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Prague 2, day 129: Viničná
Originally posted on X on 19 March 2023. Viničná was first mentioned in 1869. This is a remarkably quick one: a vinice is a vineyard, and readers of the Prague 2 posts won’t be too surprised to know that there were once several of these round here. Once upon a time, pre-Viničná, there was another… Continue reading
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Prague 2, day 128: Kateřinská
Originally published on X on 18 March 2023. Until about 1870, the street was known as Zahradnická, because the area, at that time, consisted mainly of gardens. Karel IV founded the Convent of St Catherine (Klášter sv. Kateřiny), including a church, in 1355. It was burnt down by the Hussites in 1420, and I should… Continue reading
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Prague 2, day 127: Benátská
Originally published on X on 17 March 2023. The original Benátská was built as far back as 1489. By the 19th century, there was a Velká Benátská, which ceased to exist when the Botanical Gardens were built. There was also a Malá Benátská, and the present-day street more or less follows that street’s pattern. Benátky… Continue reading
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Prague 2, day 126: Trojická
Originally published on X on 16 March 2023. Trojická was built around 1850. Trojická translates as ‘Trinity’, and the street is named after the Church of the Holy Trinity in Podskalí / Kostel Nejsvětější Trojice v Podskalí. A chapel is documented as having stood here in 1358, dedicated either to St Antony or to St… Continue reading
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Prague 2, day 125: Rašínovo nábřeží
Originally published on X on 15 March 2023. This embankment was formed in 1951 from the joining of two separate streets (see later for details of the multiple name changes). Alois Rašín was born in Nechanice, near Hradec Králové, in 1867. He went to Prague to study medicine at Charles University, but then switched to… Continue reading
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Prague 2, day 124: Ladova
Originally published on X on 14 March 2023. Ladova was built in 1925. Until 1961, this was ‘V Ohradách’, ‘In the Enclosures’ (approx). Until the 19th century, there were warehouses here where firewood and wood for construction purposes were stored. Josef Lada was born in Hrusice (nowadays in Prague-East) in 1887. An accident at the… Continue reading
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Prague 2, day 123: Plavecká
Originally published on X on 13 March 2023. Plavecká was built centuries ago, but wasn’t named until the mid-19th century. We’ve covered the fact that the people of this district, Podskalí, made their living by trading in wood: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/26/prague-2-day-121-na-vytoni/. And then we covered the history of Podskalí itself yesterday: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/26/prague-2-day-122-podskalska/. Plavecká, meanwhile, is named after… Continue reading
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Prague 2, day 122: Podskalská
Originally published on X on 12 March 2023. Podskalská was built in 1870. We touched briefly on the settlement of Podskalí yesterday: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/26/prague-2-day-121-na-vytoni/. It was incorporated into Prague’s New Town in 1348, and then burned down in 1420 during fighting over Vyšehrad. After the Hussite Wars, three of Podskalí’s four churches were rebuilt. The district… Continue reading
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Prague 2, day 121: Na Výtoni
Originally published on X on 11 March 2023. Na Výtoni was built in 1894, and was called Vejtoňská until 1903. Once upon a time, there was a settlement here called Podskalí. The first written mention is from 1198, but it’s likely to have originated a long time before that. The locals made a living by… Continue reading
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Prague 2, day 120: Na hrobci
Originally published on X on 10 March 2023. Na hrobci was built around 1890. Hrobec is presumably a no-longer-used diminutive of hrob, or ‘grave’. And it’s theory time. Theory number one is that, back the the olden days when things were decidedly pagan, there was a burial ground here. Theory number two is that this… Continue reading
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Prague 2, day 119: Svobodova
Originally published on X on 9 March 2023. Svobodova was built in 1884. Czech Wikipedia’s disambiguation page lists 17 different Jan Svobodas. So please give me a minute. Jan ’10 of 17’ Svoboda was born in 1800 or 1803 in Hořepník, near Pelhřimov. He studied at the seminary in Klagenfurt, which I’m mentioning mainly because… Continue reading
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Prague 2, day 118: Vyšehradská
Originally published on X on 8 March 2023. Vyšehradská was created in 1869 by joining the roads from Karlovo náměstí to Trojická and from Trojická to Botič. We’ve covered quite a lot of the history of Vyšehrad already – see https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/23/prague-2-day-93-libusina/, https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/24/prague-2-day-94-k-rotunde/ and https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/24/prague-2-day-95-v-pevnosti/ for the goods. And, even though it’s not on this street,… Continue reading
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Prague 2, day 117: Na Děkance
Originally published on X on 7 March 2023. Na Děkance was built in 1884. Until 1909, this was Komenského, as in Comenius, as in https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/11/26/prague-3-day-82-komenskeho-namesti/. The land on this street was owned by the Vyšehrad deanery, i.e. the děkanství. In 1885, a school called Na Děkance was opened here. There had been two local schools… Continue reading
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Prague 2, day 116: Vinařického
Originally published on X on 6 March 2023. Vinařického was built in 1884. Karel Alois Vinařický, despite his surname, was born into a German-speaking family in Slaný in 1803. It wasn’t until his teens that he started to take an active interest in the Czech language and the national movement. After studying philosophy in Prague,… Continue reading
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Prague 2, day 115: Botičská
Originally published on X on 5 March 2023. Botičská was built (as a path) around the 16th century. For a time in the 19th century, until 1850, this was called Špitálská, after St. Bartholomew’s Hospital and Almshouse (Špitál a chudobinec svatého Bartoloměje), which was closed in 1884. The building that’s on this spot now is… Continue reading
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Prague 2, day 114: Sokolská
Originally published on X on 4 March 2023. Until 1867, the street was called Horní Hradební, due to its location in the upper part of Novoměstské hradby, i.e. the New Town Walls. From 1978 to 1990, the street was called Vítězný únor (Victorious February), after the Communist coup d’état of 21 to 25 February. In… Continue reading
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Prague 2, day 113: Apolinářská
Originally published on X on 3 March 2023. We don’t know exactly Apolinářská was built, but it could date back as far as the early 1300s. Until about 1860, the street was known as Věterná hora, Větrov nebo Na Větrově, after the local hill, Větrov, so called because it was known for getting pretty windy… Continue reading
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Prague 2, day 112: Albertov
Originally published on 2 March 2023. Albertov was built in 1905. Eduard Albert was born in Žamberk in 1841, and studied medicine in Vienna, graduating in 1867. Six years later, he became head of the surgical clinic in Innsbruck. In 1881, he applied for a similar position in Prague, but was turned down. He had… Continue reading
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Prague 2, day 111: Ke Karlovu
Originally published on X on 1 March 2023. Ke Karlovu was built a very long time ago. Until 1857, it was Karlovská; then, it was U Karlova until 1947, when it gained its current name. All three names point to the fact that the street leads to Karlov, which you can find more out about… Continue reading
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Prague 2, day 110: Boženy Němcové
Originally published on X on 28 February 2023. Boženy Němcové was built in 1896. The most common story is that Božena Němcová was born as Barbara Nowotny in Vienna in 1820, to an unmarried mother called Theresia Nowotná. When Barbara was a few months old, Theresia married an Austrian coachman, Johann Pankl, in Malá Skalice.… Continue reading
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What's in a Prague street name 