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 17: Loretánské náměstí

    Originally published on X on 11 September 2023.

    Let’s start this one in Italy, where Loreto, on the Adriatic coast, and with a population of about 12,000, houses the Basilica della Santa Casa, which some Catholics believe was inhabited by the Virgin Mary.

    Rather than being a nice Italian holiday home for the… Mary and Joseph didn’t have surnames, did they, medieval traditions suggested that the house was originally located in Nazareth.

    After Jesus’s Ascension, it was turned into a church, which, in 1291, was reputedly carried to Dalmatia by angels in order to stop it from being attacked by Muslim soldiers.

    The legend then has it that the church was carried, again by angels, to Loreto in 1294. Whether this was done to get it away from hordes of Czech tourists remains unknown.

    Inevitably, Loreto is therefore a popular pilgrimage site – Italy’s second most popular after Rome – and a building seen as worth emulating elsewhere, for example in Prague.

    In 1626, construction started, led by Italian architect Giovanni Orsi, and financed by one Countess Benigna Kateřina z Lobkowicz, who had bought many properties in Hradčany after these had been confiscated post-Bílá Hora.

    The chapel was consecrated in 1631; Benigna died in 1654 and would be buried here – there’s a crypt for the Lobkowicz family.

    The Loreta is administered by the Capuchin monks, who conveniently live right next door: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/07/prague-1-day-16-kapucinska/.

    ‘Loreta’ is also the name given to the whole range of Baroque buildings on the square: https://loreta.cz/en.

    The main façade of the complex is pretty spectacular and contains a *lot* of saints and angels (possibly taking a break from transporting entire buildings from Croatia).

    The Loreta also hosts Europe’s biggest church carillon, first rung in 1695 (30 bells, of which 27 play, and three apparently are just there to look nice).

    During the day, they currently play Maria, Maria, nad slunce jasnější every hour, having played another song for a century until this was changed in 2020.

    The square is also home to this 2005 statue of Edvard Beneš (by Karel Dvořák), conveniently close to his beloved (?) Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

    The square also includes the building where, in 1957, SAPO, the first programmable computer in Czechoslovakia, was made. The house (U Pešků) was the location of the Research Institute of Mathematical Machines.

    Finally, if you want to get a drink, pretend it’s not this decade, *and* support a good cause, U Černého vola (The Black Ox) was opened in 1965, and proceeds from sales go to Jaroslav Ježek’s (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/01/14/prague-3-day-136-jezkova/) nearby school for the blind.

    At least 52 further Loretas were built in Bohemia and Moravia, though many haven’t survived (including one in Prague’s New Town on Jungmannovo).

  • Prague 1, day 16: Kapucínská

    Originally published on X on 10 September 2023.

    The Ordo Fratrum Minorum Capuccinorum / Order of Friars Minor Capuchin was founded in 1525, when a friar called Matteo Serafini decided that friars should go back to behaving in a way which their founder, St Francis of Assisi, would’ve approved of.

    Persecuted for this, they were granted refuge by the Camaldolese Hermits of Mount Corona, who wore a hood that the new order would also adopt.

    The ‘hood’ can also be called a chaperon, or, in Italian, a cappuccio. The friars also wore (and still do wear) brown habits.

    And that’s why the cappuccino you might be drinking as you read this is called what it’s called.

    Around the year 1600, Saint Lawrence of Brindisi founded a monastery here. Gradually built up over the next 150 years, it got badly damaged in 1757 by Prussian artillery.

    Its most famous part is the Kostel Panny Marie Andělské / Church of Our Lady of Angels.

    The monastery wasn’t utilised for the best of purposes in the 20th century – the Nazis used it as a prison, and, from the 1950s, it was the site of communist counterintelligence operations.

    However, after the Velvet Revolution, it returned to its original purpose. It also administers the nearby Loreta.

    Capuchins are currently archbishops of Boston (Seán Patrick O’Malley) and Reykjávik (Dávid Bartimej Tencer). With the latter being from that well-known Icelandic stronghold, Slovakia.

    Meanwhile, if that wasn’t enough of an unexpected turn for you, here’s Father Cesare Bonizzi giving it his all (about fifty seconds in):

    He stopped performing in 2009 and says it’s all the devil’s fault.

  • Prague 1, day 15: Kanovnická

    Originally published on X on 9 September 2023.

    A kanovník – or, alternatively, a kapitulár – is a canon, i.e. a clergyman who belongs to a specific chapter, or who performs liturgical functions in a certain church.

    The ‘certain church’ in this case is quite an important one – St. Vitus Cathedral (as it was known until 1997, when Wenceslas/Václav and Adalbert/Vojtěch found their way into its name).

    *allows self quick photo dump despite the cathedral not being in this street*

    They lived in ‘canon houses’, some of which you can still see on Hradčanské náměstí (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/07/prague-1-day-13-hradcanske-namesti/).

    From 1911 to 1938, a tram line ran along this street. Anybody who’s walked along it, even when it’s empty, will sense that this was maybe not the best location for one. As kind of proven when three trams collided here in 1913.

    https://www.prazsketramvaje.cz/view.php?cisloclanku=2020021001 has some brilliant photos, including one of the aftermath of the accident, and also one showing how much space a modern tram would have going along this route (spoiler: basically none).

    This colourful building on the street is Palác Hložků ze Žampachu, a single-storey Baroque palace which is now lived in by the Austrian ambassador.

  • Prague 1, day 14: Ke Hradu

    Originally published on X on 8 September 2023.

    So this should be a brief one: ‘Ke Hradu’ means ‘Towards the Castle’, which is exactly where this street leads (depending which direction you’re going in, obvs).

    One achievement of the street was to make the Royal Route, i.e. the journey that kings had to travel on the way to their coronation, from their court in the Old Town to the Castle, a little bit shorter.

    Úvoz and Pohořelec, part of the Royal Route ever since it was first travelled in 1438, could now be bypassed.

    The street can get remarkably crowded during carnival time: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Ke_Hradu_(Prague)#/media/File:Prague_Carnival_Feb_2013.JPG

    It also has a Starbucks with about eight billion stairs before you reach the toilets, and if you want to judge me for getting a coffee there (not in the toilets), you try taking pics for this series for six hours on a day when there’s a torrential rainstorm every ten minutes.

    But what’s outside the Starbucks is actually pretty interesting: sloup Panny Marie Einsiedelnské, or the column of Our Lady of Einsiedeln.

    It includes a statue of the Virgin Mary holding Jesus in her lap. We know roughly when it was created (1672), but we don’t know by whom.

    The Starbucks used to be the site of a chapel, also dedicated to Our Lady of Einsiedeln, and closed down in 1783 because, yes, Joseph II and his reforms.

  • Prague 1, day 13: Hradčanské náměstí

    Originally published on X on 7 September 2023.

    In the 1230s, Prague’s Old Town became a municipality. In the 1250s, the Lesser Town, better known as Malá Strana, would follow.

    Meanwhile, the area to the west of Prague Castle remained forested, with a road leading to Strahov, and then to Břevnov. This would change in 1320, when Hynek Berka z Dubé, a knight, founded Hradčany.

    In the same way that Afričan, Američan and Angličan give you a clear idea of where someone comes from, a Hradčan was someone who ‘belonged’ to Prague Castle.

    As with so much, Hradčany underwent a lot of development under Charles IV, who would come to power in 1346.

    It wouldn’t be until 1746, however, that Maria Theresa made Hradčany the fourth municipality of Prague (after the Old Town, New Town and Malá Strana); in 1784, Joseph II would merge all four into a single entity.

    People quite like to go to Hradčanské náměstí to express their dissatisfaction with dissatisfying people: https://www.idnes.cz/zpravy/domaci/demonstrace-proc-proto-andrej-babis-milos-zeman-hradcanske-namesti.A170511_153149_domaci_fer

    And to express their respect for more satisfying ones: https://tn.nova.cz/zpravodajstvi/galerie/8823-galerie-namesti/8d4ac34e-667e-4d34-b5ef-a3bd4a5e5a00#1

    And to not get invited in by one of the dissatisfying ones:

    It’s a good spot for a speech, too:

    There’s a heck of a lot on Hradčanské náměstí other than the castle, so let’s take a look at that, while not forgetting, of course, to admire the castle itself, and the Matthias Gate, the oldest piece of secular Baroque architecture in Prague.

    Salmovský palác (1800-11), which is currently owned by the National Gallery, was used, at different times, as an administrative building for the church, posh living space for faithful communists, and the Swiss Embassy.

    Nearby, there’s a statue of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, unveiled in 2000. There are also posters of him which you will not enjoy at all if you’re somebody who doesn’t like being told what (not) to do.

    Schwarzenberský palác / Lobkovický palác (1545-67), owned by various very rich people for centuries, now hosts a permanent exhibition of the National Gallery and the Imperial Armory, a permanent exhibition of the Military Historical Institute.

    Klášter bosých karmelitánů / Convent of the Discalced Carmelites contains St Benedict’s, once the parish church of Hradčany. The nuns moved elsewhere in 2020, largely because of the noise; it’s now a spiritual centre, Fortna: https://fortna.eu.

    Toskánský palác (the Tuscan Palace) / Thun-Hohenštejnský palác, mainly built in the 1700s, is used by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

    Martinický palác contained apartments for rent until 1967; after reconstruction, it was then the seat of the Office of the Chief Architect of the Capital City of Prague from 1974 to 1994. And can now be hired for weddings.

    Sasko-Lauenburský palác is actually two Renaissance houses connected in 1552; the most famous resident of either house was probably Peter Parler, creator of St Vitus’ Cathedral and Charles Bridge. He died in Prague in 1399.

    Losenovský palác / U Labutí is another case of two Renaissance houses being joined together; it was once lived in by a diplomat called Josef Korbel, and, therefore, by his daughter, one Madeleine Albright.

    Šternberský palác, whose construction ended in 1707, is used by the National Gallery, having hosted exhibitions of the National Museum as early as 1821. Former inhabitants include Václav Hanka (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/22/prague-2-day-91-lumirova/).

    Arcibiskupský palác / The Archbishop’s Palace is lived in by… yeah, you’ve guessed.

    Also lived in by men of a religious background were the Kanovnické domy / Canon houses, although most were destroyed in the Malá Strana fire of 1541.

    The Mariánský morový sloup / Marian Plague Column, including Saints Vitus, Wenceslas and Adalbert, completed in 1736, commemorates where religious services were held during the Great Plague of 1713/4.

    And then there are statues of St Wenceslas (commonly known as ‘Rybář’ / ‘The Fisherman’ because of his banner, and of one St. Filip Nerejský, largely of interest because we can’t quite agree who created it.

    There’s also this lamppost, which is probably a bit nicer than the one nearest to your home.

    End of tour.

  • Prague 1, day 12: U Brusnice

    Originally published on X on 3 September 2023.

    U Brusnice was built in 1910.

    Brusnice is a stream which has three sources, all in the vicinity of Břevnov Monastery. The most important one, Vojtěška, is named after St Vojtěch (or Adalbert of Prague), the country’s patron saint.

    Legend has it that this was the spot where Vojtěch met up with King Boleslav II in 993 (Boleslav having founded the Diocese of Prague in 973), and founded the monastery.

    These days, most of its 4.5 kilometres flows through pipelines, including under Nový Svět, before it meets the open air again around Jelení příkop (see pic). Heading back underground at Prašný most, it ultimately flows into the Vltava at Klárov.

    The Písecká brána / Sand Gate in Prague 6 is not only not named after the town of Písek (have a read of https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/03/19/prague-3-day-175-pisecka/ if you want to find out about there anyway), but also has an alternative name: Bruská brána / Bruska Gate, after the stream.

    Kosmas, in his Chronicle, tells us that Libuše (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/23/prague-2-day-93-libusina/) prophesised that Prague Castle would be protected by the Brusnice.

    U Brusnice is also the location of Lumbeho vila, a classicist house named after its builder, Karl Lumbe. It serves as the residence of the Czech president, or it will when PP finally moves in: https://ct24.ceskatelevize.cz/clanek/domaci/pavel-potvrdil-stehovani-do-lumbeho-vily-termin-ale-zatim-neni-jasny-7738

    He’s currently in renovation mode: https://www.extra.cz/zpravy-prezidentsky-par-utraci-miliony-za-vybaveni-noveho-sidla-luxusni-sedacka-za-osmdesat-tisic-a-majlant-za-koberce-2c8bb

    This pic, is, unsurprisingly, all you’re getting of the house.

    A few doors down at number 9, U Brusnice also hosts the Municipal Library’s Department of Rare Prints.

    (Update, three and a half months later)

    PP finally moved in: https://www.idnes.cz/zpravy/domaci/prezident-petr-pavel-lumbeho-vila-eva-pavlova-hrad.A231214_101134_domaci_zof

  • Prague 1, day 11: Jelení

    Originally published on X on 2 September 2023.

    Jelení was named in 1870.

    A jelen is a stag. The street is named after Jelení příkop – the Deer Moat – a moat which separates the promontory of Prague Castle and the castle’s northern forecourt.

    In 1534, Ferdinand I had had the Královská zahrada / Royal Gardens built, and, a year later, a bridge was created to join these with Prague Castle. More on that here: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/06/prague-1-day-5-u-prasneho-mostu/

    Destroyed in the Malá Strana fire of 1541 (see below), it was soon rebuilt.

    Later, during the reign of Rudolph II (1575 to 1608slash11itscomplicated), game were introduced to the garden, hence the name, and hence hunting until the 1740s or so.

    Jelení příkop’s wildlife days weren’t over, though – in the 1920s, President Masaryk received two bears as a gift from legionnaires in Russia and set up what is apparently known as a medvědárium here, because Czech is awesome.

    On 8 May 1945, during the Prague Uprising, 21 Czechs, both soldiers and civilians, were tortured and murdered by the occupying forces on the moat’s ramp. Something about the fact that ten of them were never even identified really hits you.

    Jelení příkop was closed to the public pretty much from that moment on, only being fully reopened in 1999. It’s quite nice to walk around.

    Why not liven your breakfast up with this footage of the most 1998 music festival ever, which was also held at JP:

  • Prague 1, day 10: Chotkova

    Originally published on X on 1 September 2023.

    Carl Bernhard Graf Chotek von Chotkowa und Wognin was born in Vienna in 1783.

    His father, Johann Nepomuk Rudolph Graf Chotek von Chotkow und Wognin, after serving as finance minister in Vienna, became Supreme Burgave of Bohemia from 1802 to 1805; in this role, he was responsible for, amongst other things, the opening of Stromovka.

    It was also in 1802 that Karel, having studied law in Vienna and Prague, joined the civil service in Prague, later serving as regional governor in Hranice na Moravě and Přerov.

    Having served successfully in the Austrian Army in the Napoleonic Wars, he was rewarded with the governorship of a slightly more faraway location – Trieste, where he managed to make a decent contribution to the development both of Trieste and Istria.

    In 1826, he followed in his father’s footsteps and became Supreme Burgrave of Moravia. In the role until 1843, he helped make huge improvements to Prague’s infrastructure: streets, squares, sewers, public parks and social services were all created in this time.

    He saw to the construction of what is now Most Legií / Legion Bridge, which, in 1841, became only the second bridge over the Vltava in the city, after the obvious one.

    A year before, Chotkovy sady – opened in 1832 as the first public park in Prague – had been named after him.

    Resigning as burgave in 1843, he withdrew from public life and moved to Březno Castle, ultimately dying in Vienna in 1868. The role of Burgrave was never filled by a Czech again after 1843.

    And you know what else is pretty cool? This 1839 snap of Chotek and his family is the oldest Czech photograph ever.

    Meanwhile, Chotkovy sady, to state the bleeding obvious, has excellent views. If you’re visiting Prague and you’ve forgotten which tram route they most recommend to tourists, it’s the 22 and 23 along here.

    As well as this impressive monument dedicated to writer Julius Zeyer (1841-1901).

    And this 1991 monument by Pavel Krbálek, celebrating the restoration of democracy in 1989.

    On Chotkova itself, during the Prague Uprising, Protectorate Minister of Education and Public Education and general awful pro-Nazi person Emanuel Moravec shot himself in the head on 5 May 1945, while driving away to avoid capture. Prague would be liberated four days later.

    Graphic artist Jiří Balcar was also lose his life on this street, as a result of his a car accident in 1968, just a week after Soviet troops invaded Czechoslovakia. You can see some of his brilliant film posters here: https://www.terryhoponozky.cz/plakaty/parametr-1-autori/1-balcar-jiri

    Chotkova also includes a footbridge between Chotka and Letenské sady (famously described as ‘hideous’ by Václav Havel).

    And a sculpture of the Czech Lion, created by Josef Max in 1952 to commemorate Czech soldiers who died in Italy in 1848. It’s been here since 1953.

  • Prague 1, day 9: Badeniho

    Originally published on X on 9 August 2023.

    Badeniho was built in 1905 and shared with Prague 6 and Prague 7 (yes, I know that’s a 6 on the sign).

    Kazimierz Feliks Badeni was born into a noble family in the village of Surochów (then Galicia, now south-east Poland) in 1846.

    Graduating from his law studies in Kraków, he joined the Austrian civil service in 1866, initially working in the Ministries of the Interior and Agriculture, before becoming a district governor in Zhovkva (now in Lviv Oblast), then in Rzeszów (now in Poland).

    In 1888, he would become governor of Galicia – but a much more powerful role was going to come his way a few years later.

    Franz Joseph tasked Badeni – a devoted monarchist who had managed to reduce Polish-Ukrainian tensions in Galicia – with forming a government.

    As Prime Minister, Badeni promptly did the most likely thing to get the Young Czech Party / Mladočeši on side, and ended the state of emergency. In 1896, he also got rid of Prince Franz Anton von Thun und Hohenstein, the unpopular Governor of Bohemia.

    In the same year, Badeniho extended the range of people who could vote to include men over the age of 24 who, previously, had not been allowed to vote due to not paying sufficient taxes.

    Still trying to get Young Czech support, Badeni declared in April 1897 that the civil service in Bohemia would use Czech and German equally, and that civil servants would have to be proficient in both by 1901. A similar ruling for Moravia followed in the same month.

    Most of the Germans in the civil service reacted to this even worse than your expat friends in the Czech Republic do when they find out they need to reach A2 to get permanent residency.

    The Young Czechs were quite pleased; the Vienna press were not, and German nationalists decided that rioting was a more useful reaction than asking their friends if they knew a decent, well-priced Czech teacher.

    By November, Franz Joseph had decided to let Badeni go, after two years at the helm. It probably hadn’t helped that, two months earlier, Badeni had reacted to an insult by nationalist politician Karl Hermann Wolf by challenging him to a duel (and got injured).

    Badeni would die on a train in 1909, while travelling back to Galicia after a stay in Karlovy Vary, where he had been treated for diabetes. These pictures, by an unknown author, are of his funeral.

    Badeniho contains both the Israeli and Spanish embassies – but not in the Prague 1 part.

    And while we don’t get a Badeniho / Praha 1’ sign, we do get this quite nice commemorative plaque.

  • Prague 1, day 8: Na baště sv. Tomáše

    Originally published on X on 8 August 2023.

    Thomas was one of Jesus’s Twelve Apostles, specifically the one who had a particular talent for doubting. A ‘doubting Thomas’ in Czech is a nevěřící Tomáš.

    (Side note: in Polish, it’s a niewierny Tomasz, which would make most Czechs assume that Tom is cheating on you)

    To Christians, he’s the patron saint of India, and they celebrate 3 July, the Feast of Saint Thomas, as Indian Christians’ Day. Further to the west, he’s given his name to the island nation of São Tomé e Principe.

    As mentioned in (As mentioned in (https://x.com/ed__ley/status/ed__ley/status/1688070989836419072…), Mariánské hradby consisted of multiple bastions named after saints, of which St Thomas’s Bastion / bašta sv. Tomáše was number 18.), Mariánské hradby consisted of multiple bastions named after saints, of which St Thomas’s Bastion / bašta sv. Tomáše was number 18.

    The current road follows the same route as the former bastion.

    Number 5 in the street is the villa both built and lived in by nobleman-slash-architect Rudolf Stockar (1886-1957), in the geometric modernist style.

  • 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.