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 3, day 182: Kolínská

    Originally published on Twitter on 22 October 2022.

    Kolínská was built in 1911.

    It was founded as a royal city, probably in the mid-1200s, by Přemysl Otakar II, because what wasn’t.

    There’s even a fresco in the Town Hall there, showing him supervising the construction (picture taken from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kolin_town_hall_fresco_1.png).

    In 1421, the city was captured by the Orebite Hussites (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/12/04/prague-3-day-107-orebitska/). They celebrated this by burning down the Dominican monastery.

    The Táborite priest Bedřich ze Strážnice built a castle on the site of the monastery in 1437. In 1458, he sold it to Jiří z Poděbrad (who is coming up in a few days).

    It seems that every city in Bohemia had multiple devastating fires in the 16th and 17th centuries.

    Kolín, not wanting to be outdone, managed to have them in 1579, 1587, 1589, 1597 and 1617, interspersed with bouts of plague in 1568, 1582, 1598 *and* 1613.

    On 18 June 1757, the Battle of Kolín took place. The Austrians under Count von Daun defeated the Prussians under Frederick the Great, causing him to give up the siege of Prague and his plans to march on Vienna.

    Kolín was nearly destroyed by yet another goddamn fire in 1796.

    When the Prague-Olomouc railway came into being in 1845, Kolín began to become industrialised, to the point that it was, by the start of the 20th century, known as “český Manchester”.

    During WW2, Kolín’s refinery was used to produce Zyklon B, a cyanide-based pesticide, for Nazi concentration camps. And this in a city with a long Jewish tradition.

    The city was bombed four times by the Allies.

    Kolín remains a significant industrial centre, including what was Toyota Peugeot Citroën back in 2007 (when I taught its staff English for all of six weeks), but is, since 2021, just plain Toyota.

    Famous Kolínites include composer František Kmoch (1848-1912), Bohemian-French mime Jean-Gaspard Deburau (1796-1846), renowned photographer of Prague Josef Sudek (1896-1976) and Václav Morávek (1904-42), figure of the anti-Nazi resistance and a national hero.

    And Miloš Zeman, who I think we can all agree is the best president called Miloš Zeman that this country has ever had.

    Across the pond, Czech migrants founded Kolin, Louisiana in 1914.

    There’s also a Kolín, Montana, whose origins are rather hard to Google given that Montana is also the name of a bicycle store in The Original Kolín.

    Finally, Kolín is not to be confused with Kolín nad Rýnem (on the Rhine), which is Cologne / Köln in Germany.

  • Prague 3, day 181: Libická

    Originally published on Twitter on 21 October 2022.

    Libická was built in 1911.

    Libice nad Cidlinou, population 1,200, is a village in Nymburk district.

    It was first mentioned in 981, although archeological finds indicate that the land the village lies on was already inhabited in the Bronze Age.

    In the 10th century, the Slavník family (Slavníkovci) set up a semi-independent principality, of which Libice was the centre.

    The most famous member of the Slavník clan was Adalbert of Prague, known in Czech as svatý Vojtěch, and born in Libice around 956.

    He’s still one of the patron saints of Poland as well as the Czech Republic.

    The Slavníks and the Přemyslids fought for control of Bohemia; in 995, Boleslav II stormed the village and killed most of the Slavník family.

    (image from https://lovecpokladu.cz/home/28-9-995-vyvrazdeni-slavnikovcu-8250…)

    Adalbert survived, but had to flee Bohemia as a result, going to Italy and then Poland. He died in 997, killed by a pagan mob while carrying out missionary work near modern-day Elbląg on the Baltic.

    Břetislav I reputedly stole Adalbert’s remains from the Polish town of Gniezno in 1039, whereas Polish accounts claimed that he actually took somebody else’s remains.

    So now Adalbert has two shrines, one in Prague Cathedral, and one in Gniezno, both of which to claim to contain his relics.

    The only way that this can be true is if Adalbert had two skulls.

    Under the Přemylids, the castle in Libice was the scene of yet another massacre in 1108, when Prince Svatopluk arranged for the Vršovci clan to be killed.

    The castle was abandoned around 1130 and not much has happened here since.

    Meaning that I can get away with the Hussite-wars-prosperity-occasional-fires-Thirty-Years-War-decline-then-industrialisation-much-later posts that seemed to be becoming an essential part of these threads of late.

  • Prague 3, day 180: Boleslavská

    Originally published on Twitter on 20 October 2022.

    Boleslavská was built in 1910.

    Stará Boleslav came into existence in the early 10th century, when the Přemyšlids built a castle here to guard their Central Bohemian domain.

    A church was built too, dedicated to Arab physicians and two Christian martyrs, Saints Cosmas and Damian.

    This church gained notoriety in 935, when Václav I was murdered at its door, presumably by his brother Boleslav.

    Břetislav I established a basilica, dedicated to Václav, in the mid-11th century. This inevitably became a pilgrimage site, but disappeared in the 14th century.

    Like other cities in the region, SB suffered in the Hussite Wars; unlike other cities we’ve mentioned, it didn’t particularly recover after them either, at least not until the late 15th century, when, encouraged by the Jesuits, it became a site for Marian pilgrimages.

    The Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in SB, built in the early 1600s, includes an image of the so-called Palladium of the Czech lands, a Gothic metal relief of the Virgin Mary with child.

    And SB gets quite significant traffic every 28 September too (the date of Václav’s murder and also Czech Statehood Day.

    Despite all this, Le Monde wrote in 2009 that SB might be one of the most unreligious towns in the Czech Republic, i.e. in the world: https://www.lemonde.fr/europe/article/2009/09/25/la-republique-tcheque-marquee-par-l-atheisme-se-prepare-a-la-visite-du-pape_1245096_3214.html

    In 1960, the town joined with its neighbour to form Brandýs nad Labem-Stará Boleslav (i.e. ‘doing a Brighton and Hove but 37 years earlier’).

    Only one town in the Czech Republic, the wonderfully named Nová Ves u Nového Města na Moravě, has a longer title.

    Hněvkovice na levém břehu Vltavy deserves a special mention too.

    And for the grammar fans who are wondering why it’s not Starý Boleslav?

    In Old Slavonic, the name of the settlement was actually ‘Boleslav’ plus the suffix ‘-jъ’, meaning ‘Boleslav’s (castle).

    ‘jъ’ was a soft consonant ending, which, as in modern-day Czech, often leads to feminine nouns. At some point, the ‘jъ’ became silent, but ‘Boleslav’ – when not used as a man’s name – remained feminine.

    Other examples of feminine cities that you might not expect in Czech include Plzeň (possibly Plzen’s Castle) and Olomouc (Olomút’s Castle).

    Whereas other feminine cities that dropped the jъ over time include Mysliboř, Svatoslav, Slaviboř and Telč.

  • Prague 3, day 179: Květná

    Originally published on Twitter on 19 October 2022.

    Květná was built in 1930.

    ‘Květná’ is an adjective derived from the word ‘květ’, which means flower. This is also why ‘May’ in Czech is ‘květen’.

    However, it’s not an adjective I’ve ever seen elsewhere – ‘floral’ would typically be ‘květinový’ or, less typically, ‘květovaný’.

    The street is so called because of the gardens accompanying its houses.

    Wondering if Prague includes any streets that actually are named after months? Then read on.

    Nědvezí, way out in Prague 22, has Lednová (January) and Únorová (February), with the easternmost end of the latter being at the city limits.

    Meanwhile, Ďáblice, in Prague 8, has Březnová (March), Květnová (May), Červnová (June), Červencová (July), Srpnová (August), Zářijová (September), Říjnová (October) and Prosincová (December).

    Poor April, though.

    There’s a Dubnova in Háje, but the lack of accent on the ‘a’ means that this is the street of a certain Mr Duben, rather than being named after April.

    Specifically Jaroslav Duben (1892-42), a communist politician and participant in the resistance, who died in prison in Bayreuth, Bavaria.

    I forgot November!

    Dolní Počernice has a Listopadová (November), after the Velvet Revolution.

  • Prague 3, day 178: Čáslavská

    Originally published on Twitter on 18 October 2022.

    Čáslavská was built in 1910.

    Čáslav, population 10,000, is a town in Central Bohemia, in the Kutná Hora district.

    It was founded in 1264 by Přemysl Otakar II, who I am just going to start assume founded everything, including me.

    Initially on the side of the Catholics in the Hussite Wars, Čáslav changed sides in 1421. In July of the same year, the Bohemian Parliament met there and voted in a Hussite government.

    (Picture: ‘Čáslavský sněm‘ by Jan Skramlík)

    When Jan Žížka died in 1424, his body was first deposited in Hradec Králové (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/06/24/prague-3-day-176-hradecka/), but is then reputed to have been transferred (in secret) to Čáslav.

    In November 1910, during renovation work on St. Peter and Paul Church in the town, various human bones were found in a bricked-up niche.

    A committee concluded that the skull parts that were discovered most likely belonged to Žižka, a conclusion also made by anthropologist Emanuel Vlček in 1980.

    It’s believed that the remains were hidden by a local clergyman, Matouš Ulický, in the early 1620s (i.e. shortly after Bílá Hora).

    Ulický was arrested in 1627 for sedition. He was executed in the same year, undergoing severe torture beforehand.

    After the 1420s, Čáslav followed a pattern that seems to come up a lot in this set of posts – prosperity despite a couple of large fires (1452 and 1522), followed by having a pretty crap time of it during the Thirty Years’ War (the Swedes invaded in 1639 and 1643).

    In the early 19th century, Čáslav became an important administrative centre in the region.

    The town’s most famous son must surely be Miloš Forman, who was born here in 1932.

    It was also the birthplace of military intelligence officer František Moravec (1895-1966).

    Although he died in the US, his remains were recently transferred to the Czech Republic, coinciding with the 80th anniversary of Operation Anthropoid.

    His remains were ceremonially buried in Čáslav in April 2022: https://english.radio.cz/wartime-czechoslovak-spymaster-frantisek-moravecs-remains-brought-back-us-8748759.

    Čáslav is also noticeable for its successful athletes, being the birthplace of Jarmila Kratochvílová (gold medals in 400 and 800 metres at the 1983 World Championships, setting a record in the latter which still stands).

    The comments on that video. Sigh.

    There’s also Ludmila Formanová (gold medal in 800 m at the World Championships in 1999).

  • Prague 3, day 177: Chrudimská

    Originally published on Twitter on 17 October 2022.

    Chrudimská was built in 1908.

    Chrudim, population 23,000, is the second-largest city in the Pardubice region. It was first mentioned in writing in 1055, when Břetislav I died there during a military campaign.

    A proper city was then constructed here starting in 1263, at the initiative of Přemysl Otakar II. It became a pro-Hussite city in 1421.

    In 1620, the year of the Battle of Bílá Hora, Chrudim supported Frederick V (The Winter King) – and paid dearly for this when he, and the Hussites, were defeated.

    Chrudim was the setting of the region’s administrative court from 1854 to 1949, located on the site of the Dominican monastery, which had been destroyed during the Hussite wars.

    While Chrudim did well when industrialisation came in the 19th century, it also got overtaken in regional importance by Pardubice, largely because of the latter’s better geographical position and transport links.

    Nowadays, Chrudim is best known for its connection to puppetry – its annual puppetry festival (Loutkářská Chrudim) was launched in 1951, is the longest-running such festival in the world: https://loutkarskachrudim.cz/en/front-page-en/

    There’s also a fantastic-looking museum, which also serves to remind us that sometimes the simplest of URLs are the most satisfying ones: https://puppets.cz/en

    Perhaps the most famous resident of Chrudim was Josef Ressel (1793-1857), who has been credited with inventing the ship propellor.

    For language nerds, Chrudim ends in a consonant but is feminine, and has two acceptable genitive forms: Chrudimi and Chrudimě.

  • Prague 3, day 176: Hradecká

    Originally published on Twitter on 16 October 2022. I’m really rubbish at transferring these to the website so far.

    Hradecká was built in 1908.

    Hradec Králové (German: Königgrätz), population 91,000, literally translates as ‘Queen’s Castle’.

    It’s the capital of the eponymous region (Královéhradecký kraj in Czech, so… eponymous-ish), in north-East Bohemia.

    Originally just called Hradec (‘little castle’) since its founding in the late 1000s, the Králové was added in the early 1300s when the castle became the official residence of Czech queens after they had been widowed.

    By the time of the Hussite Wars, HK was the most important city in Bohemia after Prague. During said wars, the city became a major centre for Žižka’s supporters (and he was buried there).

    In the mid-1500s, HK suffered hard for its support of the anti-Habsburg movement.

    Worse was to come with the Thirty Years’ War (1618-48), during which the city was occupied by the Swedes and was practically destroyed.

    Prussian invaders caused a devastating fire in 1762. These invasions compelled Josef II to build a huge military fortress in the city.

    In 1866, HK was the scene of the Battle of Königgrätz), the defining battle of the Austro-Prussian War (and a Prussian victory).

    It’s been immortalised by Johann Gottfried Piefke’s Königgrätzer Marsch, which some of you may know from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade:

    Side note: I’ve just realised why, back (way back) when I was living in Austria as a student, locals used to refer to Germans as ‘Piefkes’.

    Famous names associated with HK include current world No. 1 in tennis doubles, Kateřina Siniaková, and Detroit Red Wings defence man, Filip Hronek.

    While, for those who like their twinnings, HK’s quite glam set of sister cities includes Arnhem, Banská Bystrica, Chernihiv, Metz and Wrocław.

    And, to add to yesterday’s Pisek, North Dakota, ND also has a New Hradec. There are some pretty great photos on here: http://hradec.org/dakota/hradec.html

    While there are some great panoramas of The Original HK on https://www.virtualczech.cz/virtualni-prohlidka.php?p=176-hradec-krlov.

  • Prague 3, day 175: Písecká

    Originally published on Twitter on 15 October 2022.

    Písecká was built in 1910.

    Písek, with 30,000 inhabitants, is the third-largest city in South Bohemia.

    Its name means ‘sand’, deriving from the gold-bearing sand found on the banks of the Otava River.

    It was first mentioned in 1243, when Václav I built a castle there, although it was his son, Přemysl-Otakar-II-of-Královec-fame, who founded the city itself (and spent a lot of time in it).

    As well as its mineral wealth, Písek was built in order to protect the Zlatá stezka (Golden Trail), a series of trade routes connecting Bohemia with the Danube.

    In the early 1400s, Písek was an important centre of the Hussites. The city joined the Unity of Tábor and was frequently visited by Jan Žižka. It also, somehow, managed to avoid any military clashes.

    One of its residents was Chval z Machovic, who governed Tábor along with Žižka (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/01/14/prague-3-day-137-chvalova/).

    After the Hussite Wars, Písek achieved prosperity, but was largely destroyed by fire in 1532 and suffered repeatedly during the Thirty Years’ War (1618-48).

    In the 19th century, during the Czech National Revival, so many schools and learning institutes were set up in the city that it became known as ‘South Bohemian Athens’.

    Famous names associated with Písek, beyond Mr Královec Himself, include violinist Otakar Ševčík (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/01/14/prague-3-day-142-sevcikova/), recently deceased jazz musician George Mraz (https://english.radio.cz/george-mraz-performed-worlds-jazz-greats-8729992…) and gold Olympic medal-winning cross-country skier Kateřina Neumannová.

    Pleasingly, Písek is twinned with Caerphilly in Wales. http://caerphilly.gov.uk/twinning/english/pisek.html

    There’s also a Pisek (population 87) in North Dakota, founded by settlers from the original Písek in 1882.

    This page includes some videos of Pisek dot us, taken in 1997: http://mfr-eng.com/rumreich/pisek.htm

    In March 2024, Písek region was the scene of what counts as a very strong earthquake round these parts: https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/earthquakes/quake-info/8893220/mag3quake-Mar-7-2024-Czechia-Czech-and-Slovak-Republics.html#google_vignette.

  • Prague 3, day 174: Slezská

    Originally published on Twitter on 14 October 2022.

    Slezská was built in 1889.

    Silesia (Slezsko in Czech, Śląsk in Polish, and Schlesien in German), is a historical region of Central Europe (translation: this might not be the briefest of threads).

    Czech Silesia is one of the three historical Czech lands, though it’s significantly smaller than the other two (taking up about 5.6% of the country’s land, and containing 9.5% of its population).

    Only four of the 30 biggest cities in Silesia are on the Czech side (and three of these, Havírov, Opava and Frýdek-Místek, rank 20th or lower).

    The obvious exception is Ostrava, which is third behind Wrocław and Katowice.

    From the 10th century, the territory was contested by the Přemyslids (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/02/26/prague-3-day-152-premyslovska/) and their Polish rivals, the Piasts.

    Initially, the Piasts were successful; they encouraged German migration in order to strengthen the region’s economy; Silesia’s German character would last until the mid-20th century.

    In 1335, Charles I of Hungary assigned Silesia to the Bohemian crown. However, the individual principalities maintained their rulers, who (for example) took the Catholic side in the Hussite Wars.

    Ruled by Hungary for 21 years between 1469 and 1490, Silesia was then reacquired by Bohemia – meaning it also passed to the Habsburgs in 1526.

    By the 1700s, Silesia’s industrial background meant it was the richest province in the Empire, and so Frederick the Great decided it might be quite nice if he could make the region part of Prussia instead.

    Cue the War of Austrian Succession, which, in 1742, left the Habsburgs with little more than Opava, Krnov and Těšín, which joined Moravia.

    Following WW1, Silesia was divided between Poland, Germany and Czechoslovakia. Arguments and violence inevitably ensued.

    There was a war between Czechoslovakia and Poland in 1919 (https://english.radio.cz/czechoslovak-polish-war-january-1919-a-brief-clash-lasting-consequences-8139977…), which is also why we have Český Těšín and (Polski) Cieszyn.

    The war can be regarded as a victory for Czechoslovakia, which acquired the region’s coal mines. But relations with Poland remained strained until WW2.

    After WW2, only a small strip of Silesia (Lusatia) was given to East Germany; the German population was forcibly expelled from the rest.

    There is debate about whether Silesian is a dialect of Polish (or of Czech), or a language in its own right; whatever your view, the existence of a TED Talk in Silesian (from 2013) is really freaking awesome:

    My goodness, languages are the best.

    Bonus material: in 1928, Slezká joined with a street called Chocholouškova, which had existed since 1884.

    It was named after Prokop Chocholoušek (1819-64), a journalist and writer whose anti-Habsburg sentiments led to police surveillance and difficulties in making a living.

    A street in Palmovka still bears his name.

  • Prague 3, day 173: Náměstí Jiřího z Lobkovic

    Originally published on Twitter on 13 October 2022.

    Náměstí Jiřího z Lobkovic was built in 1910. It underwent a pointless name change to Lobkovické náměstí (1940-5).

    It was then called Náměstí V.I. Čapajeva until 1990. Vasily Chapayev (1887-1919) was a Red Army commander. Soviet propaganda hailed him as a war hero; he also had bugger all to do with Czechoslovakia.

    An urban settlement in Kharkiv was named after him until 2006; it’s now called Slobozhanske.

    Hope everyone there is as well as they can be. Слава Україні.

    Jiří Kristián z Lobkowicz, meanwhile, was born in Vienna in 1835, into one of the oldest Bohemian noble families.

    He studied law at the then Charles-Ferdinand University in the 1850s, and became an actuary, although he quit in 1862 in protest against the Austrian government’s centralisation policy.

    In 1865, he became mayor of Mělník district, and was elected to the Czech Regional Assembly, a position he would hold until 1872, and again from 1883 to 1907.

    As a conservative patriot, he favoured federalisation of the Habsburg Empire, and wished for Bohemia to regain its historic privileges; on the other hand, he was sceptical of ethnic nationalism and insisted on using both Czech and German in his work and correspondence.

    In 1871, he took part in the negotiations concerning the Fundamental Articles, which aimed to give the Czech Lands a less subordinate status in the Empire (though still more subordinate than Hungary). The project was never adopted.

    In 1879, Lobokowicz was elected as a deputy to the Austrian Parliament (Reichsrat), where he continued to lobby for language and education rights in Bohemia. He became a hereditary member of the House of Lords (Herrenhaus) in 1883.

    He died in Prague in 1908. Research indicates that he inherited a heck of a lot of properties, had relatives with more surnames than some of us have letters in our own names, and also had twelve children.

    Properties owned by the family include the Lobkowicz Palace at Prague Castle, Mělník Castle, and Nelahozeves Castle, which I always see on signs just outside of Prague and which always confuses me because it looks so much like Hungarian.

    Notable contemporary Lobkowiczes include politicians Jiří and Michal, the latter of whom was briefly Czech Defence Minister at the tender age of 34, back in 1998.

    As well as the late bishop of Ostrava-Opava, who died in 2022.

    And who requires an additional tweet, as his full name was Franz von Assisi Karl Friedrich Klemens Jaroslav Alois Leopold Gerhard Telesphorus Odilius Johann Bosco Paul Marie, Prince von Lobkowicz.

    There’s also the unsolved murder of Prince Edouard-Xavier de Lobkowicz, aged 23 at the time of his killing in Paris in 1984. This article is from the time, but the case remains unsolved.

    https://www.upi.com/Archives/1984/05/07/Prince-Edouard-Xavier-de-Lobkowicz-son-of-one-of-Europes/7419452750400/

  • Prague 3, day 172: Horní Stromka

    Originally published on Twitter on 12 October 2022.

    Horní Stromka was built in 1925. There’s no street sign (more on that later).

    For the story of Horní Stromka, please go back 24 hours to https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/03/08/prague-3-day-171-v-horni-stromce/.

    One thing I’ve learned in the last 172 days (don’t worry, there aren’t that many to go) is that whoever erects street signs in Prague has decided to keep them to a minimum.

    So, whereas in some countries, you’d have street names on both sides of the road, at the top of the road, at the bottom of the road, etc., a smaller Prague 3 street will typically only have one sign.

    On the plus side, this has meant that I’ve walked quite a lot of steps to take all these pictures.

    On the minus side, it means that some streets that are only partially in Prague 3 don’t have a single street sign to document this fact (one example is Pernerova: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/11/30/prague-3-day-103-pernerova/.

    But Horní Stromka and V Horní Stromce take the economical approach to street signs to a whole new level.

    Google Maps states that Horní Stromka and V Horní Stromce are located as follows, as does my atlas.

    But there is no street sign for ‘Horní Stromka’ (that I saw – feel free to correct me).

    *And* the sign for V Horní Stromce… seems to be located on Horní Stromka.

    I guess GPS has made all this less of an issue, but I can imagine some *really* aggressive ‘Kde sakra jsi’-type text messages occurring before we all had smartphones.

    And I assume this is also still the source of some of the lower ratings on Uber.

  • Prague 3, day 171: V Horní Stromce

    Originally published on Twitter on 11 October 2022.

    V Horní Stromce was built in 1935.

    Horní Stromka (‘Upper Tree’) was an estate that appeared in this location around the 16th century. In 1723, it was purchased by a married couple called the Svobodas.

    In 1757, during the Seven Years’ War, the homestead was devastated during the Prussian siege of Prague. It was restored and improved on in the early 19th century.

    In 1833, two businessmen, Josef Eduard Krug and Josef Bärenreuter, set up a sugar factory and offices here.

    In 1895, the estate was purchased by the Vinohrady Credit Union, which sold parts of the land to expand Olšany Cemetery and start building Vinohrady Hospital (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/03/02/prague-3-day-165-u-vinohradske-nemocnice/).

    The farm was fully demolished some time after 1945. A picture of it in 1928 can be found on https://pamatky.praha.eu/public/78/1a/c6/1008582_140342_Horni_Stromka_1928.jpg.

  • Prague 3, day 170: Kouřimská

    Originally published on Twitter on 10 October 2022.

    Kouřimská was built in 1925.

    Kouřim is *another* small town (1,900 people) in the Kolín district.

    The name is one accent mark away from being ‘kouřím’ (meaning ‘I smoke’), and, according to legend, Bohemian prince Lech (died 805) lit a fire here to let his ancestor Čech know that he had founded the settlement.

    Stará Kouřim (Old Kouřim) was established in the 7th century, disappearing in the 10th.

    It’s likely that modern-day Kouřim was founded by Václav I or by Přemysl Otakar II.

    Around 1500, the town had 2,000 inhabitants (i.e. more than today) and significant prosperity; this declined with the Habsburg takeover, with the town being virtually destroyed in the Thirty Years’ War.

    Kouřim didn’t really benefit from industrialisation, and wasn’t connected to anywhere else by rail until 1882.

    However, its resulting time-wrap nature makes it a popular location for filming ads, TV series and films.

    Here, meanwhile, is a documentary about the town, made in 1954:

  • Prague 3, day 169: Zásmucká

    Originally published on Twitter on 9 October 2022.

    Zásmucká was built in 1935.

    Zásmuky is a town of 2,100 people, 16 km to the south-west of Kolín, first mentioned in 1285.

    Originally owned by the Zásmucký family (originally enough), it was acquired by the Šternberk clan, one of the oldest Bohemian noble families, in the 17th century.

    Adolf Vratislav ze Šternberka founded a Franciscan monastery here in 1694.

    In 1948, the Šternberks were deprived of their property, and the town’s castle was used by the army. The Šternberks got their property back in 1992.

    Not to suggest that my muted enthusiasm for this batch of named-after-towns streets is justified or anything, but, if you search for news articles about Zásmuky on Google, one of the first ten hits is from 2009.

    But, on the corner of Zásmucká, you’ll find one of Prague 3’s most modern buildings, The Crystal.

    Designed by Czech studio ra15, it’s got 14 floors and certainly stands out (or doesn’t fit in with the surroundings – your vote).

    https://www.archdaily.com/895431/the-crystal-ra15

    Searching Google for ‘crystal Praha’ has turned out to be utterly useless, given I’m not a tourist* and have zero interest in meth.

    * When I’m in Prague, that is – this is actually being posted from an Amtrak train to Santa Barbara, where I will very much be a tourist.

  • Prague 3, day 168: Votická

    Originally published on Twitter on 8 October 2022.

    Votička was built in 1925.

    Votice is a town of 4,500 people in the Benešov District, about 60 km from Prague. It’s within a mountainous region known as ‘Česká Sibiř’ / ‘Czech Siberia’.

    It was first mentioned in writing in 1359, but had probably existed for over two centuries before that.

    In the 1530s, a Jewish community set itself up in the city, which became a major trading centre, especially in salt.

    In March 1942, Jews from Benešov were evicted to Votice. On 1 September, the Jews of Votice were deported to Terezín.

    The majority were murdered at Malé Trostinec on 10 September 1942. Less than one in ten survived.

    The Votice Synagogue was destroyed in 1949.

    The Jewish Central Library has a nice, if heartbreaking, one-paragraph summary of Votice’s Jewish community: https://jewishvirtuallibrary.org/votice

    And there are some pictures of the synagogue and the Jewish quarter here: http://zanikleobce.cz/index.php?obec=9943

  • Prague 3, day 167: Šrobárova

    Originally posted on Twitter on 7 October 2022. There is no day 166, because day 166 on the Twitter version was a spoof post which… well, I don’t feel it particularly landed at the time, and you *really* had to be there for it to even start landing. Anyway, moving on.

    Šrobárova was built in 1889.

    It was part of Korunní (coming soon enough) until 1947.

    Vavro Šrobár was born in 1867 in Lisková (now in north-central Slovakia), one of twelve children.

    After graduating from the gymnasium in Přerov in 1888, he moved to Prague to study medicine at Charles University.

    When in Prague, he chaired the student organisation Detvan and became a follower of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk.

    From 1898, he started publishing the magazine Hlas (Voice), which was highly critical of Hungarian rule.

    After running for a seat in the Hungarian Parliament in 1906 (along with Andrej Hlinka), he was imprisoned for a year in Szeged for provocations against the Hungarian nation.

    During WW1, Šrobár became involved in the Czechoslovak National Council, which had been set up to liberate the Czechs and Slovaks from Austria-Hungary.

    When the Czechoslovak proclamation of independence was read out in Prague on 28 October 1918, he was the only Slovak signatory.

    He then became Minister of Health for Czechoslovakia, and was also responsible for the administration of Slovakia as a whole.

    From 1921-2, he was Minister of Education and National Enlightenment; after this, he took a post lecturing at the Medical Faculty of Charles University.

    During WW2 and the establishment of the pro-Nazi Slovak State, Šrobár took part in the anti-fascist resistance, albeit not as one of its leading figures.

    He became co-chair of the Slovak National Council in 1944, and, when the war ended, was appointed Czechoslovak Minister of Finance (until 1947).

    He then became minister for the unification of laws, even after the Communist coup d’état in 1948.

    He died in Olomouc in 1950 and is buried in Bratislava.

    It makes sense that Vinohrady Hospital is located in this street, given Šrobár’s connection to medicine and Charles University.

    His contribution to the creation of Czechoslovakia cannot be denied either.

    On the other hand, it’s somewhat surprising to see a street named after somebody who clearly didn’t stand up to the Communists, and who, based on this quote from Slovak Wikipedia, was pretty damn anti-Semitic.

  • Prague 3, day 165: U Vinohradské nemocnice

    Originally published on Twitter on 5 October 2022.

    U Vinohradské nemocnice was built in 1925 and translates as ‘By Vinohrady Hospital’.

    What is now known as the University Hospital of Královské Vinohrady (Fakultní nemocnice Královské Vinohrady) was opened in 1902, and, a year later, was named ‘Všeobecná veřejná nemocnice císaře a krále Františka Josefa’. Catchy.

    I obviously couldn’t fit an English translation of that into the previous tweet, so here you go now: General Public Hospital of Emperor and King Franz Joseph I, Vinohrady and Žižkov District.

    After Charles University set up its Faculty of Medicine in 1953, the hospital became a place to teach students.

    Not particularly up-to-date data suggest 2,500 employees, almost 1,300 beds and about 50,000 patients per year.

    The most famous recent name associated with the hospital is probably Petr Arenberger, who was the hospital’s director from October 2019 until January 2022, but was also one of the 3,297,536 health ministers that the Czech Republic had in 2020 and 2021.

    In his less than two months in office, Arenberger had to announce he hadn’t been an StB agent, appeared to be a Sputnik fan, and came under fire for dissolving the Covid advisory group which had been critical of the government’s policies.

    A tabloid dream, but nobody else’s.

    And then, alleged irregularities concerning property declarations came up. After 49 days, it was announced that it was time for Adam Vojtěch: The Return (now with added vaccinations).

    This all happened about 18 months ago and it feels like a different lifetime.

    Arenberger claims he was dismissed from his position as director of the hospital by current Health Minister Vlastimil Válek in January 2022 *after* (and because) he gave in his resignation.

    Válek does not: https://www.seznamzpravy.cz/clanek/domaci-politika-exministr-arenberger-konci-jako-reditel-vinohradske-nemocnice-186422

  • Prague 3, day 164: Soběslavská

    Originally published on Twitter on 4 October 2022.

    Soběslavská was built in 1925.

    Soběslav is a town of 6,800 inhabitants, 18 kilometres south of Tábor in South Bohemia. It was first mentioned in 1293, when its castle and surroundings belonged to the wealthy Rosenberg family.

    Key historical events include Václav IV (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/02/26/prague-3-day-153-lucemburska/) being imprisoned in the castle in 1394, just four years after Soběslav gained city rights.

    During the Hussite Wars, Soběslav was burned down in both 1431 and 1435.

    In the 16th century, it was owned by Peter Vok of Rožmberk and became the economic centre of South Bohemia.

    After Czechoslovakia was created, the Lada sewing machine company was set up here; the town also hosted various companies during communism, including the furniture company Jitona.

    Soběslav has a slightly early-00s-looking website, but with some nice pics: https://musobeslav.cz

    And what claims to be a webcam but is actually the most recent shot from that webcam. Also, either their clock is four minutes fast or mine is four minutes slow. https://musobeslav.cz/infocentrum/o-sobeslavi/webova-kamera/

    While a residential building in Soběslavská (the street) was recently the scene of an explosion caused by ‘accumulated vapours after the installation of mounting foam’: https://www.blesk.cz/clanek/regiony-praha-praha-zpravy/715928/pary-z-montazni-peny-zkrat-a-v-rana-v-dome-na-vinohradech-to-bouchlo-dva-muzi-se-popalili.html.

  • Prague 3, day 163: Hollarovo náměstí

    Originally published on Twitter on 3 October 2022.

    Hollarovo náměstí was built around 1925, remaining nameless until 1955.

    Václav Hollar was born to a wealthy family in Prague in 1607. An artist from a young age, he was introduced to the practice of engraving when he was 18.

    In 1627, he left Bohemia and moved to Germany, though, unlike many of those who fled at the time (i.e. only seven years after Bílá Hora), it seems this was more because of employment opportunities than religious persecution.

    In 1636, he caught the attention of Lord Thomas Howard of Arundel, and moved to London shortly after, working as an artist for Arundel, but also for various authors and publishers.

    In 1641, Hollar married chamberlain Margaret Tracy, and met Jan Amos Comenius (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/11/26/prague-3-day-82-komenskeho-namesti/), who was also living in England at the time.

    The English Civil War broke out a year later, and Hollar entered the service of the Royal Family. Captured by parliamentary forces in 1645, he managed to escape to Antwerp.

    Here’s one of his etchings of Grand-Place in Brussels.

    He returned to London in 1652 and lied near Temple Bar. Despite being so prolific, he died in desperate circumstances in 1677.

    He’s buried at St Margaret’s Church in Westminster.

    The art school on the square bears his name. It’s colloquially known as ‘Hollarka’, because Czechs do this (as they should): https://hollarka.cz

    The University of Toronto has an online collection of Hollar’s works: https://hollar.library.utoronto.ca/

  • Prague 3, day 162: U Vinohradského hřbitova

    Originally published on Twitter on 2 October 2022.

    U Vinohradského hřbitova, built in 1925, translates as ’By the Vinohrady Cemetery’.

    Vinohrady Cemetery was built in 1885, and was mainly used for the burial of upper-class Prague citizens.

    It was expanded over the next forty years, and is now the second-largest cemetery in Prague in terms of burials (after Olšany).

    The Cemetery also hosts Strašnice Crematorium, the largest in Europe by area.

    While it’s a cultural monument these days, both the Nazi and Communist regimes used the Crematorium to burn the victims of show trials, police torture and executions.

    The director of the crematorium, František Suchý, kept a list of all those who were cremated – which, in 1952, would lead to the communists sentencing him to 25 years in prison.

    A park in Strašnice is now named after him.

    Victims of the Nazis who were cremated here include Bishop Gorazd (Matěj Pavlík), writer Vladislav Vančura and general Josef Mašín.

    Victims of the communists who were cremated here include Emil Hácha, president of Czechoslovakia at the time the Protectorate was set up, and Milada Horáková.

    The Havel family has a family vault here. Václav Havel’s ashes are buried there, as is his first wife Olga.

    The City of Prague put some footage of the grave here, shortly after Havel’s death: