote about it ages ago: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/02/27/prague-2-day-36-zitna/. Příčný is… Continue reading
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
What's in a Prague street name 