What's in a Prague street name

Every street in Prague, one by one.

recent posts (search bar on main page for about a gazillion more)

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 4, day 342: Durychova

    Durychova was built in 1976.

    Until 1995, the street was called Dolejšího, after Vojtěch Dolejší (1903-1972), a Communist journalist who worked for Rudé právo, among other publications, and was chairman of the Czechoslovak Union of Journalists from 1957 to 1963.

    Jaroslav Durych was born in Hradec Králové (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/06/24/prague-3-day-176-hradecka/).

    He graduated from the Faculty of Medicine in Prague in 1913; having studied on a military scholarship, he ended up serving as a military doctor in Galicia during World War One.

    He started a private practice after the war, but soon returned to the army, serving as a military doctor in Uzhhorod (then in Czechoslovakia, now in Ukraine) before becoming head of the military hospital in Hradisko, near Olomouc, in 1923, where he stayed until 1930.

    Parallel to this military career (he ultimately reached the rank of colonel), Durych built on his career as a writer, although this was not new: he had had poems published in 1908, wrote his first play in 1915, and had his first prose piece published in 1916.

    Durych’s works were largely based around his Christianity, and he took a particular interest in the post-Bílá Hora (i.e. (post-1620) period of Czech history.

    His masterpiece was the trilogy called Bloudění (Wanderings; published in 1929), in which the main figure was Albrecht von Wallenstein (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/08/prague-1-day-46-valdstejnske-namesti/).

    A second Wallenstein trilogy – Rekviem – would follow in 1930.

    A year later, his short novel, Masopust came out, set in 1611, the year that a brutal attack on a monastery in Prague (specifically on https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/15/prague-1-day-112-jungmannovo-namesti/) let 15 Franciscan monks dead.

    When the Nazis occupied the Czech Lands, Durych lived in isolation and his works were no longer published. The communist era would leave him in much the same situation.

    Durych died in 1962 and is buried in Bubeneč. Some more of his works would be published posthumously. These included Služebníci neužiteční, written between 1940 and 1961, but not published until 1969.

    That novel – translating as ‘Useless servants’ – concerned a Jesuit mission to Japan, culminating in the execution of 55 Christians in Nagasaki in September 1622.

  • Prague 4, day 341: Růženínská

    Růženínská was built in 1981.

    We start this story in Chocerady, a town of about 1,400 people, 27 kilometres southeast of Prague.

    Chocerady has five municipal parts; the second-largest of these is called Vlkovec (with 169 inhabitants, it’s a lot smaller than the largest, also called Chocerady, and which has 863 inhabitants).

    Vlkovec was once known for its glass industry, with the first known glassworks dating from 1855. This passed through several owners, until, in the early 20th century, it was purchased by one Arnošt Pryl.

    As the glassworks was dilapidated, Pryl renovated and expanded it. He also had it named ‘Rosahütte’, (or, in Czech, Růženín, also meaning for ‘rose quartz’) after his wife, Růžena, who would also be the co-owner.

    The renovations did the trick; Růženín made glass that was exported to Britain, France, Spain and the US. The number of employees peaked at almost 300 in 1929.

    The settlement – where employees of the glassworks lived – developed around it, and shared its name.

    After World War II, the glassworks was nationalised and merged with the Kavalier glassworks in Sázava (which gets a mention on https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/02/18/prague-2-day-31-sazavska/).

    Glass production ceased in Růženín in 1993, but Kavalier still uses the buildings as warehouses (photo by Juan de Vojníkov): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Glassworks_R%C5%AF%C5%BEen%C3%ADn#/media/File:Tov%C3%A1rna_Kavalier_v_R%C5%AF%C5%BEen%C3%ADn%C4%9B_(001).JPG/2.

  • Prague 4, day 340: U Nového dvora

    U Nového dvora was built in 1927.

    Repetition time: this one is by the ‘new court’ that a much longer road around the corner is also named after: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2026/01/11/prague-4-day-276-novodvorska/.

  • Prague 4, day 339: Na Borovém

    Na Borovém was built in 1930.

    A ‘bor’ is a pine; ‘borový’ is therefore the adjective, and a ‘borový les’ is a pine forest. There was once one round here, eventually replaced by the Krč housing estate.

    The forest was generally known as ‘Borový’ (no les), hence the street name.

    Obviously, that forest is long gone, meaning I don’t have photos of it, but I did have a work trip to eastern Serbia in 2018 which required a night staying by Bor Lake (Borsko jezero), and it was delightful:

  • Prague 4, day 338: U družstva Tempo

    U družstva Tempo was built in 1935.

    A ‘družstvo’ is a cooperative, or a housing cooperation.

    Those of you who’ve been following the series for a while may remember https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/03/28/prague-4-day-60-druzstevni-ochoz/, where I spoke about how the street was named after said cooperatives (who built its houses).

    There were then various streets named after specific cooperatives, such as https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/04/01/prague-4-day-64-u-druzstva-repo/. Or here, where (I am mansplaining now) the cooperative was called Tempo.

    This went on for a while. Posts became repetitive. Followers were lost. Thankfully, there are no other streets round here named after cooperatives, so that three-week phase of monotony shouldn’t be repeated.

  • Prague 4, day 337: Slepá II

    Slepá II was built in 1935.

    This is, predictably, the sequel to yesterday’s https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2026/03/18/prague-4-day-336-slepa-i/.

    So here’s some vocabulary to compensate.

    The ‘slepé střevo’ is the blind gut, or the caecum, which is joined to the appendix. If you can hear a sound right now, it’s me realising it’s taken me until 2026 to realise why ‘Blinddarmentzündung’ is German for ‘appendicitis’.

    ‘Slepá víra’ is exactly what it is in English – blind faith – and a ‘slepý náboj’, ‘slepá nábojnice’ or ‘slepá patrona’ would be a blank shell (or a ‘dummy’).

    To finish off, let’s listen to a Slovak classic.

  • Prague 4, day 336: Slepá I

    Slepá I was built in 1935.

    ‘Slepá’ most commonly translates as ‘blind’ (for those wondering, ‘slepá bába’ is ‘blind man’s buff’.

    Things that are not part of the animal kingdom that can be blind include, of course, alleys.

    Therefore, a ‘slepá ulice’, such as this one, is a ‘blind alley’, a ‘dead end’ or a ‘cul-de-sac’ (which translates as ‘bottom of the bag’).

    Interestingly, the French don’t really use cul-de-sac to mean this these days; they prefer ‘impasse’ or ‘rue sans issue’.

    As for the ‘I’ in the street name: let’s just say that I’m going to have to save some blindness-related vocabulary for tomorrow. And no, it’s not pronounced ‘eye’, perfect as that would be.

  • Prague 4, day 335: V zahradní čtvrti

    V zahradní čtvrti was built in 1935.

    This district (‘čtvrť) has a lot of nice houses. Although I wouldn’t particularly recommend performing internet searches to see if you can afford them.

    These nice houses are often accompanied by nice gardens (‘zahrady’). Hence this street being ‘in the garden district’.

    Looking for this info has led to me inadvertently seeing those house prices on Google, although, to be fair, I’m also looking and thinking ‘what the heck would I do with all that space?’. Guess I’m staying put in Žižkov, and happily.

    I’d be a terrible gardener too.

  • Prague 4, day 334: Toušeňská

    Toušeňská was built in 1980.

    Lázně Toušeň is a town in the current-day Prague East district, with a population of 1,500.

    The oldest gold object ever found in Central Europe – an earring from the Řivnáč culture, dating from about BCE 3,000 – was discovered here.

    Its name means ‘Toušen’s hillfort’, and it’s feminine – for a little bit on such names (and also an opportunity to find out why we don’t say Mladý Boleslav), take a look at https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/12/23/prague-3-day-180-boleslavska/.

    In the 13th century, Toušeň Castle was built to the west of the original settlement; the ‘new’ Toušeň was first mentioned in writing (that we know of) in 1293.

    In 1338, Toušeň was visited by the future Charles IV, and present Margrave of Moravia (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/10/15/prague-1-day-196-karlova/). He sketched out what would later become three chapters of his autobiography here.

    Charles clearly took a shine to Toušeň; in 1370, he bought it for his brother (and then Margrave of Moravia), Jan Jindřich, and freed it from the obligation to pay taxes or duties.

    Jan Jindřich’s son, Jošt Moravský, later inherited Toušeň, but, uninterested in any property that wasn’t in Moravia, sold it to two buyers: Jan Starší of Michalovice and Boček of Poděbrady, the latter the uncle of another future king of above-average importance: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/12/23/prague-3-day-189-namesti-jiriho-z-podebrad/.

    George would end up purchasing Toušeň in 1468; in the early 1500s, it was purchased by an important politician, Jan Pašek, who rebuilt the Toušeň Castle into a Renaissance chateau.

    Eventually, Ferdinand I would confiscate Toušeň in 1547, and it gradually lost its importance. About a century later, it would be burnt down by the Swedes during the Thirty Years’ War.

    Jumping forward two hundred years from that, a spa (lázně) was built in Toušeň in 1868. The healing effects of the water, and the proximity to Prague, meant it soon gained popularity. Mud baths were added in 1899.

    Surviving both World Wars and the onset of communism, the spa was, from 1968, mainly used to treat Czechoslovakia’s top athletes. Those benefiting from its services included Ludvík Daněk, Jan Železný and Roman Šebrle.

    Emil Zátopek and Dana Zátopková, working with the local mayor, Miroslava Jirák, were instrumental in developing the spa’s role in this capacity; they were named honorary citizens of Toušeň as thanks for their work.

    Other famous visitors over the years include Archduke Charles (in August 1918, three months before he would no longer have an empire to rule over), Leoš Janáček and Bohumil Hrabal.

    Toušeň was renamed to Lázně Toušeň in 1991. The spa itself has been run by Prague’s Bulovka Hospital since 2006.

  • Prague 4, day 333: K Novému dvoru

    K Novému dvoru was built in 1925.

    K Novému dvoru is named after the former farmstead Nový dvůr (New Court), as is the nearby main road, Novodvorská (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2026/01/11/prague-4-day-276-novodvorska/).

    From 1925 to 1930, the street was called Mikoláše Aleše, after one of the greatest Czech painters; you can learn more about him on https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/10/22/prague-1-day-210-alsovo-nabrezi-ales-embankment/ (which is a good place to get good views of Prague and avoid most of the tourists).

  • Prague 4, day 332: Na příčce

    Na příčce was built in 1938.

    A ‘příčka’ is… well, all kinds of things. Take your pick from ‘crossbar’, ‘rung’, spoke’, ‘dividing wall’, ‘partition’, or ‘crosspiece’, and feel free to add your own.

    In this case, the street was apparently meant to be a dividing line between Na Borovém (now called Štúrova; see on https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2026/03/05/prague-4-day-325-sturova/) and Sulická (then called Libušská; see https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2026/03/06/prague-4-day-326-sulicka/).

    However, the street stretches a good bit further west than that, so either this story is not entirely true, or someone involved in the construction decided to forget about the original meaning (see also: any country with the word ‘Democratic’ in its name).

    For a variation on the theme a little bit closer to the centre, see For a variation on the theme a little bit closer to the centre, see https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/15/prague-1-day-119-pricna/.

  • Prague 4, day 331: Vzdušná

    Vzdušná was built in 1941 (I think).

    There’s greenery around here, and there no doubt used to be a lot more of it, especially as none of these streets I’ve been covering lately seem to have sprung up earlier than Czechoslovakia did.

    This particular street was built on a plateau near the forest.

    One nice thing about forests and plateaus is that they have a decent amount of air – or ‘vzduch’, *or*, deriving an adjective from a noun, they are (making them all feminine to make this post flow a bit better) ‘vzdušná’.

  • Prague 4, day 330: Dobřejovická

    Dobřejovická was buiilt in 1980.

    Dobřejovice is a village in Prague-East, about 18 km south-east of the centre of the city. The earliest extant information of it in writing is from 1309.

    It has about 1,300 inhabitants and a nice chateau, although, given it’s privately owned, you’re unlikely to be able to visit it unless you’re friends with the owners: https://poznejdomy.cz/domy/detail/1129-zamek-dobrejovice..

  • Prague 4, day 329: Na rovinách

    Na rovinách was built in 1925.

    It’s flat round here. And the street is, as its name says, on a plain (or, as it’s in the plural, ‘plains’).

    We’ve been in very similar name territory in Prague 4 already: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/09/09/prague-4-day-167-v-rovinach/.

  • Prague 4, day 328: Na Větrově

    Na Větrově was built in 1925.

    Větrov, deriving from ‘vítr’ (wind), is a name popularly given to hills which are bare of vegetation and quite, yes, windy. This area was once called Větrov for that reason.

    If you think we’ve been on this topic before, we have – see https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/25/prague-2-day-113-apolinarska/ for a hill in the New Town with the same name.

    As well as https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/31/prague-2-day-136-pod-vetrovem/ for a decent bit of wind-related vocab.

  • Prague 4, day 327: U lesa

    U lesa was built in 1925.

    We’re back on the street names that represent the surroundings – ‘U lesa’ is quite literally by a forest, namely Velký háj, which got a bit of attention on https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2026/01/04/prague-4-day-270-nad-lesnim-divadlem/.

    This piece – published yesterday – indicates that the intended revival of the forest theatre is progressing quite nicely: https://prazsky.denik.cz/zpravy_region/lesni-divadlo-krc-povstava-z-trosek-letni-kino-i-tabory-slibuji-navrat-slavy-202.html.

  • Prague 4, day 326: Sulická

    Sulická was built before 1925; it was part of Libušská (not covered yet) until 1975.

    Sulice is a village in present-day Prague-East District. The earliest mention of it that we know of is from 1282.

    A description from 1898 said Sulice was ‘fanned by coniferous forest’, used to have a fortress, and had a population of 235.

    Apparently, Sulice was part of the Jílové (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2026/01/06/prague-4-day-272-jilovska/) political district at various times from the 1850s onwards. Jílové is in Prague-West these days, but the two are near each other.

    At other times (e.g. in 1868), Sulice was part of the Karlín political district, and, at others (e.g. 1884 and 1921), it was part of the Vinohrady political district. These three are not exactly neighbours, so this is something I will have to look into later.

    Nowadays, Sulice has a population of about 2,600. In 2019, it gained a rather fetching flag and coat of arms.

  • Prague 4, day 325: Štúrova

    Štúrova was built in 1969.

    Ľudovít Velislav Štúr was born in Uhrovec, a village near Trenčín, Slovakia, in 1815. His father, Samuel, had moved from Trenčín to take up a position as a teacher.

    Originally educated by his father, Ľudovít moved to Ráb (present-day Győr, Hungary) in 1827 to study at the gymnasium. A Slovak-born teacher, Leopold Petz, noticed his talents and encouraged him to take an interest in Slavic literature.

    In 1829, Štúr enrolled in the Evangelical Lyceum in Bratislava, where his older brother Karol (1811-1851) was already a student.

    At the time, this was the only school in (what was then classified as) Hungary with a department for the Czech and Slovak languages, and one of the teachers was a renowned professor, Juraj Palkovič.

    The students had founded their own Czech-Slovak Society around the time of Štúr’s arrival; naturally, he became a member. In 1835 – a year after he completed his studies at the school – he became its chairman.

    On 24 April 1836, Štúr led a walk to Devín, where he made a speech about the history of Great Moravia, and officially adopted the middle name Velislav.

    In the same year, he became an honorary deputy of Professor Palkovič, and lectured on Polish and Czech grammar and history. He was already in correspondence with people we’ve met before on our street travels, including Josef Jungmann (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/15/prague-1-day-111-jungmannova/).

    As well as František Palacký (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/31/prague-2-day-145-palackeho-namesti/) and Pavol Jozef Šafárik (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/07/06/prague-2-day-61-safarikova/).

    However, in 1837, the Czech-Slovak Society was banned – as were all student associations and societies in Hungary – due to student unrest.

    In 1838, Štúr enrolled in the University of Halle, where he studied theology, philosophy, history and linguistics. Completing his studies in 1840, his journey back to Hungary took him through Bohemia, where he met many Czech nationalists.

    Once back in Hungary, Slovaks were not in a good position, and attempts to promote their language and culture were discouraged. In 1842, this compelled Štúr to issue the Slovenský prestolný prosbopis, a petition sent to the Royal Court in Vienna to complain about national persecution.

    Very unhelpfully, the Royal Court sent the petition to Buda, where its demands were, unsurprisingly, rejected.

    In 1843, Štúr announced his idea to unite Catholic and Evangelical Catholics through a unified literary language, based on the Central Slovak dialect.

    A year later, he finally gained permission to publish Slovenskje národňje noviny, a Slovak-language newspaper; he also published both Nárečja Slovenskuo alebo potreba písaňja v tomto nárečí (‘The Slovak dialect or, the necessity of writing in this dialect’) and Nauka reči Slovenskej, a grammar.

    In 1847, Štúr entered the Hungarian Diet, held in Bratislava, representing Zvolen. However, the events of 1848 led to the closure of both the Diet and the newspaper.

    Also in 1848, Štúr attended the ill-fated Slavic Congress in Prague (brief mention on https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/10/09/prague-1-day-180-celetna/), and attempted a Slovak uprising. This was unsuccessful.

    The next few years were also difficult for Štúr personally: his brother Karol and his father died in quick succession in 1851 – leaving Štúr to take care of seven nephews and nieces – and then, in 1853 a close female friend, Adela Ostrolúcka (pictured), died, closely followed by his mother.

    On 22 December 1855, Štúr was on a hunting trip when, while attempting to jump over a stream, his rifle accidentally went off and shot him in the leg. He died on 12 January 1856; he was forty.

    The list of streets and squares named after him in Slovakia is, expectedly, long, and the annual awards given by the President of Slovakia are called the Order of Ľudovít Štúr.

    Keeping things very up to date, Štúr, the film, came out earlier this year and had its Prague premiere less than a month ago: https://www.cinemart.cz/filmy/stur/.

    Those of you who familiar with the Prague-Budapest train route will have seen his name when stopping at Štúrovo, on the Slovak-Hungarian border.

    Those of you old enough to remember Czechoslovakia and 50-crown notes may have seen his face a fair bit from 1987 onwards.

    And those of you with an interest in the night sky may know about minor planet 3393, which is also called Štúr (3395 keeps the Czechoslovak theme, by the way – it’s called Jitka).

  • Prague 4, day 324: V pláni

    V pláni was built in 1930.

    A ‘pláň’ is not too different to its English translation – a plain – and this street is on one.

  • Prague 4, day 323: Mezilesní

    Mezilesní was built in 1931.

    We’re between (mezi) two forests (lesy) here.

    The first one is Kunratický les or Michelský les, as described on https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/12/20/prague-4-day-265-zalesi/ (which is ‘behind’ the forest, whatever you want to call it).

    The second is the grove in the valley of Kunratický potok, which there are some nice pictures of on https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/11/23/prague-4-day-238-za-mlynem/ (much nicer than any photos that I took in a rather cold and rainy Lhotka today).

    Until 1947, the street was called Na planině, due to the street’s being on a plain.