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).

  • Prague 1, day 7: Gogolova

    Originally published on X on 7 August 2023.

    Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol was born in Velyki Sorochyntsi, now in Poltava Oblast, in 1809, supposedly descended from an ancient Ukrainian Cossack family. His father wrote poetry and plays in both Ukrainian and Russian.

    In 1820, he joined a school in Nizhyn (now in Chernihiv Oblast) and started writing. Graduating in 1828, he moved to St Petersburg, where his attempts to become a successful writer were initially unsuccessful.

    His first success came in 1831, with the publication of Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka, a collection of short stories influenced by his upbringing in Ukraine.

    Developing an interest in Ukrainian Cossack history, Gogol published his short story Taras Bulba, about the Zaporozhian Cossacks, in 1835.

    He struck up a friendship with Alexander Pushkin, whose death in 1837 had a huge effect on his mental state. Gogol had left Russia in 1836 and would spend much of the next few years in Rome.

    In 1839, he returned to Russia to publish his novel, Dead Souls, a satire of the Tsarist bureaucracy (and yet Tsar Nicholas I became a fan). Censorship meant that it was first published under the less controversial title of The Adventures of Chichikov.

    Part of Dead Souls had actually been drafted during a visit to Mariánské Lázně in the same year, where Gogol had gone in the hope of curing some serious stomach-intestinal problems he had had.

    After a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 1848, Gogol returned to Russia and befriended a priest who told him that his literary work was sinful.

    Terrified that he was heading for eternal damnation, Gogol burned his manuscripts, including the second part of Dead Souls, in February 1852, and took to his bed, refusing any food.

    He died nine days later, aged just 43. It has been suggested that he had suffered from schizophrenia.

    Gogol is well represented on stamps throughout the world, as well as some coins. Here are some Ukrainian examples.

    In 1952, the Municipal Theatre in Mariánské Lázně would be renamed the N. V. Gogol Theatre, although it has since reverted to its previous name.

    Gogolova, meanwhile, is the site of Kramářova vila, built for Karel Kramář – who would later be the first PM of Czechoslovakia – between 1911 and 1914.

    Falling into disrepair in the Communist era, it was renovated between 1994 and 1998, and, since then, has served as the official residence of the Czech Prime Minister.

  • Prague 1, day 6: Mariánské hradby (the Marian Walls)

    Originally published on X on 6 August 2023.

    At the end of the Thirty Years’ War, if you’d asked a Swede what he thought about Prague, he might well have said ‘Det är verkligen lätt att komma in i staden och belägra den. Inga problem med det alls. Lokalbefolkningen verkade dock inte gilla oss’.

    In translation: ‘It’s really easy to enter the city and besiege it. No trouble with that at all. Locals didn’t seem to like us though’.

    Emperor Ferdinand III, who the locals didn’t seem to like much either, also noticed this, and asked military theorist Raimondo Montecuccoli for advice. Montecuccuoli suggested the transformation of Prague into a bastion fortress.

    The building of the ramparts – also spearheaded largely by Italians – began in 1653 and took until 1730. Most of the bastions were dedicated to a specific saint.

    In 1735, this section of the ramparts was named Mariánské hradby, after a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary and located by the Bruska / Sand Gate.

    There was just a slight problem: the ramparts couldn’t really be defended successfully in the case of heavy artillery fire, and not all the sections were well guarded.

    On the other hand, while Prague was captured on three occasions between 1742 and 1744, the walls were only breached twice and the city only fell into enemy hands once (in 1744). They also resisted the attempted attack by Friedrich of Prussia in 1757.

    In 1866, when the Prague fortress ceased to exist, the walls, already in a state of disrepair, were no longer used for military purposes (the nature of war had changed a lot since their construction, in any case), and the area, in parts, became residential.

    Although destruction of the ramparts began in 1874, seven bastions survive in Prague 1, and another seven in Prague 6.

    The lucky saints whose bastions survive are Charles (IV), Lawrence (V), Adalbert (VI), Norbert (VII), Francis Borgia (X), the Virgin Mary (XII), Benedict (XIII), Wenceslas (XIV), George (XVI), Ludmila (XVII), Thomas (XVIII) and Mary Magdalene (XIX).

    There is also one surviving bastion devoted to a hospital (VIII), and remnants of one known as the ‘Stone Bastion’ (XI).

    Commiserations go to John (I), James (II), Dominic (III), the distinctly non-saint Strahov (IX), and to all the saints, really, as bastion XV was known as bastion Všech Svatých.

    Did you know that Svatý Vavřinec is actually St Lawrence? I most certainly did not.

  • Prague 1, day 5: U Prašného mostu

    Originally published on X on 5 August 2023.

    You may have heard of Jelení příkop (and if you haven’t, just wait a week). You may also think that a moat is something that could do with a bridge above it. Luckily, in 1535, Ferdinand I agreed with you.

    Originally known as the Dlouhý most (Long Bridge), it later became known as the Prašný most (Dust Bridge) – either because dust accumulated beneath it, because gunpowder was stored in the nearby Prašná věž (Dust Tower), or because there was a gunpowder mill underneath it.

    Destroyed by the Malá Strana fire of 1541, it was repaired and renovated by Ulrico Aostalli, whose other work included the Royal Summer Palace at Prague Castle and the ballroom in the Royal Garden.

    The bridge then got badly damaged in 1742 (blame the French), and then even more so in 1757 (blame the Prussians). It was then decided to replace the bridge with an embankment.

    Between 1999 and 2002, the two parts of the moat were reconnected by a footbridge, meaning that, if you live on the number 1 tramline like I do, this will probably be the most practical way of entering Prague Castle.

    One of U Prašného mostu’s most famous landmarks is Lví dvůr (Lion’s Court), a renaissance building also constructed by Ulrico Aostalli in the 1580s. It used to house lions, tigers, bears, leopards and an orangutan, later becoming a pub, and, as it is nowadays, a restaurant.

    Rudolph II’s favourite lion – a gift from the Ottoman Empire called Mohammed – lived here, and Jan Kepler (also coming up soon) stated that the two of them had the same horoscope. They would later die within days of each other.

  • Prague 1, day 4: Zlatá ulička u Daliborky

    Originally published on X on 4 August 2023. It’s a story of two parts.

    Back in the 16th century, this was an alleyway, and the poorest part of Hradčany. Legend has it that it was called Zlatička at the time, with the following theories abounding:

    – Goldsmiths might have lived here (unlikely if it was a street for the poor)

    – Alchemists lived here and tried to produce gold

    – Members of the castle guard lived here, and wore gold in their uniforms

    – ‘Hilarious’ joke about the street’s poverty

    At the end of the century, Emperor Rudolph II gave the castle guards permission to live here, but didn’t give them any money towards building their houses, which they had to finance themselves.

    It was a convenient location for castle staff, but also a very cramped one; in 1864, most of the houses were removed to make space.

    In the late 1800s, the street was turned into what you might uncharitably call a tourist trap, offering views of the (then inaccessible) Jelení příkop / Deer Moat.

    The street also became popular with creative types, with its most famous resident being Franz Kafka, who lived at number 22, rented by his sister, for five months in 1916-7.

    Another famous inhabitant, in 1929, was Jaroslav Seifert (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/01/13/prague-3-day-125-seifertova/), while a famous Prague fortune-teller, Madame de Thebes, also operated here before WW2.

    Zlatá Ulička was done up significantly in the 1950s; since 2002, you’ve had to pay to enter, as part of your Prague Castle entry ticket. It always seems to be rammed, and, like me, you may decide that, after a day at the castle, it’s just one crowd too far (sorry).

    The first two pics on https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Zlat%C3%A1_uli%C4%8Dka_u_Daliborkysum… this up quite well, in case you were judging me.

    But now I read it’s free entry in the evenings? Can anyone confirm?

    Anyway, time for Part 2.

    Dalibor z Kozojed was born in the 15th century. Towards the end of said century, the common people of Bohemia weren’t having the best of times, which led to a series of revolts.

    In one of these, a crowd attacked the estate of one Adam Ploskovský in Drahonice. He promised to free them from servitude, and they ‘took refuge under the protection of’ another local nobleman – Dalibor.

    Dalibor saw this as a nice little opportunity to get his hands on Adam Ploskovský’s property; in 1497, the provincial court decided that taking rebellious subjects under your protection was a crime.

    So Dalibor got imprisoned, and, in March 1498, he was sentenced to death. He would be beheaded by the Black Tower (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/03/prague-1-day-2-jirska/) on the same day.

    And the tower that he was imprisoned in? That has since become known as the Daliborka, as it had been built in 1496 and he was its first prisoner.

    In 1868, the story of Dalibor would get its premiere in opera form, as composed by Bedřich Smetana.

    You can now go inside the Daliborka as part of your Prague Castle ticket. It’s inevitably got torture instruments and the like.

  • Prague 1, day 3: Vikářská

    Originally published on X on 3 August 2023.

    You don’t get a normal street sign today, but you do get this.

    If you’ve ever been on this street, it’s probably because you were queuing there for ages and ages, waiting to get into St Vitus Cathedral (see example of The Long Wait below).

    In Latin, vicarius means ‘substitute’, which is how we get people telling you they’re ‘living vicariously’ through your Instagram travel pics. This then led to the Old French vicaire, meaning a deputy, or second-in-command.

    When the word crossed the English Channel, it gave us ‘vicar’ – as, while a rector would receive tithes (taxes) from his parish, a vicar would not and was therefore subordinate.

    In Bohemia, a vikář would be a representative of the parish priest; during the First Republic, bishoprics were divided into vikariáty.

    And you may have noticed that this street is next to some cathedral or other – the Prague Metropolitan Chapter was logically set up here in 971. It then became an archdiocese in 1344, and remained close to the Catholic Church even when the Hussites wanted otherwise.

    Canons of the chapter have had awesome names even from the get-go: Heřman, Tutha, Menhart, Walkun, Mlaz, Benco, Dětřich, Chvalko, Burchard, Eppo, and Něpr, we salute you, and that’s only taking us up to 1216 and leaving a lot of your people out.

    The chapter’s headquarters stood in this street, and its members and servants lived here until about the mid-16th century.

    Even before getting a name in the 18th century, Vikářská included Malá Vikárka, Velká Vikárka and the Chapter Deanery, also known as Mladotův dům, as its rebuilding was ordered by Adam Ignác Mladota, the chapter dean, in 1705-6: https://www.santini.cz/cz/praha/kapitulni-dekanstvi

    Just to prove languages are worth devoting your life to, the Breton for ‘vicar’ is person, and German-speakers of a mildly teenage disposition will probably find it quite amusing that the word has turned into ficer when used in Welsh.

  • Prague 1, day 2: Jiřská

    Originally published on X on 2 August 2023.

    And, like yesterday’s (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/02/prague-1-day-1-u-svateho-jiri-st-georges-square/), the street also had similar but not identical names before 1870: U sv. Jiří (as the square is called now), Proti klášteru sv. Jiří (Against St George’s Convent, which sounds a bit like a protest) and Svatojiřská.

    It was also once known as K Černé věži, after the Black Tower.  Which is this colour.  And means I owe you an explanation.

    So: when a huge fire engulfed Malá Strana, and the Castle, in 1541, the tower turned black, and stayed that way for a long time.

    We covered the basics of St George yesterday.  So let’s take a look at his significance both here in the Czech Republic, and in the adjacent Slavosphere.

    Svatý Jiří is the name of a municipality (population 291) just west of Ústí nad Orlicí, while Svätý Jur is a somewhat larger municipality (just under 6,000 people) 14 km from Bratislava.

    Bulgarians have considered St George to be their protector for centuries; St George’s Day (Гергьовден, or Gergyovden) takes place on 6 May, which is when you’ll get military parades in Sofia:

    St George / Sveti Đorđe is also a big deal among the Serbs, who also  celebrate Đurđevdan on 6 May.  It’s also a general spring festival in the Balkans.

    And, most importantly, this is a tune: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5C3SKkNt828

    This is a 1943 picture by Polish-born Jewish artist Artur Szyk, by then settled in the United States and going by Arthur.  It speaks for itself.

    Wikimedia’s page titled ‘Category:Saint George churches in the Czech Republic’ lists a whopping 109 of them in the Czech Republic alone: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Saint_George_churches_in_the_Czech_Republic

    While he also appears on the flag of Třebenice (which amuses me slightly, please don’t take offence if you’re from Třebenice and/or a dragon), and the emblem of Vysoké Mýto (better hair, better camera stare, but less hilariously earnest).

    Jiřská itself hosts many things, not all of them tourists. Number 1 is the Institute of Nobles / Ústav šlechtičen, originally known as the Rožmberský Palace, built between 1545 and 1574 by the eponymous noble family.

    It underwent a major reconstruction under Maria Theresa in the 1750s and was used as an educational institution for impoverished young noblewomen until 1918.

    While number 3 is the Lobkovický palác / Lobkowicz Palace, originally built in the 1500s but given a Baroque restyling from 1651 to 1668.

    Returned to the noble Lobkowicz family in 2002, it’s the only privately-owned building at Prague Castle, and now hosts a museum and concerts: https://www.lobkowicz.cz/en/lobkowicz-palace

  • Prague 1, day 1: U svátého Jiří (St George’s Square)

    Originally published on X on 1 August 2023.

    Before 1870, other variants of this name (Jiřské náměstí or Svatojiřské náměstí) were also in use.

    The story goes that George was born into a Greek Christian family in Cappadocia (in what is now Central Anatolia, i.e. Central Turkey) around 270. His father was an officer in the Roman army.

    This inspired George to do the same once he was old enough; he became a tribune, and, later, a personal guard to Diocletian (Roman emperor from 284 to 305).

    However, Diocletian was someone who took an awful lot of offence at the very existence of other religions; having persecuted the Manicheans in 302, he decided that his next target would be Christianity.

    George was asked to participate in this, but refused, and was rewarded by being tortured and then beheaded in Lydda (now Lod, Israel) on 23 April 303. Hence 23 April being St George’s Day in England.

    Even before Christianity, there was a legend about a dragon who insisted that the people of a village pay him tribute. When the people ran out of things to give him, the dragon started demanding human sacrifices again.

    The people of the village were surprisingly OK with this, until the next victim on the list was a princess. At this point, a soldier tamed the dragon, and then killed him.

    In the 11th century, a Georgian text (appropriately enough) attributed the story to St George, and this stuck.

    (Painting from the 15th century by Paolo Uccello)

    Nowadays, George is a patron saint of a fair few places. The most obvious one of these is Georgia – here’s a pic I took in 2014 in Tbilisi, on the Maidan, not realising at the time that the guy at the top was George himself.

    Then there’s England, Portugal, Brazil, Aragon, the Balearic Islands, Valencia and Catalonia, where George is known as Jordi, and it’s traditional on 23 April to give your loved one a red rose (if they’re a woman) or a book (if they’re a man): https://booksandroses.cat/en/about-booksandroses/

    George is also the patron state of a city beginning with M which is the capital of a country I’m still not ready to talk about in any detail.

    There’ll be more on St George tomorrow – but for now, let’s focus on this very square.

    We know that Prince Bořivoj had a church, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, built at Prague Castle some time after 884, and that this is the first documented church at the Castle.

    Bořivoj’s son, Spytihněv I, would convert the area into a hillfort. When Spytihněv died, his younger brother, Vratislav I, took power, and also built a church dedicated to St George.

    This was the main church in Bohemia until the bishopric of Prague was founded in 973 (during the reign of Boleslav II), and St Vitus’s Rotunda – where the cathedral now stands – became the bishop’s church.

    In the same decade, a convent was founded next door for Benedictine nuns. Boleslav’s sister Mlada became its first abbess (this is how her likeness is reproduced within the convent itself).

    Burnt down in a siege in 1142, the complex was soon rebuilt, although it suffered a similar fate during the Hussite Wars (1420s) and again during the Malá Strana fire of 1541.

    In the early 1600s, the basilica was given a renovation which resulted in it looking much like it does today.

    It still houses the remains of Vratislav I, Boleslav II and Saint Ludmila, among others. The convent, meanwhile, would last until 1782.

    During the Nazi occupation, the square was known as Petra Parléře, after he who created St Vitus Cathedral, presumably because a patron saint of England was not to their liking.

    After World War II, the basilica would be turned into a concert hall, and then an exhibition space. It still hosts one of the National Gallery’s exhibitions.

  • Prague 2, day 171: Hálkova

    Originally published on X on 30 April 2023.

    The street was part of Na Rybníčku (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/01/prague-2-day-169-na-rybnicku/) at first, gaining its own status/name in 1886.

    Vincenc Hálek was born as Vincenc Hálek in Dolínek, nowadays in Prague East, in 1835.

    He entered a seminary in Prague, but moved to the Academic Gymnasium (on Štěpánská – https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/01/prague-2-day-167-stepanska/) against his parents’ wishes in 1847.

    After graduating, he was put in charge of the theatre section of Národní listy, became editor of Máj, a literary almanac published between 1858 and 1862, and also wrote poems for that publication.

    His most successful collection of poems was Večerní písně (Evening songs). His style was upbeat, optimistic and easy to read, which, in turn, earned him great popularity. Indeed, Večerní písně was devoted entirely to love in its purest, happiest form.

    In 1874, Hálek caught a cold while on holiday in the Harrachov region. He would die of pleurisy in the autumn of the same year, aged just 39.

  • Prague 2, day 170: V Tůních

    Originally published on X on 29 April 2023.

    V Tůních was built around the end of the 17th century.

    Until 1870, it was known by a similar name, Tůnní.

    A tůň, or tůně, is a ‘circular or oval-shaped freshwater ecosystem located in the floodplains of rivers or streams’.

    So I guess we’re dealing with a pond, a pool, a water hole or a swimming hole. And apparently there were once several of these round here (see also: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/01/prague-2-day-169-na-rybnicku/).

    However, a tůň occurs naturally, while a rybník is man-made.

  • Prague 2, day 169: Na Rybníčku

    Originally published on X on 28 April 2023.

    Na Rybníčku was built in 1844.

    Until 1880, the street was known either as Nová Štěpánská (due to its proximity to the church described in https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/01/prague-2-day-167-stepanska/), or, at other times, as Štěpánský hřbitov, after the church’s cemetery.

    Rybníček, or Rybník, both meaning pond, is a settlement which can be traced as far back as 993.

    In the early 12th century, a rotunda – the Rotunda of St Stephen – was built here, and served as Rybníček’s parish church.

    Once the New Town was founded, though, the rotunda was insufficient for the number of churchgoers, hence the creation of current-day St Stephen’s. The rotunda itself was rededicated to St. Longinus.

    Longinus is a name given to the soldier who, in the Bible, used the Holy Lance to pierce Jesus’s side after his crucifixion to prove that he was indeed dead. He then reputedly converted to Christianity.

    (Fresco by Fra Angelico, c. 1440)

    Nowadays, Rotunda svatého Longina / St. Longin’s Rotunda is one the few surviving Romanesque rotundas in Prague. It serves the Greek Catholic Church.

  • Prague 2, day 168: Malá Štěpánská

    Originally published on X on 27 April 2023.

    Malá Štěpánská was built in 1894.

    Nice and brief this morning: it’s a small street which is located by Štěpánská (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/01/prague-2-day-167-stepanska/).

    Big Štěpánská’s Little Štěpánská, if you will.

    Something more detailed to come tomorrow. Maybe.

  • Prague 2, day 167: Štěpánská

    Originally published on X on 26 April 2023.

    Štěpánská was built in the mid-14th century.

    Up to the 15th century, the street was known by various names: Svatoštěpánská (linked to its current name), Nad Jámou (Above the Pit – after its geographical location), or Nad Louží (Above the Puddle – there was a settlement round here called Rybníček which had three ponds).

    In the 15th century, it became Provaznická, after the ropemakers who lived and traded here (a ropemaker is a provazník).

    It then became Široká ulice u svatého Štěpána in the 16th century, and subsequently Květoňská in the 17th, after a building at number 22 called Na Květoni (which now hosts the Akademické gymnázium Štěpánská).

    The name Štěpánská has stuck since the 18th century.

    When the New Town was founded, the Church of St Stephen / Kostel svatého Štěpána was too, being completed in 1401 and serving as the parish church for the upper New Town.

    The church had a cemetery so large that it could accommodate the remains of 15,000 people who died in a plague epidemic at the start of the 16th century.

    The church has undergone various renovations since, particularly from 1874–1879.

    It also hasn’t done too badly in terms of visitors – Antonín Dvořák’s daughter Otilie got married here to the composer Josef Suk.

    Other marriages here include those of Bedřich Smetana and Miroslav Tyrš (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/31/prague-2-day-132-tyrsova/).

  • Prague 2, day 166: Omladinářů

    Originally published on X on 25 April 2023.

    We don’t know when the street was built. What we do know is that the road was known as Malá Lazarská (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/01/prague-2-day-165-lazarska/) until 1909, then becoming part of Lazarská itself until 1934.

    In 1890, an eleven-point plan, known as Punktace, was drawn up, aiming at Czech-German reconciliation. The Punktace would’ve divided the regional administration into Czech, German and mixed areas.

    The Young Czechs, who hadn’t taken part in the negotiations, declared the plan unacceptable, and the Old Czechs, who had, would be soundly defeated in the 1891 elections.

    Scared of a plan that’d basically stop Bohemia from existing, people started illegal demonstrations in 1892.

    In one, protestors tried to pull down a statue of Jan Nepomucký (presumably the one on Charles Bridge); another ended up with a fight with police at Olšany Cemetery.

    The police started to assume there was a secret organisation planning all these protests, especially as many of the leaflets being distributed were published on an expensive device called a hectograph, which was quite hard to get your hands on.

    In August 1893, celebrations for the birthday of Emperor Franz I went as well as you might expect – demonstrators shouted so loudly that the military band on Old Town Square was drowned out, a restaurant named after the Emperor was trashed, and Franz got verbal abuse.

    This would lead the authorities to declare martial law in Prague in September.

    Several people were arrested, including Alois Rašín (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/28/prague-2-day-125-rasinovo-nabrezi/), and a 20-year-old called Rudolf Mrva, who named several others to the police.

    Arresting one of the people named by Mrva, a journalist and left-wing activist called Jan Ziegloser (1875-1955), the police found a hectograph, as well as Ziegloser’s diaries, in which he wrote about the youth of Prague and their politics.

    He called the youth the omladina. This, combined with conflicting statements by those arrested, was enough for the police to conclude that there was an organisation with that name.

    The detainees (38 of them, all aged between 16 and 31) were held in the New Town prison (part of the Town Hall on Karlovo náměstí (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/01/prague-2-day-164-karlovo-namesti/)).

    Mrva would be murdered in December 1893 by two of his friends, Otakar Doležal and František Dragoun, both from Žižkov.

    The ‘Omladina Trial’ took place at the prison in February 1894. The longest sentence – for Josef Ziegloser – was eight years, but all 68 people tried got sentenced to at least a few months (and found out via smuggled newspapers).

    Doležal and Dragoun were tried in March, but were acquitted – and later confessed to killing Mrva (pictured).

    In late 1895, an amnesty was announced. All prisoners had been released by November, except for two who had died of tuberculosis in prison.

    One of the prisoners, Václav Čížek, who had been the most vocal of the defendants during the trial, shot himself on Wenceslas Square three days later.

    All because of the trial of a group that didn’t actually exist.

  • Prague 2, day 165: Lazarská

    Originally published on X on 24 April 2023.

    Lazarská was built around 1348, when the New Town was founded.

    Until the early 18th century, this was known as Dolejšek Dobytčího trhu, i.e. the part just below the Livestock Market, i.e. present-day Karlovo náměstí (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/01/prague-2-day-164-karlovo-namesti/).

    After 1848, when Karlák got its current name, this street came to be known as Pod Karlovským náměstím, though the name U masných krámů was also used.

    A masný krám is a shop selling meat. Such shops had stood here ever since 1359, and would do so until 1898, when they were destroyed to make way for new buildings and streets.

    The name Lazarská first appeared around 1880, while the first mention of St. Lazarus’ Church / Kostel svatého Lazara is from 1280. It was a hospital church, with a cemetery which included mass graves for the victims of plague and famine.

    In the early 15th century, the church was purchased by the butchers’ guild of the New Town, but somehow it survived the Hussite Wars. It was used for a Jesuit service in the 1640s, but the Jesuits never took the church over.

    In 1788, the church was abolished; the butchers of the New Town set up a warehouse and workshop in it.

    Once the Imperial-Royal Criminal Court was due to be built at the turn of the 20th century, the building’s days were numbered. Despite protests, it was gone by 1901.

    However, painter Václav Jansa (1859-1913) produced this painting of the courtyard in front of it.

    We’re also lucky enough to have an undated photo of the building before its destruction.

    In 1985, Prague introduced night trams, and Lazarská has been the main transfer point between those trams ever since.

    I can’t be the only person who hears ‘Lazarská’ and automatically remembers freezing their butt off for half an hour while being in desperate need of sleep on many a night in 2007-10.

    And who is therefore grateful for ridesharing apps, for all their evils.

    Update, August 2024: Lazarská was recently the scene of a horrific accident, when a ledge fell from a building, hitting and killing a man who was standing at a nearby tram stop: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/tram-prague-death-police-latest-b2593307.html.

  • Prague 2, day 164: Karlovo náměstí

    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 in Europe (it was bigger then than it is now, though, stretching far as Lazarská).

    It’s therefore not surprising that the square became (and still is) the location for the New Town’s Town Hall, built between 1377 and 1398, with additions in 1411.

    (pic from https://nrpraha.cz)

    The Town Hall’s place in history would be ensured on 30 July 1419, when the Hussite priest Jan Želivský led his followers on a march, protesting the fact that the town council was refusing to free its Hussite prisoners.

    A stone was allegedly thrown from the Town Hall, hitting one of the protestors. The crowd stormed the building, throwing the judge, the mayor and five others out of the window to their deaths. This was the First Defenestration of Prague.

    (Painting by Adolf Liebscher)

    Václav IV would die of a heart attack within the next three weeks, supposedly because of the shock. And the Czech Lands would be plagued by the Hussite Wars until 1436.

    In the 1860s, the market was torn down and Karlák was turned into a park-slash-square, with František Josef Thomayer turning it into an English-style garden in 1884.

    Karlák is also known for the Baroque Church of St Ignatius, built between 1655 and 1677 and (pictured in 1858), once part of the third-largest Jesuit complex in Europe.

    It’s also got the Faust House, which, in the 14th century, it was lived in by Prince Vaclav of Opava, who was into alchemy. Then, during the Reign of Rudolph II, it was lived in by the astrologer Jakub Krucinek, and then by the alchemist Edward Kelley.https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Faust%C5%AFv_d%C5%AFm#/media/File:057_Faust%C5%AFv_d%C5%AFm.JPG

    Since 1985, Karlák has had a metro station, on the B / yellow line. It was originally meant to be called Palackého náměstí, and, reading that, I now feel a bit less dumb for spending my first six months in Prague assuming that Palackého náměstí *was* in fact Karlovo.

    The station got flooded to hell and back in 2002 and needed a heck of a lot of reconstruction; it took seven months before the exit onto Palackého could be used again.

    Karlák was also the scene of Prague’s biggest tram accident of recent times on 16 March 2005, when the last chassis of a number 22 tram derailed and rammed into waiting passengers. Two people were killed: https://www.prahain.cz/doprava/video-karlovo-namesti-misto-kde-se-stala-nejvetsi-nehoda-tramvaje-2362.html

    And, because I haven’t actually covered the street name yet, there’s a (highly) potted bio of Karel IV on https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/02/26/prague-3-day-152-premyslovska/ (if you want more details, I’m pretty sure they’ll end up being part of the Prague 1 series on more than one street/occasion).

  • Prague 2, day 163: Spálená

    Originally published on X on 22 April 2023.

    Spálená was built in the Middle Ages.

    Before the founding of the New Town in 1348, this was part of a road leading from Vyšehrad to Prague Castle, and which was therefore known as Vyšehradská cesta.

    As well as founding the New Town, Karel IV evicted various tradesmen from the Old Town, including blacksmiths.

    A blacksmith is a kovář, and several of them decided to set up shop here – so, during the 14th century, the street was renamed Kovářská.

    In the early 15th century, it became known as Flašnéřská. A flašnéř is similar to what is nowadays known as a klempíř, i.e. a tinsmith, i.e. someone who works with sheet metal.

    In June 1506, Flašnéřská was hit by a fire so severe that it destroyed twenty houses on the street. In 1518, the street’s name was recorded as ‘Spálená’ – meaning ‘burnt’.

    Spálená is famous for, amongst other things, the ‘Máj’ shopping centre, AKA the first time I ever saw a multi-storey Tesco so big it had its own boomerang section (that was in 2005; no boomerangs now).

    Great pic of Máj from the Velvet Revolution: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Obchodn%C3%AD_d%C5%AFm_M%C3%A1j#/media/File:1989_sametova_revoluce_15.jpg

    I also have a soft spot for the Olympic building, a functionalist building designed by Jaromír Krejcar, and completed in 1928 – or, at least, a soft spot for its logo: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Obchodn%C3%AD_d%C5%AFm_Olympic#/media/File:Sp%C3%A1len%C3%A1_16_Obchodn%C3%AD_d%C5%AFm_Olympic_1.jpg

    I know these two are on the Prague 1 part of the street, but who’s keeping count?

    (I am, admittedly)

  • Prague 2, day 162: Odborů

    Originally published on X on 21 April 2023.

    Odborů was built in 1897.

    Until 1947, this was the eastern part of Na Zbořenci: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/01/prague-2-day-160-na-zborenci/.

    Then it was Kleinova until 1952. This story deserves to be told in a bit more detail than I’ve done for other street names that are no longer in use – and it’s relevant to the street’s current name too.

    Robert Klein was born to a Jewish family in Poděbrady in 1885.

    Starting professional life as a merchant and private official, he worked in the regional educational centre in Plzeň and became editor of the Central Trade and Industry Association’s magazine.

    He became the Union’s managing secretary in 1919, and also helped set up the United Union of Private Employees (Jednotný svaz soukromých zaměstnanců).

    Entering Parliament in 1920 for the Czechoslovak Social Democratic Labour Party (ČSSD), he then moved to the Socialist Association, before rejoining the ČSSD in 1924. He would stay in Parliament until 1939 (switching to the National Labour Party upon its formation in 1938).

    In 1935, he worked closely with German and Austrian anti-fascist trade unionists who had fled to Czechoslovakia. This earned him some time in prison as soon as Nazi Germany occupied Bohemia and Moravia in 1939.

    He was released, but in September 1939 he was deported to Buchenwald, where he was forced to perform particularly hard labour.

    Physically and mentally affected by this, he was placed in the sanatorium at Buchenwald, before being sent to Sonnenstein, an extermination facility, where he was murdered in July 1941.

    An odbor is a trade union, and the Jednotný odborový svaz veřejných a soukromých zaměstnanců / Unified Trade Union of Public and Private Employees used to have its headquarters on this street.

    Its communist replacement, the Revolutionary Trade Union Movement (Revoluční odborové hnutí) would also have its headquarters on the street, which got its current name in 1952.

    However, in 1953, ROH would move to the House of Trade Unions, which was in Žižkov and which you can read about here: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/01/13/prague-3-day-126-namesti-winstona-churchilla/.

  • Prague 2, day 161: Myslíkova

    Originally published on X on 20 April 2023.

    Myslíkova was built around 1348, when the New Town was founded.

    Originally nameless, the street became known as Pod Zderazem, due to its location ‘under Zderaz’: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/01/prague-2-day-159-na-zderaze/.

    Then, it became known as Pasířská until about 1700, because of the craftsmen (a pasíř is one who makes decorative items, in particular girdles for knights) who lived here.

    It then became known as Žitná because of the trade in rye that took place here.

    Present-day Žitná is nearby: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/02/27/prague-2-day-36-zitna/

    In 1884, the street became Myslíkova, after Adam Myslík z Hyršova (1520-81). His father, Matěj, was a city councillor in the Old and New Towns from 1527, and, three years later, became a lord.

    Adam became a judge around 1560, and, a decade later, became council at the office of the Supreme Burgrave. When he died, he had the somewhat more lordly name of Adam Myslík z Hyršova, na Radlici a v Košířích.

    The street was named Myslíkova, because he owned the house on the corner with Spálená. Except something went a little bit wrong here.

    Because, while Myslík owned a heck of a lot of properties, this… was not one of them.

    It actually belonged to Eliáš Myslich from Vilimštejn, who was a chamberlain in the 17th century. But it seems that poor old Myslich was not quite important enough for this to have been changed since.

    Number 13 is not without interest, either: František Ladislav Čelakovský (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/02/18/prague-2-day-35-celakovskeho-sady/) lived and died in the house that was previously on the spot.

    Whereas present number 13 is where František Škroup (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/02/26/prague-3-day-145-skroupovo-namesti/) wrote Kde domov můj.

    Meanwhile, while the Belgian Embassy is, like so many, in Malá Strana, Wallonia and Belgium’s French-speaking community get their own Delegation on Myslíkova: http://www.belgie.cz/delegace-francouzskeho-spolecenstvi-a-valonskeho-regionu/index.html.

  • Prague 2, day 160: Na Zbořenci

    Originally published on X on 19 April 2023.

    Na Zbořenci was built in 1897.

    Prior to 1897, the western part of the street was called Zderazská, and the eastern part was called Na Zderaze, and, for a potted history of Zderaz, please take a look at https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/01/prague-2-day-159-na-zderaze/.

    Yesterday’s thread mentioned a not very catchily named monastery built here around 1190. Its Czech name is no snappier than the English one I quoted yesterday: Zderazský klášter křižovníků strážců Božího hrobu řehole svatého Augustina.

    Thankfully, somebody had the brainwave that we could just call it Na Zderaz Monastery / Klášter Na Zderaze instead.

    Klášter křižovníků strážců Božího hrobu / the Monastery of the Crusaders of the Guardians of the Holy Sepulchre works too; the Crusaders who founded the monastery were known as Zderazští.

    With even more inevitability than the fact that the next five posts you see on Twitter will either consist of utter rage or a meme the poster doesn’t quite understand, the Hussites reduced the monastery to ruins in 1419-20.

    The ruins remained until 1905. And are also responsible for the name of the street: zbořit means ‘to demolish’, while zbořený means ‘demolished’.

    I’m trying to find a perfect translation for zbořenec, but, sadly, ‘demolisherie’ is not a word in English, and Google Translate, having one of its particularly unhelpful days, is asking if I’ve considered ‘wrecker’.

  • Prague 2, day 159: Na Zderaze

    Originally published on X on 18 April 2023.

    Na Zderaze was built in 1869 and replaced a square which had been there before that.

    Zderaz is the name of a settlement that used to stand here. Legend has it that it was named after Zderad, who was a favourite attendant of 11th-century Bohemian ruler Vratislav II (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/25/prague-2-day-99-vratislavova/).

    Zderad was reputedly killed by Vratislav’s son, the future Břetislav II, for insulting him during a siege of Brno Castle in 1091 – the first time that Brno is mentioned in writing (I couldn’t tell you what the insult was, though).

    In the late 12th century, the Zderaz Monastery of the Crusaders of the Guardians of the Holy Sepulchre of the Order of St. Augustine (catchy) was founded here; a church would appear around the same time.

    Around 1380, Václav IV would build a small castle (hrádek) here. In the tumultuous times of the Hussite Wars, it was lived in by the legate of the Council of Basel.

    In 1627, it was reconverted into a monastery by the Augustinians.

    This brilliant picture by Philipp van den Bossche apparently includes the hrádek.

    Zderaz was also the home of the St Wenceslas Spa: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/01/prague-2-day-150-dittrichova/

    In the early 19th century, the area was expanded into a square, which was giving the not-at-all confusing name of… Václavské náměstí.

    Then, from 1850 to 1869, while further work was made on it, it was given the mildly less confusing name of Malá Karlovo náměstí.

    Zderaz itself, as a district, ceased to exist when the riverbank was ‘tidied up’ around the turn of the 20th century.