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 2, day 148: Trojanova

    Originally published on X on 7 April 2023.

    Trojanova was built in 1897.

    Trojanova replaced a smaller street called ‘Kočičí’ when the district was given a major facelift in the late 19th century.

    Kočičí translate as ‘feline’ or ‘cat-like’, which is therefore the best street name ever, and, no offence to Mr Trojan or anyone, but I’m sad not to be writing about that today.

    Alois Pravoslav Trojan was born in Knovíz (near Kladno) in 1815, and studied law at Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague.

    This eventually led him to a job at the royal court prosecutor’s office in Prague.

    Outside of working hours, he formed friendships with František Ladislav Rieger and Karel Hynek Mácha (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/07/07/prague-2-day-62-machova/).

    In 1845, he was one of the founders of Prague’s Měšťanská beseda (Citizens’ cultural association, intended to act as a counterpart to its German-speaking equivalent). Within a year, it had over 500 members.

    He was one of the main organisers of the meeting at St Wenceslas Spa / Svatováclavské lázně on 11 March 1848 (which I’ll write a whole lot more about in Sunday’s thread).

    It was he who presented the draft of the petition which demanded constitutional and legal freedoms for the Czech lands; he also travelled to Vienna to plead the committee’s case.

    In June, he was a key participant in the Slavic Congress, and also entered the Austrian Constituent Assembly as a result of the 1848 elections.

    His involvement in revolutionary activities would lead to his arrest in 1849, and, while he was freed soon after, he also ceased to be politically active until 1861, when he was elected to the Czech Provincial Assembly.

    This was followed by his election to the Imperial Council on four occasions (the first in 1867), but, like his fellow Czechs, he didn’t attend sessions, as the Czech policy was one of passive resistance against Austria’s increasing centralisation.

    The Czech side would change tactics in 1879, and started attending sessions of the Imperial Council. Trojan became leader of the Czech coalition in 1880.

    Trojan would sit in the Imperial Council until his death in 1893; he’s buried at Vyšehrad.

    Outside of his political activity, he was known for promoting the Czech language, advocating for the division of Charles-Ferdinand University into Czech and German parts, and for being an executive on the board for construction of the National Theatre.

  • Prague 2, day 147: Na Moráni

    Originally published on X on 6 April 2023.

    Na Moráni was built centuries ago, but was extended in the 19th.

    Until that extension, the street was called Emauzská ulička (see https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/31/prague-2-day-143-namesti-pod-emauzy/).

    Morana is a pagan Slavic goddess whose super-multitasking father Perun has a street relatively nearby (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/12/23/prague-3-day-183-perunova/).

    Well, sort of – the rituals around her were written down in the 15th century, but there’s no evidence that the pre-Christians ever actually worshipped her.

    In these writings, Morana is associated with winter and death (one of her alternative names is Smrtka), and also with spring and rebirth.

    The story goes that she married her twin brother, Jarilo (whose name is linked to jaro, spring), but he was unfaithful, and so she got her other brothers to kill him. She then transformed herself into an old, withered figure.

    From the 1300s, there was a Slavic tradition of burning an effigy of Morana on the fifth Sunday of Lent, apparently to bring about death (or ‘out with the old, in with the new’). It largely died out in the 19th century but is still celebrated, mainly by schoolchildren.

    Morana is also the name of a self-propelled howitzer, still being worked on. If it gets deployed, it’s intended for it to be put to very good use: https://www.czdefence.com/article/czech-modernised-tanks-and-other-systems-are-and-will-be-helping-ukraine-in-its-fight-against-russia

    And the reason for Na Moráni? Apparently, there was once a house here called Dům Na Moráni, so called because it supposedly had a sacred pagan grove in which Morana resided.

  • Prague 2, day 146: Palackého most

    Originally published on X on 5 April 2023.

    Palackého most (Palacký Bridge) was opened in 1878. Turns out Prague bridges don’t tend to get street signs, so here’s a couple of pics instead.

    We can keep this one fairly brief, as František Palacký was covered yesterday: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/31/prague-2-day-145-palackeho-namesti/

    During the Nazi occupation, the bridge was called Mozartův most.

    Some quick bridge trivia: it’s the third-oldest bridge across the Vltava, and the first to have trams going across it (initially steered by horses).

    The bridge was also painted in the national colours when first opened; it’s decidedly less colourful now.

    Here’s a pic of the bridge from 1890, the year Prague got badly flooded.

    It also used to have magnificent sculptures by Josef Václav Myslbek, featuring Ctirad, Šárka, Libuše, Přemysl, Lumir, Píseň, Záboj, Slavoj, many of whom have come up in this series.

    After Allied bombing in 1945, they were moved to Vyšehrad.

  • Prague 2, day 145: Palackého náměstí

    Originally published on X on 4 April 2023.

    Palackého náměstí was created in 1896 as a result of renovation of the nearby embankment.

    From 1942 to 1945, this was Rudolfovo náměstí, after Rudolph II (1552-1612), the Habsburg who certainly made Prague a more fascinating cultural centre than ever, but whose actions also indirectly led to the Thirty Years’ War.

    František Palacký was born to a Protestant family in Hodslavice, Eastern Moravia, in 1798. He was educated in Kunvald/Kunín, Trenčín and Pressburg (now Bratislava), where he befriended one Pavol Jozef Šafárik (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/07/06/prague-2-day-61-safarikova/).

    After a stint as a tutor to noble Hungarian families, during which he decided to devote himself to the study of Czech history, he settled in Prague in 1823, helped by his budding friendship with one Josef Dobrovský.

    In 1825, Palacký became the first editor of Časopis Českého muzea, the magazine of the Czech Museum. From 1830, he was also a member of the Museum’s committee.

    The period would also see Palacký being invited to produce a history of the Czech nation (up until the Habsburg period started in 1526) – the first volume of Dějiny národu českého v Čechách a v Moravě would appear in 1836, and the last in 1867.

    Inevitably, a pro-Hussite, pro-Bohemian work, written by a Protestant, caught the Austrian authorities’ eye, and the pre-1848 editions were subject to police censorship.

    When things got a bit revolutionary in 1848, Palacký took a more cautious approach than the St Wenceslas Committee (coming up in a few days), insisting that the Czech national movement should act according to the law.

    However, in April 1848, he wrote the famous Psaní do Frankfurtu (Letter to Frankfurt), explaining why the Czechs could not join a unified German parliament, and, two months later, headed the First Slavic Conference. His days in the back seat of the movement were clearly over.

    Sitting in the Reichstag when it was moved to Kroměříž (1848-9), he supported the continued existence of Austria, but as a federation of regions with equal rights. He even drafted a constitution to this end. Of course, Franz Joseph I and his taste for centralism prevailed.

    Having spent the 1850s dealing more with history than politics, Palacký was invited to the Austrian senate by Franz Joseph in 1861, but basically stopped turning up almost instantly when he realised he wasn’t going to be able to achieve anything there.

    He was also a member of the Bohemian Diet from 1861 to 1875; he came under fire from the more radical Young Czechs for his (relative) support for Austria – support which evaporated somewhat in 1867 with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise.

    In 1868, it was Palacký who tapped the inaugural stone of the National Theatre; with this and other appearances at pro-Czech events, he soon became known as the ‘Father of the Nation’.

    Palacký died in Prague in 1876, and his funeral was attended by tens of thousands of people. He’s buried in Lobkovice.

    Palacký is also in the ‘you might have seen his face today’ category, although you may not have noticed, as you were, like I often do, wondering why the bankomat couldn’t just give you 5 x 200 Kč like you wanted.

    He also knew Czech, German, Latin, Old Slavic, Hungarian, Russian, English, French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese. A man after my own heart.

  • Prague 2, day 144: Na Slovanech

    Originally published on X on 3 April 2023.

    Na Slovanech was built in the 14th century.

    This was called Emauzy until 1880 – see yesterday’s thread for more: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/31/prague-2-day-143-namesti-pod-emauzy/

    And it’s been called Na Slovanech since then – see this thread for details of who the eponymous Slavs were: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/31/prague-2-day-140-pod-slovany/

    Five churches founded by Karel IV in the New Town form a cross-like shape.

    In addition to the one we’ve just covered, these include St Catherine’s (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/28/prague-2-day-128-katerinska/).

    As well as St. Apollinaire’s (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/25/prague-2-day-113-apolinarska/).

    And, testing Twitter’s character limit, the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and St. Charles the Great (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/21/prague-2-day-85-pod-karlovem/).

    And then there’s the Kostel Zvěstování Panny Marie Na trávníčku (Church of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary ‘On the lawn’), and I’m a little bit sad that a church with such a great name never got its own street name thread. It’s on Na Slupi (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/21/prague-2-day-88-na-slupi/).

    Proving that the human need for everything to be deeply significant was born much earlier than the internet was, one Vilém Lorenc theorised that these churches were an attempt to recreate the heavenly Jerusalem.

    There’s also a theory that the similarities in the towers of three of the churches meant that the locations of all five churches were originally planned in the design of the New Town.

    Although that’s slightly contradicted by the fact that there was a 15-year gap between the building of the first church and the last one. But still, they look nice, and, as demonstrated above, have better names than most.

  • Prague 2, day 143: Náměstí Pod Emauzy

    Originally published on X on 2 April 2023.

    Náměstí Pod Emauzy was built in 1925.

    In 1347, a year after the founding of Prague’s Old Town, Karel IV received permission from the Pope to found a Benedictine monastery in Podskalí.

    In the 1370s, the monastery was supplemented by a church: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/31/prague-2-day-140-pod-slovany/

    Karel wanted the monastery to be a centre of Slavic church education, so he invited Glagolitic monks from the town of Tkon, on the Adriatic island of Pašman (now in Croatia), among others.

    The Hussites took over the monastery in 1419, and, in ‘erm, you’re Hussites, right?’ news, didn’t destroy it.

    However, in the 1400s and 1500s, the monastic community gradually disappeared. The Benedictine community wasn’t restored until the 1590s.

    In 1636, Ferdinand III sent the local monks to another monastery (in the Old Town), and introduced Spanish Benedictines from Montserrat. They replaced the roof with a distinctive two-tower structure.

    In 1880, the monastery was offered as a home for German Benedictine monks who had been forced to leave their town of Beuron during the Kulturkampf (basically Bismarck vs the Catholic Church). They carried out major renovations, including to the towers.

    The monastery was closed by the Nazis in 1941 and turned into a military hospital. Earlier in the year, it had hosted Radio Magda, a resistance radio station.

    Both towers were then destroyed by Allied bombing in 1945, but reconstruction started in the 1950s. The current design of the towers was the work of one František Maria Černý, between 1964 and 1968.

    However, this was maybe the one good thing to happen to the monastery in that period – it was forcibly abolished under Akce K, and many of its monks were imprisoned.

    A community was formed in exile in 1965, ultimately returning to the monastery after the Velvet Revolution. There are currently three or four monks there (different sources, different info, etc).

    The square is also known for ‘Praha svým vítězným synům’ (Prague to its victorious sons), a monument whose original was created by Josef Mařatka and unveiled in 1932.

    It commemorates the Czechoslovak Legion and the victims of World War One. The obelisk is surrounded by seven legionnaires (four French, two Russian, one Italian), with another French legionnaire in the centre, and a woman (Praha) with a linden branch.

    The flagpole includes a quote from poet Viktor Dyk: Opustíš-li mne, nezahynu, opustíš-li mne, zahyneš (‘If you leave me, I will not perish; if you leave me, you will perish’).

    Unsurprisingly, the monument did not survive the Nazi occupation.

    On 28 October 1998, the 80th anniversary of the founding of Czechoslovakia, a new version, created by Kateřina Amortová based on the original designs, was unveiled.

    And as for the name: Emmaus is a town of unknown location, mentioned in the New Testament. According to the Gospel of Luke, Jesus appeared to two disciples on the road to Emmaus, after he had been crucified and his tomb had been found to be empty.

  • Prague 2, day 142: Dřevná

    Originally published on X on 1 April 2023.

    Dřevná was built in 1920.

    Dřevná is the adjective deriving from dřevo, wood, and that noise you can hear right now is me realising I’ve already unwittingly written about this one, because the people of the district used to make a living by trading in wood: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/26/prague-2-day-121-na-vytoni/

    And there were, inevitably, storage facilities for said wood: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/27/prague-2-day-124-ladova/

    That’s it. So let’s go down the wood-related vocabulary route instead.

    A dřevokaz is an ambrosia beetle or woodworm, which leads to the adjective dřevokazný, wood-destroying.

    A dřevoryt is a woodcut or a xylograph, the person who makes these is a dřevorytec, and the adjective describing their trade is dřevorytecký.

    Meanwhile, if you manage to spát jako dřevo, you’ve slept like a log, and, if you pay for something na dřevo you’re paying cash down.

    Finally, dřevěné uhlí is charcoal, and a dřívko is a little piece of wood. Or a splinter.

  • Prague 2, day 141: Na Poříčním právu

    Originally published on X on 31 March 2023.

    Na Poříčním právu was built in 1925.

    A řeka is a river. This leads to the adjective říční, as in říční koryto (riverbed), říční síť (river system) and říční přístav (river port).

    Put a prefix onto říční, and you get poříční, another adjective which also means ‘river’ (or ‘riverine’, apparently, which I swear I’m seeing for the first time today).

    So poříční právo comes out as something like ‘river law’, or ‘fluvial law’ if you want to sound a bit more educated.

    You might remember that this area, Podskalí, used to thrive thanks to the wood trade: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/26/prague-2-day-121-na-vytoni/.

    The swimmers involved in getting the wood across were so important that they had their own guild.

    Until 1784, the guild had its own court in a building here – which was called Poříční právo. It then functioned as Podskalí’s Town Hall, ultimately being destroyed in 1911.

  • Prague 2, day 140: Pod Slovany

    Originally published on X on 30 March 2023.

    Pod Slovany already existed by the 18th century; it was probably built much earlier than that.

    Until the 18th century, the street was called Ozerov, named after V Ozerově, a local garden, whose name, in turn, is probably related to ostrov (island).

    Until 1850, the road was then called Korunní (not this one: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/12/23/prague-3-day-187-korunni/).

    The name ‘Pod Slovany’, meanwhile, literally translates as ‘Under the Slavs’.

    The five Slavs in question are Jerome, Cyril and Methodius, Vojtěch and Prokop. The church dedicated to the five of them was consecrated in 1372, in the presence of King Wenceslas IV.

    In the 17th century, Spanish monks from Montserrat made considerable changes to the church’s structure and design.

    The church was badly damaged by Allied bombing in February 1945 – the vault and both towers collapsed, and it wasn’t until 1968 that reconstruction was completed.

    This is very much not the full story of the church-monastery complex round here, but, if I tell all that now, that’ll leave me with absolutely nothing to say on *checks* days 143 and 144. Děkuji za pochopení.

  • Prague 2, day 139: Na Hrádku

    Originally published on X on 29 March 2023.

    Na Hrádku was built in 1890.

    One of the important Czech noble families of the era was known as the Páni z Valdeka, the Lords of Valdek; the first one of them to be mentioned in writing is Oldřich Zajíc, who died in 1271.

    As of the early 14th century, i.e. before Karel IV founded the New Town, the family owned a small castle (hrádek) more or less on this spot.

    Na Hrádku was also the name given to a building here which, from 1832, served as a school and nursery, created by Jan Svoboda (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/26/prague-2-day-119-svobodova/).

    As the decades went by, better facilities became a necessity, and it was destroyed, with its role being taken by the school on Na Děkance instead (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/26/prague-2-day-117-na-dekance/).

  • Prague 2, day 138: U Nemocnice

    Originally published on X on 28 March 2023.

    U Nemocnice was built before 1750.

    Until 1750, this was Dobytčí. That’s the adjective coming from dobytek – livestock – and recalls the market that used to exist here.

    Then it was named Ústavní (‘institutional’), after a local institute for noblemen. This lasted until 1800, when the name Lípová was introduced, which stuck until 1869 (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/31/prague-2-day-135-lipova/ is current-day Lípová, and now I get why that was called ‘lower’ Lípová until 1880).

    U Nemocnice (‘By the Hospital’) has been the street’s name since 1869. The hospital in question is Všeobecná fakultní nemocnice v Praze (General University Hospital in Prague / VFN).

    When Joseph II came to power in 1780, he had quite a few ideas, the most remembered of which involved banning several monastic orders and liquidating about 140 monasteries.

    However, he was also interested in improving public health facilities, particularly for the poor, and these were to be funded, in part, by proceeds from the closure of the monasteries, as well as poorhouses and other medical facilities that weren’t up to scratch.

    Joseph founded Vienna’s General Hospital in 1784, followed by equivalent facilities in Brno (1786 – now known as St Anna’s), and Olomouc (1787).

    VFN would follow in 1790. It would have opened earlier, but there were disagreements on where it should be located – Karlov didn’t have a good water supply, so present-day Náměstí Republiky and Strahov were considered instead.

    It was Joseph himself who intervened, suggesting an underused building on the location of the former cattle market (namely the aforementioned institute for nobles). Expensive reconstruction started in 1789, with the hospital opening a year later.

    The hospital was designed to provide care to all patients, irrespective of their status, religion or nationality; poor citizens of Prague got care for free, as long as they could prove their circumstances (and had lived in Prague for ten years).

    Nowadays, the hospital is one of the most important institutions in Prague, and, with the First Faculty of Medicine of Charles University, is also renowned for its teaching, science and research.

    It’s exactly 25 years and two days since VFN was where Parkinson’s disease was operated on for the first time in the Czech Republic: https://www.novinky.cz/clanek/zena-zdravi-pred-25-lety-se-v-cesku-poprve-operovala-parkinsonova-nemoc-blanku-operace-mozku-vratila-do-zivota-40426604

    VFN also recently announced that it was opening a new intensive care unit for the morbidly obese: https://www.expats.cz/czech-news/article/rise-in-extreme-obesity-leads-to-opening-of-new-metabolic-unit-in-prague

    Meanwhile, if you enter the hospital’s grounds, a statue of old Joe still awaits you: https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C5%A1eobecn%C3%A1_fakultn%C3%AD_nemocnice_v_Praze#/media/Soubor:Socha_Josefa_II._na_n%C3%A1dvo%C5%99%C3%AD_VFN_Praha.jpg

  • Prague 2, day 137: Salmovská

    Originally published on X on 27 March 2023.

    Salmovská was built in the 15th century or earlier.

    Until the 15th century, the street was called Krupná, after which it changed slightly to Krupičná.

    There used to be a market here, and the names are presumably linked to what was on sale – krupice is semolina, and krupka is groats, or pearl barley.

    he street was called Salmova from 1750 to 1870; since then, it’s had its current name.

    The House of Salm was a noble dynasty, founded in the 11th century in Salmchâteau, nowadays a village in south-east Belgium.

    In the 12th century, an offshoot of this family was first mentioned – the Salm-Reifferscheidts, originating in the Rhineland.

    Over the centuries, proving that some people can never have enough surnames, further offshoots occurred: Salm-Reifferscheid-Bedburg, Salm-Reifferscheidt Krautheim, Salm-Reifferscheidt-Raitz and Salm-Reifferscheid-Dyck.

    The House of Salm-Reifferscheidt-Raitz came into being in 1734, after some sort of split among the Bedburgs.

    Raitz, is, nowadays, Rájec-Jestřebí in Blansko District in Moravia.

    One Antonín Karel Salm-Reifferscheid bought Rájec and had its castle rebuilt in the 1760s. The Salms also had a good number of palaces in Prague, including this one: https://www.ngprague.cz/en/about/buildings/salm-palace

    One of the family – Hugo Karel František Salm-Reifferscheidt-Raitz, born in 1832 – apparently enhanced a large garden which was on this spot, and it became a popular hangout for students (basically a co-working space for the pre-wifi age).

    However, it started to disappear in the 1860s, as the number of buildings in the area increased.

    Also in the ‘however’ corner: there are record of the street being called Salmova long before the garden was upgraded.

    It’s not fully clear if the street was named after a specific Salm, or all of them (‘Salmova’ would apply one, ‘Salmovská’ several).

    I’m now also wondering exactly who founded / built up / stopped giving a toss about the garden.

    The family’s status as one of the most important landowners in Moravia somewhat inevitably came to an end in 1945.

    On 29 June 1914, the day after Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo, a fictional guy called Švejk spent a few hours at the police station on Salmovská, perfectly oblivious to world events (Hašek referred to the street as Salmova, though).

  • Prague 2, day 136: Pod Větrovem

    Originally published on X on 26 March 2023.

    Pod Větrovem was built in 1894.

    We’ve touched on this one briefly before: Větrník, Větrná hora or Větrov is the (windy) hill which the Church of St. Apollinaire was built on https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/25/prague-2-day-113-apolinarska/.

    In a mildly desperate bid to pump this thread up a bit, let’s look at some words for different types of wind (vítr) in Czech, using our old friend, the Beaufort scale / Beaufortova stupnice.

    At 0, you’ve got bezvětří, i.e. things are completely calm (unless it’s thirty degrees, in which case you are almost certainly not).

    At 1, you’ve got a vánek, a breeze, whereas, at 2, you’ve got a větřík, a ‘small wind’, or a slabý vítr, literally ‘a weak wind’.

    At 3, the ‘weak’ wind has become mírný – mild – but go up to 4, and you’re dealing with a dosti čerstvý vítr – a ‘quite fresh wind’. And to think the world makes fun of us Brits for phrases like that.

    5 is a čerstvý vítr – a fresh wind, while, when you get up to 6, you’ve got a silný vítr to deal with – a strong one.

    This, in turn, becomes a prudký vítr, an intense wind, at 7.

    Becoming progressively less fun, 8 is a bouřlivý vítr (a stormy wind), 9 is a vichřice (gale), and 10 is a silná vichřice (a strong gale).

    11 is a mohutná vichřice – a hefty wind – and 12 is an orkán, a hurricane.

    The windiest place in the Czech Republic is Milešovka, which we covered here: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/12/23/prague-3-day-190-milesovska/.

  • Prague 2, day 135: Lípová

    Originally published on X on 25 March 2023.

    Lípová was built in the 14th century.

    Until the 17th century or so, this was Svaté Kateřiny (St Catherine’s), after the convent-then-monastery: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/28/prague-2-day-128-katerinska/

    It then became Lípová or U Lip until about 1800, before turning into Zadní Lipová until 1880, at which point the name ‘Lípová’ stuck.

    A lípa is a linden tree, and, much like with Pod Lipami in Žižkov (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/11/20/prague-3-day-48-pod-lipami/), the street was so called because of the presence of these trees in the surrounding area.

    In June 1848, the Prague Slavic Congress was held. It was the first occasion, or one of the first occasions, in which a multitude of voices from different Slavic groups were heard.

    Like so many momentous events, it also suffered from a lack of clear objectives, as well as the fact that many of the attendees wanted completely different things. However, one thing that was agreed on was that the linden tree should be the national tree for Czechs.

    It’s also the national tree for Slovaks, Slovenes, and the somewhat less Slavic Latvians (although they’ve decided to have the oak as a national tree too).

    Logically, linden branches have also found their way onto the flag of the President of the Czech Republic:

    Apparently, disparaging the flag can land you a fine of up to CZK 10,000, so please comment carefully.

    But please also enjoy this quality moment in which I remind you all that the President of the Czech Republic is no longer Miloš Zeman.

    From 1990 until 31.12.1992, the Pravda vítězí part was actually Veritas vincit instead, in order to not ruffle any Slovak feathers at a time when people were falling out over hyphens and stuff.

    Things whose names originate from lipa include lipanj (Croatian June), lipiec (Polish July), липень (Ukrainian July), the 100 lipa which made up a Croatian kuna until they adopted the Euro this year, Lipizzan horses, and Leipzig.

  • Prague 2, day 134: Ječná

    Originally published on X on 24 March 2023.

    Ječná was built a long time ago.

    In 1348, Karel IV founded Prague’s New Town. There was a barley market (barley = ječmen) in this location, whereas, just to the north, there was a rye market (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/02/27/prague-2-day-36-zitna/).

    However, the (former) market sold pork as well as barley, and therefore came to be known as Svinský trh. The street, meanwhile, became known as Svinská, and the gate at the end of it as Svinská brána.

    Like the Rye Gate (https://pic.x.com/n31rbnwlce), it was destroyed in 1875 as the old city walls were gradually demolished.

    The street has been called Ječná since about 1750.

    In 2016, the Czech Republic was the world’s 17th-largest producer of barley, between Ethiopia and Romania, and two spots ahead of China.

    1,845,254 tonnes of the stuff were produced here in that year, and the best barley apparently comes from the Vyškov and Mělník regions.

    I’m going to be incredibly intuitive and suggest that the large amount of production might possibly, just possibly, have something to do with the fact that barley is used to make beer.

    Number 7 on Ječná was the long-term residence of Milan “Mejla” Hlavsa (1951-2001), founder of Plastic People of the Universe. During totalitarianism, his flat became a hangout for many members of the underground.

    There used to be a memorial plaque to Hlavsa here, and, if you put 10 crowns into it, it would play his most famous song, Muchomůrky bílé, which also has an incredible, moody, Prague-based video:

    But then some tosspot decided to steal the plaque in 2011. The building itself is currently under some much-needed reconstruction.

    If you’re having an off day, here’s 18 seconds of photos of Czechs on Ječná on 22 February 1998, celebrating the national ice hockey team’s first ever gold medal at the Winter Olympics:

  • Prague 2, day 133: Náměstí I. P. Pavlova

    Originally published on X on 23 March 2023.

    Náměstí I. P. Pavlova was built in 1897; nowadays, it’s home to Prague’s busiest metro station.

    Until 1925, this was Komenského náměstí, and was presumably changed because there already was one in Žižkov: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/11/26/prague-3-day-82-komenskeho-namesti/

    It then became náměstí Petra Osvoboditele. Petr Osvoboditel is King Peter the Liberator, Petar I Karađorđević, or Peter I of Serbia, first King of Yugoslavia from 1918 until his death in 1921.

    In 1942, the Nazis, who had invaded Yugoslavia a year previously, renamed the square U Slepé brány / Am Blindentor, after a building that, until 1875, stood where Ipak is now.

    After a brief trip back to being named after old Pete (1945-48), it then became náměstí Říjnové revoluce (October Revolution Square) until 1952.

    Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, meanwhile, was born in Ryazan in 1849. He studied in a theological seminary, but then quit to devote himself to science.

    He started studying physiology in St Petersburg in 1870, and received his medical degree nine years later.

    In 1891, he was given permission to set up a physiological department at the city’s Military Medical Academy.

    Here, he would investigate the gastric function of dogs by analysing their saliva, noting that dogs would often salivate before they started eating their food.

    This led him to distinguish between two types of reflexes – as well as innate reflexes, there are conditioned reflexes, which are caused indirectly by certain combinations of stimuli.

    He also proved that the digestive process is, in part, regulated by the nervous system.

    For his work, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1904.

    After the October Revolution, Pavlov refused to hide his disdain for the Bolshevik regime, and even asked to move to Sweden.

    The request was not granted; instead, the regime entrusted him with management of the Physiological Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.

    Pavlov died of bronchopneumonia in Leningrad in 1936; in shocking ‘people in the Kremlin being full of sh*t’ news, the powers-that-be lauded him as a model of Soviet science.

    You will probably know that the square is popularly referred to as Ípak or Pavlák.

    However, other nicknames for it include Slinták, Slinťák or Slintáč – and slintat is to slobber, dribble or drool. Which makes sense (and is incredble).

    This has suddenly reminded me of the day in 2009 when I decided to take a picture of every single metro station in Prague. Which, looking back, was the sort of obsessive nerdiness that has led to this entire series.

  • Prague 2, day 132: Tyršova

    Originally published on X on 22 March 2023, when I also forgot to take/add a photo of the street sign. Maybe I’ll go out and take one now.

    Tyršova was built in 1893.

    Fridericus Emanuel Tirsch was born into a German-speaking in Děčín in 1832. By the age of six, he had lost both parents and two sisters (the father and sisters all dying of tuberculosis).

    He was then brought up by the family of his late mother’s brother, moving to Prague in 1841. Never in the best of health, he was advised by his doctor here to take up gymnastics.

    He also got seriously into Czech patriotism, insisting on taking his final school exams in Czech (not his native language), and changing his first name first to Bedřich, then to Miroslav.

    After starting law studies at Charles University, he realised this wasn’t his thing, so he switched to philosophy and aesthetics, graduating in 1855 and becoming a private tutor near Beroun.

    During his tutoring years, he also worked on Czech gymnastics terminology, and befriended one Jindřich Fügner (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/07/06/prague-2-day-58-fugnerovo-namesti/).

    In 1862, he and Fügner created a not so little something called Sokol, which I wrote a not so little something about here: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/26/prague-2-day-114-sokolska/

    Tyrš was a man of many other interests, though, particularly visual arts and aesthetics, which led him to take many study trips to England, France and Germany and produce multiple books on the subject.

    After Fügner died in 1865, Tyrš worked as a tutor for his daughter, Renata. They would end up getting married in 1872, when Tyrš was 50 and Renata was, erm, 18.

    In 1882, just after Charles University had split into German and Czech parts, Tyrš was appointed a docent at the Philosophical Faculty, and, a year later, a professor of art history.

    However, when on holiday in the Ötztal (Tirol) in the summer of 1884, he went for a walk and never came back.

    His body was found in the Ötztaler Ache river just under two weeks later. The circumstances around his death were never clarified.

    He’s buried next to Fügner in Olšany Cemetery. There’s also a memorial to him at the Sokol on Polská (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/01/27/prague-2-day-14-polska/).

    A bit further afield (because the Sokols did spread their wings pretty far), there’s a Tiršova street named after him in the Savski venac district of Belgrade, which contains the biggest children’s hospital in Serbia: https://tirsova.rs/

    While this list makes it look like street-namers over the years have loved him almost as much as they did Jan Hus: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Tyr%C5%A1ova_streets_in_the_Czech_Republic

  • Prague 2, day 131: Na bojišti

    Originally published on X on 21 March 2023.

    Na bojišti (On the battlefield) was built in the Middle Ages.

    Called Bojiště until 1822, it was then renamed U blázince (‘At the madhouse’) until 1880, after the institution on Kateřinská (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/28/prague-2-day-128-katerinska/). Thank goodness it’s not called that anymore.

    In the mid-to-late 12th century, Henry II, Duke of Austria, started to colonise Vitorazsko, a region which is now shared between Austria (where the main town is Gmünd) and Czechia (where the main town is České Velenice).

    Soběslav II, then Duke of Bohemia, got a little bit narked at his territory being stolen, so much so, that, in 1176, he started looting the churches in the region. Henry had a moan about this to Frederick Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor.

    In 1178, Barbarossa – who already felt that Soběslav was a bit too cocky – had him replaced with Bedřich (who had himself been replaced by Soběslav five years earlier).

    Soběslav, however, wanted a rematch. On 23 January 1179, the two men’s armies clashed at Loděnice, near Beroun, where Bedřich was heavily defeated and only escaped death by fleeing.

    On 27 January, Soběslav’s army arrived at the Nusle Valley. Bedřich’s army launched an attack where Na Bojišti is located now.

    Soběslav’s army, which was less numerous and exhausted by its previous battles at the coldest time of year, was defeated. Soběslav himself retreated abroad, dying in 1180 (we don’t know where).

    Bedřich, meanwhile, would rule until 1189, though ‘rule’ may be a strong word, given that he was largely a puppet of the Holy Roman Empire throughout.

  • Prague 2, day 130: Melounová

    Originally published on X on 20 March 2023.

    Melounová was built in 1890.

    Confession: I sometimes get *really* nervous about getting the diacritics on these street names wrong.

    So it was something of a comfort to find out that, until 2019, the street sign here was incorrect (Melounova): https://encyklopedie.praha2.cz/ulice/75-melounova

    Melounova would imply the existence of a Mr Meloun at some point; Melounová implies the existence of something else.

    And that something else was a house called U zlatého melounu (‘At the golden melon’), not to be confused with the house of the same name just off Old Town Square.

    The existence of the house in the Old Town also means that Googling the one in the New Town is proving to be a bit of a pain in the ass (also, Google Maps hasn’t got the 2018 memo yet, and still thinks the street is called Melounova).

    It seems the house doesn’t exist anymore, but either I’m searching in all the wrong places or its destruction is remarkably undocumented for somewhere so central. Ah well.

  • Prague 2, day 129: Viničná

    Originally posted on X on 19 March 2023.

    Viničná was first mentioned in 1869.

    This is a remarkably quick one: a vinice is a vineyard, and readers of the Prague 2 posts won’t be too surprised to know that there were once several of these round here.

    Once upon a time, pre-Viničná, there was another street just to the west of here, called Větrník, and named after the local hill: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/25/prague-2-day-113-apolinarska/.

    Nowadays, Viničná is best known for hosting part of Charles University’s Faculty of Science (Unit 7, built in 1879).

    In 1911, a certain Albert Einstein occupied the chair in theoretical physics at the German Charles-Ferdinand University (as opposed to the Czech one – the two had separated in 1882).

    He and his wife, Mileva, lived at Lesnická 1215/07 in Smíchov. Apparently, they didn’t enjoy Prague very much, and, after 16 months, they moved to Zürich instead. Nevertheless, their brief stay is commemorated by a plaque at number 7, the entrance to the Faculty.