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 28: Lužická

    Originally published on Twitter on 4 December 2022.

    Lužická was built around 1900.

    From 1940 to 1945, this was Rankova, after Leopold von Ranke (1795-1886), a historian and proponent of modern, source-based history.

    But Lužice / Lusatia / Lausitz / Łużyce is a historical territory, nowadays split between Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic.

    Slavic tribes, including the Mlceni / Milčané and the Sorbs (known as the Lužičtí Srbové in Czech to distinguish them from the Serbs of Serbia), are known to have settled here by the end of the 7th century.

    Its location meant it became of interest to the rulers of Germany, Poland and Bohemia. Part of the territory was given to Vratislav II around 1080.

    Here’s a picture of me trying to put all the territorial changes into a coherent order.

    Territories in Lusatia were gradually acquired by the Luxembourg dynasty in the 1300s (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/02/26/prague-3-day-153-lucemburska/). By the 1370s, Lusatia was fully incorporated into the Kingdom of Bohemia.

    From 1346 to 1815, six towns in Upper Lusatia formed the Lusatian League (Czech: Lužické Šestiměstí) in order to defend their interests against marauding knights and competition from other cities.

    Here’s a list of them in five languages.

    After the Peace of Prague in 1638, most of Lusatia became part of Saxony.

    In 1722, the town of Herrnhut was founded by religious refugees from Moravia, who founded the Moravian Church there.

    After the 1815 Congress of Vienna, Lusatia was divided between Prussia and Saxony, with the Prussian part being divided between the Provinces of Brandenburg and Silesia.

    The 19th and 20th centuries would lead to a flourishing of the Sorbian languages, until their use was banned by the Nazis.

    After 1945, Lusatia was divided between Germany and Poland along the Oder-Neisse line; Poland expelled its Sorbian population.

    Sorbs living in Czechoslovakia wanted the annexation of Lusatia to their country of residence, but this was rejected.

    60,000 Sorbs live in Germany, and are one of the country’s recognised national minorities, alongside the Danes, the Frisians, the Sinti and the Roma.

    Bautzen is considered the political and cultural capital of the Sorbs: https://www.bautzen.de/en/citizens-town-hall-politics/city-portrait/the-sorbs

    Upper Sorbian (Wikipedia on https://hsb.wikipedia.org) has about 20,000 speakers in Saxony, and Lower Sorbian (Wikipedia on https://dsb.wikipedia.org) has about 7,000 in Brandenburg.

    You can learn both languages free on https://sprachkurs.sorbischlernen.de/#/welcome. I’ve signed up and got automated proof that the languages are similar but not identical.

    There’s also a Sorbian-language newspaper, Serbske Nowiny. It requires you to sign up, but I can see enough to tell you, that, as this is a Germany-based newspaper, there’s currently an article in the sports section about ‘Znowa kónc w skupinskej fazy’.

    Local public broadcaster MDR also has a Sorbian service: https://www.mdr.de/serbski-program/rozhlos/index.html

    Fringe benefits of doing these threads: next time I see Görlitz mentioned, I can think something other than ‘oh, that’s the place the press send someone to before every German election to show how divided Germany is’.

    Finally, say what you want about the GDR, but they made some cracking stamps. Here’s a set from 1982, celebrating Sorbian culture.

    Not going to lie, the second one scares me a little.

  • Prague 2, day 27: Moravská

    Originally published on Twitter on 3 December 2022. I know I’m falling behind with reposting these on here, partly because I’m writing a new one every day on that place while it still exists.

    Moravská was built in 1889.

    You know where Moravia is. I know where Moravia is.

    I also don’t want to turn this into a straight ‘history of Moravia’ thread, largely because I’m not brave enough / stupid enough / sommelier enough / Moravian enough.

    So let’s take a look at Moravian independence movements, AKA the Moravské hnutí, since the end of communism.

    The Movement for Autonomous Democracy–Party for Moravia and Silesia (HSD-SMS) was founded in April 1990, and won 9 seats in the Czechoslovak parliament in elections two months later.

    In the purely Czech elections, it came 3rd, earning itself a place in the Czech government.

    When discussions concerning a revised Czechoslovak constitution took place that summer, HSD-SMS reps suggested that the Czech Republic should be renamed the Czech-Moravian Republic.

    One petition to the Czech National Council in favour of autonomy for Moravia and Silesia got 630,000 signatures – a record.

    The HSD-SMS also organised major demonstrations to this end – here’s one in Brno on 2 March 1991:

    Around this time, 13% of respondents in the Czechoslovak national census gave their nationality as ‘Moravian’.

    However, the party soon split into two factions, and its leader, Boleslav Bárta, died suddenly in May 1991.

    The party won a significantly reduced number of seats in the Czech elections – and lost all its seats in both houses in the (final) Czechoslovak ones.

    The Moravian movement became increasingly disparate in the following years.

    In 2005, HSD-SMS merged with the Moravian Democratic Party (MoDS, founded in 1997) to form Moravané – the Moravians. The party aims to change the Czech Republic into the Czech and Moravian Federative Republic.

    It reached its best ever result in the 2021 elections – but ‘best ever result’ in this case means 14,285 votes, or 0.26% of all ballots cast.

    Their 2010 campaign advert is here:

    A more pro-European party, the Moravian Land Movement (Moravské zemské hnutí) was founded in 2018, and wishes to change the country into a federal republic consisting of Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia and Prague. It got 0.03% of the vote in the 2021 elections.

    Here’s a video from its early days:

    Finally, in 2020, a third party, Morava 1918, was formed. It is more conservative and, in the 2021 elections, ran along with Koruna Česká, a party which wants the monarchy back, specifically a Habsburg-Lorraine one.

    Combined, they got 0.16% of the vote in 2021.

    Meanwhile, the 2021 status showed 5% of respondents identifying as Moravian, down from 6.01% in 2011.

    One thing Moravia is pretty good at is providing Prime Ministers – of the last eight, Paroubek, Tolopánek, Nečas, Rusnok, Sobotka and Fiala are were all born in the Moravian-Silesian region.

    Here are Topolánek and Nečas with US presidents, possibly discussing burčák.

    Another competition that Moravia is currently winning? The most streamed track in the country on Spotify, at the time of writing, is Habibi by STEIN27, a Brno-based singer and rapper:

    However, the current most played local song on the radio is from Prague. And it’s by Chinaski. But when wasn’t it?

  • Prague 2, day 26: Šumavská

    First published on Twitter on 2 December 2022.

    Šumavská was built in 1889.

    Šumava is a mountain range covering the borderlands of the Czech Republic, Germany (Bavaria) and Austria. Many German speakers refer to it as the Böhmerwald – (the Bohemian Forest), although Bavarians, clearly wanting to take full credit, like to call it the Bayerischer Wald.

    The earliest documented name for the forest is a Celtic one, Gabreta; the name ‘Šumava’ is used in Rerum Hungaricum Decades (Ten Volumes of Hungarian Matters) by the Italian writer Antonio Bonfini (1427‒1502).

    ‘Šuma’ is a Proto-Slavic word meaning forest – and is still the standard word for one in Bosnian / Croatian / Serbian, as well as in Macedonian.

    The area was first inhabited in the 14th century BC, although major colonisation didn’t occur until the 12th-14th centuries AD, with German-speakers living side by side with Sorbs (more on them in an upcoming post).

    Borders with Bavaria and Austria, ill-defined (and argued over) for centuries, were set in 1846 and 1862 respectively. Only a small part of the forest became part of Austria after WW1.

    Czech artist Karel Liebscher (1851-1906) did some awesome illustrations of the Šumava.

    The German population was expelled after WWII, and, with the Cold War, the border became heavily guarded and depopulated.

    This has led to unexploded landmines and ammunition even to this day, but also to nature developing with relatively little human influence.

    There were no open border crossings at all with West Germany until 1964.

    This is how the border looked in a very snowy February 1990, immediately post-revolution:

    With the fall of the Iron Curtain, the Šumava became a popular tourist destination, but also (in Železná Ruda, for example) a hotspot for prostitution, although this has subsided to an extent with CZ’s entry into the EU and the Schengen zone.

    The highest point in the forest is Großer Arber / Velký Javor, in Bavaria; the highest point on the Czech side, Plechý, is also the highest point on the Austrian side (where it’s known as Plöckenstein), as it’s on the border.

    Lovely video of the Šumava in the early 1980s here:

  • Prague 2, day 25: Chodská

    Originally published on Twitter on 1 December 2022.

    Chodská was built in 1889.

    From 1940 to 1945, this was Grimmova, after Jakob Grimm (1783-1863), co-author of the Deutsches Wörterbuch, co-editor of Grimms’ Fairy Tales, writer of Deutsche Mythologie and the elder of the Brothers Grimm.

    Chodsko is a historical area in the Domažlice region, named after the Chodové, free peasants entrusted with walking along the forested border (chodit means ‘to walk’) and guarding it.

    Chodové are at the front of this picture from Dalimil’s Chronicle, cutting down trees.

    They had to ensure that the border did not change, that those travelling on the trade route to/from Furth im Wald in Bavaria could pass safely, and that enemies trying to enter through the Šumava would be pushed back.

    The usefulness of their role meant that they were granted various privileges: they didn’t become serfs, were subject only to the king, and had their own self-government. The first privileges were granted in 1325, and the final one (there were 24 in all) in 1612.

    However, the fact that these privileges were not written down proved to be to their disadvantage, and they were no longer enforced after Bílá Hora, with the Chodové becoming subject to labour duty like other peasants in the Czech Lands.

    Direct pleas to Vienna didn’t help matters, and after the emperor rejected their demands in both 1692 and 1693, a full-scale uprising broke out.

    This ended with the execution of its leader, Jan Kozina, in Plzeň in 1695.

    In the 19th century, the Chodové became a symbol of national resistance, with Kozina being a figure in the works of both Alois Jirásek and Božena Němcová.

    Here’s a painting by Václav Malý (1894-1935), ‘From a Pilgrimage to Chodsko’).

    Painter Jaroslav Špillar (1869-1917) lived among the Chodové and used them as inspiration for his work. Here’s Chodové Family (1900) and Elderly Couple (1904).

    While the Chod population has declined significantly – they are now present in eleven villages, and in the countryside – they maintain a strong individual culture, as well as their own dialect of Czech.

    Features include an ‘h’ appearing before ‘u’ (už becomes huž), long vowels in possessive adjectives (náše, váších) and infinitives (čekát, zpívát), and k being used instead of g in loan words (telekram, rentken).

    Also, families are referred to as -ouc rather than -ovi (Havlouc, Babišouc, Simpsonouc), and possessive forms don’t decline at all, irrespective of gender/case/number (if we spoke like this in Prague, I’d live in Žižkovo, and avoid ‘Karlovo most’ like the plague on weekends).

    If you need proof that the internet is a wonderful thing when used correctly, these guys have a Teach Yourself Chod channel on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/K%C5%AFC%C3%AD16/videos

    Finally, the Bohemian Shepherd is a Chodský pes in Czech, named after the dogs that the Chods used to help them in their guard duties.

    They are gorgeous: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Chodsk%C3%BD_pes

  • Prague 2, day 24: Sady Bratří Čapků

    Originally published on Twitter on 30 November 2022.

    Sady Bratří Čapků was created (sort of) in 2016.

    This was part of a larger park, opened in 1903, and, originally called Městský sad (City Garden) until 1928.

    In 1928, it became Bezručovy sady, after Petr Bezruč, the pseudonym of Vladimír Vašek (1867-1958), a poet most known for Slezské písně (Silesian Songs), a collection of poems about the people of his native Silesia.

    In 2016, the part of the park that’s in Vinohrady / Prague 2 was spun off and renamed Sady Bratří Čapků; the Prague 10 / Strašnice part is still Bezručovy sady.

    The Čapek brothers, meanwhile, were Josef (born 1887) and Karel (born 1890).

    Josef moved to Prague in 1904, attending the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design (Vysoká škola uměleckoprůmyslová v Praze, VŠUP). He met his wife, Jarmila Pospíšilová (1889-1962), there.

    After graduating, he attended the Académie Colarossi in Paris, returning to Prague in 1911 after less than a year to be with Jarmila.

    Back in Prague, he joined the Mánes Association (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/01/18/prague-2-day-11-manesova/) and became co-editor of its magazine, Volné směry.

    From 1912, he started to create Cubist paintings, with an increasingly playful, humorous touch as the years went by. He also dedicated himself to paintings for children.

    Four of his works are below: Harmonikář (Harmonist) from 1913, Piják (Drunkard) from the same year, Letadlo (Aeroplane) from 1929 and Zpívající děvčata (Singing girls) from 1936.

    Regarding journalism: In 1918, he became editor of Národní listy. He was fired in 1921, when that newspaper became increasingly nationalistic, and moved to Lidové noviny, where he would work as an editor and critic until 1939.

    As a children’s writer, he wrote Povídání o pejskovi a kočičce (The Adventures of Puss and Pup) for his daughter, Alenka, in 1929. It’s a classic of Czech literature, and its cover is the dictionary definition of the word ‘charming’.

    There is also a strong argument that Josef Čapek should have been allowed to design all book covers ever.

    In the 1930s, Josef used his work to criticise Nazi Germany, and, on 1 September 1939, the day Germany invaded Poland, he was arrested.

    Here is a 1933 caricature: ‘I solemnly declare before the whole world that I do not know the author of ‘Mein Kampf’’.

    Spending two and half weeks in Dachau, he was then moved to Buchenwald, where he spent two and a half years, and was forced to paint family trees of SS members.

    In 1942, he was transferred to Sachsenhausen, and then, in 1945, to Bergen-Belsen, where he died of typhoid. The exact date of his death is unknown, as is his burial place.

    A symbolic grave exists in Vyšehrad Cemetery.

    Karel, meanwhile, studied philosophy at Charles University. He graduated in 1915 and moved into journalism.

    He wrote for Národní listy, moving on to Lidové noviny, along with his brother, in 1921, in protest at Josef’s dismissal from the former.

    In these years, he became close to both Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk and his son Jan. Talks with TGM would later form the basis for the three-volume Talks with T. G. Masaryk (Hovory s T. G. Masarykem; 1928-1935).

    In 1920, he wrote R.U.R., a science-fiction play which introduced the word ‘robot’ to the world (it was Josef who came up with it). R.U.R. stands for Rossumovi Univerzální Roboti (Rossum’s Universal Robots).

    (Cover designed by Josef)

    Karel’s 1936 novel War with the Newts (Válka s Mloky) was another science-fiction work, dealing with a breed of newts that, after being enslaved, acquire human knowledge and start a rebellion.

    A devoted anti-fascist, Karel became the Nazis’ most public nemesis in the Czech Lands after Beneš abdicated. He started to receive hate mail and malicious telephone calls.

    Never in the best of health, he died of pneumonia on 25 December 1938, aged 48. The Nazi occupiers didn’t release he’d died until they came to his house to arrest him a few months later.

    Karel’s wife, the actress Olga Scheinpflugová, survived the war and died in Prague in 1968. They are both buried in Vyšehrad Cemetery.

    This thread barely touches the surface of Josef and Karel’s work.

    Their most well-known joint work is Pictures from the Insects’ Life / Ze života hmyzu (1921), in which a dream about insects acts as a a commentary on the people of Czechoslovakia in its earliest years.

    There is also a memorial to them on Mirák which I’ll add some photos of when that square comes up in a couple of weeks.

  • Prague 2, day 23: Kladská

    Originally published on Twitter on 29 November 2022.

    Kladská was built in 1896.

    Kladsko in Czech is Kłodzko in Polish – a town of just under 27,000 people in Lower Silesia.

    First mentioned in 981, its name derives from the Czech word kláda (log), as its first bridges, houses and fortifications were made of wood.

    In time, this also gave the Polish language its word for footbridge, kładka.

    From the 11th century, the region were fought over by the Piasts and the Premyslids.

    After it was taken over by Soběslav I, a peace treaty in 1137 confirmed that it belonged to Bohemia.

    The city was granted a coat of arms by Přemysl Otakar II in the mid-13th century.

    Emblems don’t get much more Czech than this one (and I feel it’s telling me to stop what I’m doing and reread Gottland).

    As the city became increasingly Germanised, its German name, Glatz, appeared in 1291.

    In 1310, the Knights of St. John opened a school in the city, with its most famous pupil being Arnošt of Pardubice, later Archbishop of Prague.

    George of Poděbrady established the town as the seat of the county in 1458, which gave it a boost; in 1501, it was purchased by one Ulrich von Hardeck, but it remained an outer region (vnější kraj) of Bohemia.

    During the Thirty Years’ War, Kladsko/Glatz – whose population was predominantly Lutheran – was captured by the Austrians in 1622; they destroyed the castle and turned it into a fortress.

    During the First Silesian War, Kłodzko fell under the rule of Prussia with effect from 1742.

    Friedrich the Great saw the city’s military potential and expanded the fortress, which was besieged for the last time in 1807 during the Napoleonic Wars.

    In 1938, the city’s synagogue was destroyed during Kristallnacht.

    The fortress became a prisoner-of-war camp during WW2; however, Kłodzko came out of the war remarkably unscathed save the destruction of its bridges.

    After WW2, the city became part of Poland despite Czechoslovak protests. The Poles initially called it Kładzko before changing the first vowel.

    The most notorious inhabitant of Kłodzko was probably Sophie Charlotte Elisabeth Ursinus (1760-1836), who murdered her husband, aunt and lover with arsenic. Her trial led to the first reliable method for identifying arsenic poisoning.

    Karl Liebknecht (1871-1919), martyr for the German socialist cause, was imprisoned at the city’s fortress from 1907 to 1909.

    Kłodzko’s medieval town is pretty damn cute and includes what looks like a smaller (and older) Charles Bridge. This has led the city to be nicknamed ‘Little Prague’ (Mała Praga).

    Local tourist office RAZEMwPOLSKE has recently put up a nice documentary about the city, with English subtitles:

    A special mention, also, to Minieuroland, a theme park opened here in 2016, showing famous monuments in miniature form. There’s a nice reproduction of Prague’s Old Town Clock in the photo gallery (Galeria zdjęć): https://minieuroland.pl/

    During the September 2024 Central European floods, Kłodzko suffered particularly badly:

  • Prague 2, day 22: U Kanálky

    Originally published on Twitter on 28 November 2022.

    U Kanálky was built in 1905. It was called Kanálská until 1961.

    Kanálka is a garden that used to exist here, between Polská and Vinohradská, built by the Czech gardener Václav Teisinger.

    Czech philanthrope and botanist Josef Emanuel Canal ordered its construction in the 1780s, after purchasing various homesteads and vineyards in the area.

    His not terribly Czech name was Josef Emanuel Malabaila de Canal – with (C/K)anal giving the garden its name.

    The garden was opened in 1800, and was initially open to the public free of charge, but ticketed access came later in a bid to avoid the garden getting damaged.

    In line with Canal’s philanthropic tendencies, Kanálka included a botanical institute, greenhouses, a lecture hall and areas for breeding new or (then) relatively uncommon crops, including potatoes and alfalfa.

    Less philanthropically, Jews were not allowed to enter.

    There was also a farmyard, demonstrations of agricultural machinery and a zoo containing exotic birds and a fish pond. And a monkey.

    In 1811, an ‘experimental sugar factory’ was added.

    The most famous visitor to the garden was Mozart.

    Canal died in 1826; the garden was inherited by his daughter Josefína. It then passed through various owners, including one Moritz Zdekauer, who tried to rename the garden as Zdekauerova zahrada. The locals did not comply.

    Here’s a postcard of an industrial exhibition in the garden in 1869.

    And there are two colourful paintings of the garden on https://www.ctidoma.cz/zajimavosti/2019-05-09-zapomenuta-kanalka-bohata-zahrada-jako-z-pohadky-byla-dilem-italskeho-hrabete.

    Kanálka was closed in 1884 and divided into building plots. Part of the garden is now Riegrovy sady.

    One memento of Kanálka within Riegrák is the Ptačí obelisk / Bird Obelisk, a structure built in 1840 and reconstructed in 2009: https://en.mapy.cz/zakladni?source=base&id=2318119&gallery=1&x=14.4417274&y=50.0815120&z=17

    There’s also still a feeding pond for birds and a building that used to be part of a lookout tower.

  • Prague 2, day 21: Čerchovská

    Originally published on Twitter on 27 November 2022.

    Čerchovská was built in 1896.

    Čerchov, 1,042 metres high, is the highest mountain in Český les (somewhat different English name: Upper Palatine Forest), as well as the 10th-highest in the country. It’s only two kilometres from the German border.

    In German, it’s called Schwarzkopf, and yes, I did just get up and go to the bathroom to check if that’s who makes the stuff I put in my hair most mornings.

    (Update: It is!)

    In 1905, a watchtower was opened on the mountain. It’s called Kurzova rozhledna, after Vilém Kurze, a writer who helped raise funds for it to be built, but sadly died in 1902.

    It was a popular tourist destination until it was taken over by the German army in 1938.

    In 1950, Sbor národní bezpečnosti / National Security Corps set up a training facility here. Radars, a listening tower and other military installations were soon added.

    The facilities were also used by the Soviet Army and the Stasi.

    Just 20 km away, in Hoher Bogen, a NATO surveillance tower, Fernmeldesektor F, existed from 1965 to 2004.

    The tower would remain closed to the general public until after the Velvet Revolution.

    The Club of Czech Tourists regained ownership of the tower in 1999, and, using public funds, arranged for its renovation.

    There’s a great video of Čerchov here from January 2017, when things were *really* snowy round these parts. Proper Winterfell stuff:

  • Prague 2, day 20: Krkonošská

    Originally published on Twitter on 26 November 2022.

    Krkonošská was built in 1908.

    The Krkonoše – Riesengebirge in German, and Giant Mountains in English – are located in north-eastern Bohemia and in Polish Silesia. They’re the tallest mountain range in the Czech Republic.

    They also form part of the Sudetes, a ‘geomorphological subprovince’ shared by Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic, and from which the term ‘Sudetenland’ was derived.

    The Poles call the Sudetes the Sudety, and the Germans call them the Sudeten. All easy enough so far.

    The Czechs, meanwhile, call them the Krkonošsko-jesenická subprovincie, because who needs catchiness?

    The name Krkonoš first appears in writing in 1492 – for grammar nerds, one Krkonoš is feminine – before Krkonošská hory being mentioned in 1517 and, in 1601, the Krkonoše.

    The story of the name is debated, with theories ranging from an old Slavic word for ‘kneeling’ to a Celtic tribe, the Korkontoi.

    It may also be linked to the Gorgany, a mountain range in the Ukrainian Carpathians.

    Points of interest include Sněžka, the highest peak in the country, Luční hora, which comes a close second, and towns which are famous as ski resorts, such as Harrachov, Špindlerův Mlýn and, on the other side of the border, Karpacz.

    Pics below are a postcard of Sněžka by German painter Erwin Spindler (1860-1926) and Blick über Krummhübel auf die Schneekoppe by Albert Hertel (1843-1912), a German landscape painter.

    Predominantly German-speaking for centuries (apparently including lots of Tyrolian lumberjacks from the 16th century onwards), after 1918 there was an influx of Czechs.

    The Czechs were expelled in 1938, but they returned in 1945, when the Germans were banished.

    Another interesting feature is the Polish–Czech Friendship Trail along the border (a distinct improvement on how well these two used to get on – https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/01/27/prague-2-day-14-polska/).

    There are some great photos on Wikipedia of border protection forces in 1945.

    There’s also the source of the Elbe (Labe) River, Pančavský, the highest waterfall in the country (postcard below), and Černá hora, which should be confused neither with the beer (which is made in Moravia) or Montenegro.

    First New Year’s resolution for 2023: reread this thread in a year and think ‘the pics are awesome, but thank f**k I actually visited this summer and got some photos of my own too’.

    Feel free to share your own photos of / anecdotes about the Krkonoše here too!

  • Prague 2, day 19: Na Švihance

    Originally published on Twitter on 25 November 2022.

    Na Švihance was built in 1908.

    I’m not managing to work out what švihanka translates as, though.

    Švihat is to whip or flick (which leads to průšvih – trouble), and for the sake of people, horses and cream, I hope this isn’t the origin.

    (OK, I may feel less strongly about the suffering of the cream)

    But švih, while translating as ‘swish’ or ‘lash’ (as in ‘with a whip’, not as in ‘eye’ or ‘out on the’) also means flair or elegance.

    Which is nicer.

    And a švihák is a fancy dresser or a fop. While a švihadlo is a skipping rope / jump rope.

    ‘Národní švihadlo’ brings up a crushingly disappointing zero hits on Google, and makes me realise that not everybody does puns in the same way English speakers do.

    A vineyard already stood here in the mid-15th century. We don’t know when the homestead came into existence, but it was no later than 1785.

    The homestead passed through several owners before being purchased by the municipality of Vinohrady, which converted it into the park we all know and love and sometimes drink a bit too much in.

    An inn located here was converted into a restaurant in the 1930s – named Šretrova after its owner. Its outdoor dining area had 1,200 seats and it also hosted concerts.

    After 1945, it became a gym, but reverted to being a restaurant in 1965.

    There are some pretty cool photos of a visit that took place to the building in 2018, at which time it was used by an advertising agency, here: https://archiv.denarchitektury.cz/program/praha-sretrova-restaurace-v-riegrovych-sadech/

    According to this article from 2019, the lease expired and Praha 2 was looking to reconvert the building and gardens into a restaurant: https://www.prazskypatriot.cz/pozemky-a-budovu-byvale-restaurace-v-riegrovych-sadech-chce-ziskat-praha-2/

    But the advertising agency (McCann) still lists Riegrovy sady as its address on its website, and the most recent Google News hit for Šretrova restaurace is from May 2020. Hmm.

    Here’s McCann’s most famous work (obviously not their Czech office):

    I think it’s time for a Mad Men rewatch.

  • Prague 2, day 18: Chopinova

    Originally published on Twitter on 24 November 2022.

    Chopinova, built in 1910, was called ‘U Riegrových sadů’ (which it is) until 1965.

    In 1965, the Polish Fryderyk Chopin Society asked for a street to be named after their idol; in exchange, the Warsaw district of Mokotów got itself an ‘ulica Bedrzycha Smetany’.

    Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin was born just south of Warsaw to a father from Lorraine, France, and a Polish mother in 1810.

    His first piano teacher, when he was six, was a Czech, Vojtěch Živný (portrait below). As was his second piano teacher, Václav Vilém Würfel.

    In addition, his first performance of a piano concerto, when he was eight, was of a composition by a Czech composer, Vojtěch Jírovec (below).

    Chopin himself started composing before the age of 7, and, at 11, performed at the Sejm in Warsaw, in front of Tsar Alexander I.

    He then studied at the Liceum Warszawskie, before moving on to the city’s Music School (now the Chopin University of Music / Uniwersytet Muzyczny Fryderyka Chopina, or UMFC), where he developed a fascination with folk music.

    One of his teachers there was a Czech composer, Josef Javůrek.

    In November 1830, Chopin left Poland, travelling to Dresden, Vienna and Munich, before settling in Paris. He never returned to Poland.

    The November Uprising, a rebellion against the Russian Empire, began in Warsaw 3.5 weeks later. It ended with the Russians liquidating Polish autonomy and closing the University of Warsaw, which the Conservatory had been part of.

    (Marcin Zaleski, Taking the Arsenal, 1831)

    In Paris, Chopin gave his first concert in 1832. One of the attendees was Ferenc Liszt, with whom Chopin formed a friendship.

    From this point on, Chopin made a living by selling his compositions and giving piano lessons to an illustrious set of clients.

    He had a failed engagement to Maria Wodzińska (1836-7; broken off because her family felt Chopin was too sickly), and then a chaotic relationship with George Sand (real name Aurore Dupin), which lasted until 1848.

    (painting by Eugène Delacroix, as was the previous one)

    Sand stated that the relationship was celibate for at least nine years. As Chopin became increasingly ill from 1842 (having never been in brilliant health), she started to feel like a mother and nurse to him.

    (First known photo of Chopin, 1846, photographer unknown)

    When Sand left him, Chopin fell into a deep depression.

    When revolution broke out in France in 1848, Chopin left for England, where he gave a concert at the Guildhall in London. Returning to Paris, he was too ill to give frequent piano lessons anymore.

    He died in Paris the following year, probably of pericarditis, not helped by his tuberculosis. He was 39.

    (Chopin on his Deathbed, Teofil Kwiatkowski, 1849)

    Despite never returning to Poland after 1830, Chopin did go to Bohemia more than once, starting with a visit to Prague in 1829. He described the city as ‘quite nice’. Cheers, Fred.

    A planned concert in Prague never took place due to stage fright (Chopin wasn’t really a fan of concerts – he only gave 30 public performances in Paris in 18 years).

    In 1835, he saw his parents for the last time in Karlovy Vary, and Mariánské Lázně was where he proposed to Maria Wodzińska in 1836.

    ML now hosts an annual Chopin festival, and the house he stayed in is now named after him: https://www.marianskelazne.cz/vyznamna-mista/pamatnik-fryderyka-chopina/

  • Prague 2, day 17: Třebízského

    Originally published on Twitter on 23 November 2022.

    Třebízského was built around 1903.

    From 1940 to 1945, this was Krušnohorksá, after Krušné hory / the Erzgebirge / the Ore Mountains, which separate Bohemia and Saxony.

    Václav Beneš was born in Třebíz, near Slaný, in 1849.

    The school he went to there was attended at the same time by the poet Jaroslav Vrchlický, who gave his name to Vrchlického sady, the park in front of the main train station.

    He then attended a German grammar school in Prague’s New Town, followed by the Faculty of Theology, where he also studied Slavic languages.

    Already suffering from tuberculosis as a child, his severe joint problems continued into adulthood.

    He started writing in the early 1870s, adding Třebízský to his surname as there was already a Václav Beneš Šumavský writing at the same time.

    As a novelist, he was interested in the Hussites, but also in Czech history in general.

    One famous novel of his is Královna Dagmar (Queen Dagmar), about the daughter of Přemysl Otakar I.

    Graduating in 1875, he was ordained at St Vitus, and became a priest near Beroun. In the same year, he also developed pneumonia and pleurisy.

    From 1876, he preached at the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Klecany, where there is a statue in his memory.

    However, his health conditions accompanied him for the rest of his life, and he died while being treated at Mariánské Lázně in 1884, aged 35.

  • Prague 2, day 16: Budečská

    Originally published on Twitter on 22 November 2022.

    Budečská was built in 1889.

    From 1940 to 1945, this was Humboldtova, after Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767-1835), Prussian philosopher, linguist, diplomat and founder of the Humboldt University of Berlin.

    Budeč, the remains of a castle, is a national cultural monument located 17 km north-west of Prague in Kladno district.

    It was owned by the Přemyslids from the 10th century on – Spytihněv I (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/02/26/prague-3-day-152-premyslovska/) founded the Rotunda of St. Peter here, and Václav I stayed here as a child.

    The castle was written about – and its significance exaggerated, for example as a centre of learning – by Václav Hájek in his Czech Chronicle (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/11/19/prague-3-day-15-hajkova/).

    Budeč gained fame as a former centre of educational excellence in the 18th century (whether this was true or not) – so much so that, in 1840, famous teacher Karel Slavoj Amerling founded the Budeč Institute in Prague’s New Town.

    It closed in 1848 for financial and (obviously, given the year) political reasons, but influenced many future educational institutions in Bohemia and Moravia.

    In the 20th century, Budeč became a popular pilgrimage site. One such pilgrimage in the summer of 1939 turned into a major demonstration against the Nazi occupation.

    (Photo from the 1996 book Dramatické i všední dny protektorátu by Jan Gebhart and Jan Kuklík).

    The Budeč rotunda, considered to be the oldest surviving stone structure in Bohemia, remains open to visitors: http://www.omk.cz/index.html?url=http://www.omk.cz/dyn/doc/budec

  • Prague 2, day 15: Blanická

    Originally published on Twitter on 21 November 2022.

    Horní (Upper) Blanická was built in 1889; Dolní (Lower) Blanická was built in 1896. They became one street in 1948.

    From 1940 to 1945, this was Schlözerova, after the aristocratic von Schlözer family, which included August Ludwig (1735-1809, a historian) and Dorothea (1770-1825, the first woman in Germany to receive a doctor of philosophy degree).

    Velký Blaník (638 metres tall) is a forested mountain near Louňovice pod Blaníkem, in Benešov District, about 60 km south of Prague. There’s also a Malý Blaník (580 metres tall) nearby.

    (Painting from 1891, by Václav Jansa)

    The earliest documented settlement on the hill is a Celtic fort from around 400 BC.

    A Celtic legend stated that there was an army sleeping inside the mountain which would come out to help its people at the appropriate moment.

    By the 15th century, this legend had been adapted so that the head of the army in the mountain was Saint Wenceslas / Svatý Václav.

    Pilgrimages to the church of Mary Magdalene, on Malý Blaník, started in the 16th century.

    A new chapel to Mary was built in 1753, and its ruins are still visible.

    The chapel was closed down in 1783 as part of Joseph II’s reforms, which abolished monasteries and church buildings.

    In the following century, during the Czech National Revival, Blaník received renewed attention.

    This led to pilgrimages to the mountain taking place in 1851 and 1867; Blaník also gave its name to the final movement of Smetana’s Má vlast.

    This 1898 illustration by Vénceslav Černý shows the Blaník knights on their way to save the Czech nation.

    In 1868, a stone was taken from Blaník to help build the National Theatre in Prague (see also: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/12/23/prague-3-day-184-ripska/).

    One of the men involved in breaking the stone, Václav Podbrdský, fell 60 metres during the process, and, as he could not be found, was declared dead.

    Which made things a bit awkward when he turned up, entirely alive, in 1886.

    While Podbrdský managed to sue his employer for his unpaid salary, he then got arrested on suspicion of evading military service.

    During his testimony, he said that, after he fell, he woke up in a hall with a beautiful girl, with whom he communicated telepathically.

    He then claimed to have met a range of figures from Czech history, including Cyril, Methodius, Karel IV and Jan Hus.

    Once this was over, the girl, who was the guardian spirit of the Czech nation, said goodbye to him, and the ceiling turned into a blue sky.

    And it was eighteen years later, although Podbrdský thought he was only gone for eighteen hours.

    The court, deciding that Podbrdský was suffering from an idée fixe, acquitted him.

    The LET L-13 Blaník, produced by Let Kunovice, is the most widely-used glider / sailplane in the world: https://www.blanik.aero/flotila

    And Radio Blaník is the most listened-to national commercial radio station in the country, though they’ve missed a trick by being located on nearby Bělěhradská rather than Blanická: https://radioblanik.cz/

    At the exact moment of posting, they’re playing something from the Dirty Dancing soundtrack. Happy Monday.

  • Prague 2, day 14: Polská

    Originally published on Twitter on 20 November 2022.

    Polská was built in 1900.

    Until 1940, it was Nerudova, after Jan Neruda, journalist, writer, poet, art critic and figurehead of Czech Realism. More on him when I get to Prague 1.

    Then, from 1940-5, it was Stifterova, after Adalbert Stifter (1805-68), an Austrian writer known for his vivid descriptions of landscapes.

    It reverted to Nerudova from 1945-7.

    It took Poland until 1947 to get a street – probably something to do with the fact that, after WW1, Czechoslovakia and Poland were like those two friends you never invite to the same party because they’ll have a very public argument and make everyone feel very uncomfortable.

    The reason for this? As so often, borders.

    After WW1, Poland and Czechoslovakia both laid claim to Cieszyn Silesia (Těšínsko).

    While Těšínsko was mainly inhabited by Poles, it had also been part of the Kingdom of Bohemia, although a larger attraction than the history books was the fact that it was industrialised and rich in black coal.

    When the Poles started planning for parliamentary elections in January 1919, the Czechoslovak army entered. The Entente Powers told the Czechoslovaks to damn well stop it, and a new demarcation line was set.

    The final division of the territory between the two states was decided at the Treaty of Spa. Czechoslovakia got the west (and a lot of Polish residents to boot), while Poland got the east.

    Czechoslovakia endeared itself to its (sort-of) new Polish population even less by declaring that they were actually Slovaks. Further exchanges of territory were ordered by the League of Nations, in 1924.

    The border was set in 1925 and hasn’t changed since.

    Inevitably, the number of famous Czech-Poles is quite high.

    Top of the list is probably singer Ewa Farna, who’s been famous since she was a teenager and has managed to turn this into a major career in both CZ and Poland:

    Ewa is from Třinec, as is Albert Černý, the Czech-Polish frontman of Lake Malawi:

    2018 presidential candidate Jiří Drahoš was born in Český Těšín to a Czech father and Polish mother: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-42674309

    Polish is a language that I would gladly listen to forever.

    Also, Poland is ridiculously underrated as a travel destination and has so, so, so much more to offer than Kraków.

    When I first went to Warsaw in 2009, there was a multimedia display in the centre about 1989. The sort of thing that’s so good that you wish they’d kept it here permanently.

    Here are the Prague bits that I took pics of at the time.

    Polská is also the home of the Vinohrady branch of the Sokol gymnastics club. There’s a plaque here in tribute to possibly its most famous member, Alois Eliáš, PM of the Protectorate until he was murdered in 1942 for taking part in the anti-Nazi resistance.

  • Prague 2, day 13: Anny Letenské

    Originally published on Twitter on 19 November 2022.

    Anny Letenské was built in 1896.

    Until 1945, this was Ve Pštroce. Pštroska, also spelt Pštrosska, was an estate, including a vineyard called Křížovka, that was located round here. It was purchased by Jan and Babetta Pštross in 1815, and demolished in the late 19th century, partly to create Riegrovy Sady.

    Anna Svobodová was born near Plzeň, into a family of actors, in 1904, and, as a child, took part in a travelling theatre company.

    After a stint at the South Bohemian National Theatre in České Budějovice, she joined the Alferi theatre company, where she met her future husband, Ludvík Hrdlička, who used the pseudonym Letenský. She took this on as her stage name.

    From 1937, she acted in 25 films, playing minor non-speaking roles, and also worked with Czech Radio.

    She also joined the Vinohrady Theatre in 1939, taking several acclaimed roles.

    She divorced in 1940, and remarried the following year, this time to Vladislav Čaloun, an architect.

    On 17 July 1942, Čaloun was arrested for protecting Břetislav Lyčka, who, in turn, had helped Jan Kubiš, one of the killers of Reinhard Heydrich.

    Allowed to make visits to her husband, she was arrested during one such visit on 3 September, and was imprisoned in Pankrác, then transferred first to Terezín, then to Mauthausen.

    She was shot in the head there on 24 October 1942. She was 38.

    Vladislav Čaloun was shot on 26 January 1943. He was 35.

    Anna’s final film, Přijdu hned, directed by Otakar Vávra, was released to cinemas two months after her murder.

    According to Vávra (https://dvojka.rozhlas.cz/ocite-svedectvi-bohemy-autenticke-vzpominky-otakara-vavry-nebo-pribuznych-anny-7464665…): “I would look at her. She would play a comic scene and then go backstage. She sat there and put her head in her hands.”

    This is the only surviving recording of Letenská’s voice:

    A bust of her was unveiled at Vinohrady Theatre in 1948.

    It’s only 48 hours since I got all ‘hug-your-friends-and-get-drinks-with-them-and-all-that’, I know. But my God. Hug your friends and get drinks with them and all that (if they’re huggers and/or drinkers, that is).

    Good people are worth keeping around while you still can.

  • Prague 2, day 12: Balbínova

    Originally published on Twitter on 18 November 2022.

    Balbínova was built in 1880. It was formerly two streets; they were united in 1947. The southern half has been called Balbínova since its inception.

    Until 1940, and again from 1945 to 1947, the northern part was called Sladkovského. Old Karel still has a square not so far away, and you can read about that here: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/01/13/prague-3-day-132-sladkovskeho-namesti/

    From 1940 to 1945, the northern part was Seumeho, after Johann Gottfried Seume (1763-1810), a patriotic German author who served in the Prussian army.

    Bohuslav Balbín was born into a Catholic family in Hradec Králové in 1621. He entered the Jesuit college in Jičín at the age of 11, later studying classics, literature and philosophy in Prague, Olomouc, Brno and Kłodzko.

    His studies in Prague, starting in 1639, coincided with the plundering of the city by the Swedish armed forces. The Swedes invaded again in 1642, during his doctorate, and, clearly thinking third time lucky, tried yet again in 1648.

    On that occasion, Balbín joined the academic battalion and defended Charles Bridge. In 1650, he was ordained as a priest and went off to do missionary work, then becoming a teacher, teaching in Prague, Jindřichův Hradec, Brno, Český Krumlov and Jičín.

    In 1661, he was banned from teaching, from Prague, and almost from the Jesuits full stop, for reasons which are not clear (the most likely explanation is that his pro-Czech sentiments unsettled his pro-Germanisation superiors).

    Unable to teach, he turned to writing. In 1672 and 1673, he wrote Dissertatio apologetica pro lingua Slavonica, praecipue Bohemica, which condemned the removal of the Czech language from offices, churches and schools.

    Not surprisingly, it would remain unpublished for a century, and is also his most famous work.

    Balbín was allowed to return to Prague in 1677. In 1680, he published his first volume of Miscellanea historica regni Bohemiae – a history of Bohemia. He intended to write thirty volumes, but ‘only’ completed ten before his death in 1688.

    The most interesting building in the street is probably the Balbín poetic pub (Balbínova Poetická Hospůdka) at number 6.

    The pub hosts concerts and theatre productions pretty much every evening – see http://balbinka.cz/category/utils/program/… – as well as being the HQ for Balbín’s Poetic Party, a self-declared radical political party which got 0.12% of the votes in the 2006 election.

    The party gained attention in that election for its billboards mocking then-leader of the KDU-ČSL, Miroslav Kalousek (here’s one from their website declaring him ‘the most virtuous man in the state’).

    And got more attention for their billboards in 2012, which mocked former PM and then-presidential candidate Jan Fischer’s pre-1989 membership of the Communist Party. He wasn’t too pleased. (Photo from Hospodářské noviny)

  • Prague 2, day 11: Mánesova

    Originally published on Twitter on 17 November 2022.

    Mánesova was built in 1889.

    From 1934 to 1940, and again from 1945-7, the road was Barthouva, after Louis Barthou, who had served as PM of France in 1913, and became Minister of Foreign Affairs in February 1934, only to be shot and killed while meeting Alexander I of Yugoslavia in Marseille in October.

    Alexander, of course, was also assassinated; the killing was carried out by Velicko Kerin, a far-right Bulgarian terrorist, and had been planned by Ante Pavelić, head of the Croatian Ustaše.

    British Pathé footage of the assassination is here:

    Josef Mánes, meanwhile, was born into a family of artists in Prague’s Old Town in 1820.

    From the age of 15, he studied at the Prague Academy of Arts, moving to Munich to continue his studies in 1844.

    Returning to Prague, he started a relationship with the Mánes family’s maid, Františka Šťovíčková, who became pregnant by him in 1850. Josef’s sister Amálie fired Františka, who was left to raise her daughter, Josefina, by herself.

    Sensing his family had him firmly in the ‘doesn’t really make our lives easier’ category, Josef moved to the castle owned by Count Bedřich Silva-Tarouca in Průhonice, staying there for twenty years. He produced many of his best works there.

    A founding member of artist forum Umělecká beseda in 1863, he designed costumes, banners and diplomas for the Sokol movement: https://cz.pinterest.com/pin/445997169330273785/

    In 1866, he was asked to create paintings of the twelve months for Prague’s Astronomical Clock. You may remember the recent reproduction of this not being a roaring success: https://theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/02/pragues-orloj-clock-centre-row-artist-amateur-restoration

    In the same year, his mental health started to deteriorate. A study trip to Rome only made things worse; Amálie travelled to Rome, finding him collapsed on the steps of the Trevi Fountain.

    He succumbed to his illness in 1871, aged 51. It is believed that his disease was progressive paralysis caused by an advanced form of syphilis which attacked his brain.

    Mánes’s work covered several genres. He did landscapes, portraits and botanical studies. Here are two of his works: the Sisters František and Serafína Kolowrat Krakowská and Švadlenka (Seamstress).

    The National Gallery also has a decent selection of his works: https://sbirky.ngprague.cz/katalog?author=Josef+M%C3%A1nes…

    And the Mánes Association of Fine Artists / Spolek výtvarných umělců Mánes was founded in his honour in 1887. It’s located in the Diamond House on the Vltava.

    Number 20 on Mánesova was the location of the workshop used by painter Otakar Štáfl. On 14 February 1945, an allied bombing raid landed here and killed both him (60) and his wife Vlasta (37), a writer of fairytales and children’s novels.

    Number 20 now hosts cafe which I like very much, Kaaba.

    At the risk of me getting all maudlin, please get coffee (or whatever you drink) with your friends more often, and let them know you appreciate them.

  • Prague 2, day 10: U Divadla

    Originally published on Twitter on 16 November 2022.

    ‘U Divadla’ translates as ‘By the Theatre’ and was built in 1988.

    The ‘theatre’ in question is, nowadays, the State Opera, which took the place of the Novoměstské divadlo / New Town Theatre (see https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/12/24/prague-2-day-7-na-smetance/).

    Ever been to this place on a date, wearing a polo neck and jeans, only to realise everyone else is wearing full black tie? I have.

    Anyway.

    The theatre was built on the initiative of the city’s German-speaking population, who lacked a theatre of their own. The design was by the Vienna-based Fellner & Helmer studio.

    These guys designed a heck of a lot of beautiful buildings (check Wikipedia) – here are my not-very-recent pics of the theatres in Zagreb and Bratislava.

    You’ve quite possibly seen a lot of their buildings for yourself.

    Other buildings of theirs in the Czech Republic include the Mahen Theatre in Brno, the market colonnades, Grandhotel Pupp, and the Municipal Theatre in Karlovy Vary, and theatres in both Jablonec and Mladá Boleslav.

    In Ukraine, they built the theatre in Chernivtsi, the Opera Theatre in Odessa, the Noble Casino in L’viv, and Hotel George, also in L’viv.

    I don’t want to nick anybody else’s work, hence the lack of photos, but do give them all a Google.

    They didn’t build anything in Russia, a fact which I currently hope architects the world over take inspiration from for decades to come.

    The German Theatre started operating in 1888, and its façade still has some pretty clear signs of its origins, with Schiller, Goethe and Mozart all represented.

    Perceived as liberal and anti-fascist in the 1930s, the Theatre was sold to the state in 1939.

    Two months later, the Nazis established the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, and the theatre became the German Opera House. It was used for Nazi political gatherings.

    After WW2, the theatre became the location for the Divadlo 5. května / 5th May theatre, an avant-garde venue which, initially intending to rival the more staid National Theatre, became an inconvenience and was ultimately forced to merge with it in 1948.

    The theatre reopened as the National Theatre’s second house in 1949, and was called the Smetana Theatre. Being a high-quality venue, it was frequently used to hold performances by guests from abroad.

    After the Velvet Revolution, plans were made to make the theatre independent again; the Prague State Opera opened in 1992.

    Closing for renovations in 2016, the theatre reopened its doors in January 2020 – but, for obvious reasons, it didn’t play to full houses for very long.

    Post-lockdown, the Theatre’s repertoire is consistently impressive; tomorrow, it hosts Flammen, an opera based on the legend of Don Juan and composed by Austro-Czech Jewish composer Erwin Schulhoff (1894-1942).

    The performance is part of ‘Musica non grata’, a project by the State Opera, the National Theatre and the German Embassy, promoting the legacy of interwar Czechoslovakian composers who were persecuted under Nazism.

  • Prague 2, day 9: Wilsonova

    Originally posted on Twitter on 15 November 2022.

    Wilsonova was built in stages from about 1870 onwards.

    I couldn’t find a street sign to confirm that part of Wilsonova is in Prague 2, and would’ve caused a traffic accident if I’d kept trying. So here’s a sign from a car park instead.

    And on top of that: crikey, there can’t be many streets in the *world* that have undergone more name changes than this one. Zhluboka se nadechněme.

    Around 1875, there was a thoroughfare here called Sadová silnice (‘Orchard road’), named after the nearby orchards (the main remnant of which is everyone’s favourite nighttime hangout, Sherwood).

    It was given a very low-key renaming in 1911, becoming Sadová třída, before a slightly less low-key renaming in 1916, namely to Arcivédovy Karla Františka Josefa, after Charles I of Austria, the last ruler of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, who came to power in the same year.

    The name changed to Císaře a krále Karla (Emperor and King Charles) in 1917, before reverting to Sadová in 1919.

    Charles himself would die of respiratory failure on Madeira in 1922, aged just 34.

    The Sadová name only stuck until 1923, when the street became Hooverova.

    Herbert Hoover, while not yet US President at that point, had helped Czechoslovakia get food supplies after WW2.

    Here he is in Prague with Edvard Beneš in early 1938 (image from https://www.gettyimages.ca/detail/news-photo/the-former-u-s-president-herbert-hoover-hosted-in-prague-in-news-photo/551864177).

    From 1940 to 1945, the Nazi occupiers named the street Richarda Wagnera, after the notoriously anti-Semitic composer (1813-1883) whose music had been gladly appropriated by Adolf Hitler.

    Then things went back to Hoovera until 1947, when the name was changed to Wilsonovo.

    This lasted until 1952, when the street became Vítězného února (‘Victorious February’), after the Communist coup d’état in February 1948.

    Seriously, I’m going to be late for work if this goes on much further.

    Anyway, it became Wilsonova again in 1990.

    Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) was the US President from 1913 to 1921, and a strong proponent of self-determination as the basis for drawing new borders in Europe – a belief that was obviously advantageous to the Czechoslovak cause.

    He’s commemorated by a plaque within Hlavák.

    And is also commemorated by a statue outside the station, erected in 1928 (and created by Czech-American sculptor Albín Polášek), torn down by the Nazis in 1941, and reinstated (as a replica) in 2011: https://english.radio.cz/woodrow-wilson-statue-returns-prague-after-70-years-8559968

    Confession: I first became aware of Woodrow Wilson in the early 1990s, when Bart Simpson spited his teacher, Edna Krabappel, by responding to her personal ad using Woodrow as an alias, after seeing a portrait of Wilson on the wall at school.