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 4, day 262: Psohlavců


    Psohlavců was built in 1933.

    ‘Psohlavci’ would translate as ‘dog-heads’, which may have you hoping that I’m going to write about a film from 1994 or thereabouts which has some of the lowest ratings possible on Rotten Tomatoes, ČSFD, etc., but which you loved when you were ten years old.

    In which case, sorry to disappoint you – Psohlavci is another novel by Alois Jirásek, published in 1884.

    It turns out that psohlavec is a derogatory term to describe a Chod. In short, the Chods / Chodové were free peasants in current-day Western Bohemia, most famous for a full-scale uprising against Habsburg rule in the 1690s.

    For more on the Chods, take a look at https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/01/30/prague-2-day-25-chodska/. There’s a picture of their leader, Jan Kozina, on that page – he was executed in 1695, and is also the main character in Psohlavci.

    Psohlavci, unsurprisingly, touched a nerve in a land that wouldn’t be under Austrian control all that much longer; unauthorised adaptations for the stage arose in the 1880s (including one in the US), and an opera version premiered at the National Theatre (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/14/prague-1-day-105-divadelni/) in 1898.

    It’s also been adapted as a film twice (1931 and 1955), and once as a made-for-television opera (1985). Here’s the 1955 version.

  • Prague 4, day 261: Věkova


    Věkova was built in 1933.

    After a brief detour, we’re back in ‘characters from novels by Alois Jirásek’ territory.

    František Ladislav Věk is a Czech patriot in the novel titled, well, F. L. Věk, and described (to an extent) on https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/12/02/prague-4-day-247-vrbova/.

    He is a student – and, later in the novel, a merchant from Dobruška, which is getting its own post soon enough. The novel is essentially his life story, but also covers a lot of other ground.

    Věk was based on a real person, specifically the remarkably similarly-named František Vladislav Hek (1769-1847), a writer, publicist, composer and fervent Czech patriot who took part in the early stages of the Czech National Revival.

  • Prague 4, day 260: Pikovická


    Pikovická was built in 1991.

    Well, I say ‘built’ – it’d be more accurate to say it already existed in 1991, which was the year it was separated from Modřanská (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/09/29/prague-4-day-185-modranska/).

    Pikovice is a village on the bank of the Sázava river; the earliest written mention that we have dates back to 1310. It changed hands several times, entering those of the Strahov Monastery (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/08/prague-1-day-29-strahovska/) in 1638.

    In the 1920s, Pikovice became a popular destination for tramping; in 1942, its inhabitants were forcibly removed as the village became the site of an SS military training ground. The locals returned in 1945.

    Nowadays, Pikovice is part of Prague-West.

    Back on the street, Pikovická is mainly known for being the home of Braník Train Station.

    Praha-Braník was opened in 1882 as Praha-Hodovičky, was connected to Greater Prague in 1922, and was renamed as ‘Braník’ in 1937.

    Looking at tomorrow’s timetable, during the daytime there are typically 2-3 trains stopping here per hour.

  • Prague 4, day 259: Kamenitá


    Kamenitá was built in 1925.

    Another one that describes the street’s physical features – ‘kamenita’ translates as ‘stony’, ‘rocky’, or ‘pebbly’.

  • Prague 4, day 258: Nad branickým pivovarem


    Nad branickým pivovarem was built in 1925.

    In 1899, thirteen Prague brewers, feeling that industrialisation had caused them to lose their competitive edge, decided that Prague needed a new, modern brewery.

    In 1900, the Společenský pivovar pražských sládků – Prague Brewers’ Community Brewery – opened. The complex consists of seven Neo-Renaissance and Art Nouveau buildings, designed by the architect Jan Herain (1848-1914).

    It had its own port and two ships which transported beer to Výtoň (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/26/prague-2-day-121-na-vytoni/). It even sent beer to the Habsburgs.

    On the brink of bankruptcy a few years later, it was saved in 1908 when various Prague innkeepers became shareholders. It was renamed as Hostinský pivovar around this time.

    Successful during the First Republic, and closed down by the Nazis the occupation, it was nationalised in 1948 and wouldn’t enter private ownership again until 1990. During the early years of the post-communist era, both Asahi and Stella Artois were brewed here.

    However, the age of the building – and its status as a protected monument – severely limited the owners’ ability to modernise the facilities. The last batch of beer was brewed here in 2007 (by Staropramen, who moved production across the river to Smíchov).

    As with many buildings in Prague that no longer serve their original purpose, the road to repurposing has been rocky. It was meant to be a residential complex, then a centre for small businesses, then the home of a computer company.

    None of these happened, but it does currently host a dance conservatory (Taneční centrum Praha – konzervatoř).

    So, yes: if you’ve ever drunk a Braník světlý since 2007, you may be a bit sad to realise it wasn’t brewed in Braník, and that Prague 4 no longer has any industrial breweries.

    But all hope is not lost for beer fans – the micro-brewery Moucha (https://mouchapivo.cz/) has operated at the premises since 2016 (separately from the dance classes, of course).

  • Prague 4, day 257: Táhlá


    Táhlá was built in 1925.

    If something is ‘táhlá’, it’s long, protracted, sweeping or far-stretching, which seems to be what the street-namers of 1925 thought this road was.

  • Prague 4, day 256: Pod Jiráskovou čtvrtí

    Pod Jiráskovou čtvrtí was built in 1935.

    Also having its construction completed in 1935? Jiráskova čtvrť, i.e. the entire district (a primer is on https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/12/02/prague-4-day-247-vrbova/).

    Clearly, this was a popular idea: there’s also a Jiráskova čtvrť in Kyje (Prague 9), as well as in Doksy (near Liberec) and Meziměstí (near Náchod).

    Brno had one too from 1953 to 1991, but it’s now known as Masarykova čtvrť (go to https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/01/prague-2-day-156-masarykovo-nabrezi/ if you fancy a longish read).

  • Prague 4, day 255: Žalmanova


    Žalmanova was built in 1969.

    First of all, your almost-daily reminder that we’re in Jiráskovo čtvrť (see https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/01/prague-2-day-154-jiraskovo-namesti/).

    Second of all, your reminder that Jirásek wrote a novel called F.L. Věk (see https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/12/02/prague-4-day-247-vrbova/).

    Žalman is a character in said novel; he’s an old man and closet Protestant, whose tales of hardship and persecution have a major effect on the above-mentioned Mr Věk.

  • Prague 4, day 254: V závitu


    V závitu was built in 1945.

    A ‘závit’ is a coil or a whorl, and the street is so named due to its shape.

  • Prague 4, day 253: Ve studeném

    Ve studeném was built in 1935.

    ‘Studený’ means ‘cold’. Is it colder than elsewhere round here? I didn’t particularly notice.

    The other option – which I’ve not been able to prove, as that would involve having read 21 novels and ten plays on a working day – is that there’s something ‘studený’-tangential in one of the works by Alois Jirásek.

    This would make a lot of sense, as every other street round here seems to be named after something or someone in his works.

    Part of Na Studeném became part of Vrbova (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/12/02/prague-4-day-247-vrbova/) in 1973.

    For language fans, ‘studeni’ is November if you’re Croatian. For fans of falling leaves, ‘listopad’ is October in Croatian, but November in Czech.

    In which case, why not enjoy a November story *and* a case where I was certain what the street was named after: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/10/23/prague-1-day-212-17-listopadu/.

  • Prague 4, day 252: U kempinku

    U kempinku was built in 1981.

    I’ve mainly grown out of giggling at certain Czech transliterations of English words, but my ability to laugh when the English ending ‘-ing’ turns into ‘-ink’ hasn’t quite fizzled out yet. Think brífink, mítink, etc, and my personal winner, dispečink.

    But it’s time to, erm, carry on, and here, we are talking about kempink, better known as camping. And this decidedly non-residential area is the site of Intercamp Kotva, a campsite right by the Vltava.

  • Prague 4, day 251: Vostrého

    Vostrý was built in 1952.

    Another day, another character from a Jirásek novel.

    Actually, no, another day, another character from Temno by Jirásek (see https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/12/03/prague-4-day-248-machovcova/).

    In said novel, Vostrý is a Protestant priest – a big no-no to the Habsburgs – and distributes non-Catholic literature. And he’s also the one who tries to get Machovec’s children to join their father abroad (success rate: one out of two).

    It turns out that Vostrý was (based on) a real person, first name Jiří, born in 1702. He lived in exile in Zittau, now in Germany. He later moved to Berlin, specifically to Rixdorf (do check out https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/11/20/prague-3-day-63-rixdorfska/ – you won’t regret it).

    Vostrý came back to Bohemia during the Seven Years’ War, but was arrested for being a spy, and died under torture in 1760.

  • Prague 4, day 250: Skaláků

    Skaláků was built in 1975.

    The Alois Jirásek (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/01/prague-2-day-154-jiraskovo-namesti/) series continues.

    Skaláci (1876) is Jirásek’s novel about the Peasant’s Uprising which took place 101 years earlier. I won’t go into huge detail on that (spoiler: the peasants were still peasants after it), as it’s sure to come up in other posts.

    For the title of the novel, we have to rewind to 1628, when a character called Jíra Skalák had taken part in a peasant rebellion in the Náchod region.

    After being arrested and physically punished, he moved to a farm which subsequently became known as ‘Na skalce’. The family endured, and the novel then follows his descendants during the events of 1775.

    Skaláci was Jirásek’s first novel; he would write another five novels about the post-Bílá Hora period of Czech history, including Temno, as discussed two days ago (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/12/03/prague-4-day-248-machovcova/).

  • Prague 4, day 249: Mikuleckého 


    Mikuleckého  was built in 1973.

    The Pražský uličník tells me that we’re staying with Alois Jirásek’s 1915 novel Temno (Darkness), first discussed yesterday (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/12/03/prague-4-day-248-machovcova/).

    It also tells me that the novel had a character called Jakub Mikulecký. However, the long summary I read yesterday (full disclosure: I haven’t read Temno) doesn’t mention anyone called either Jakub or Mikulecký.

    The internet is not helping either, and the only reference I can find is to a Jakub is on page 74 of a 1916 edition available on the Czech Digital Library. Without surname.

    Hmm.

    To make up for this, here’s a pic of Kobra Prague Winter Stadium, located on this street. It was opened in 1977; Okbra play in the country’s second ice hockey division.

  • Prague 4, day 248: Machovcova

    Machovcova was built in 1935.

    Until 1952, the street was called Pod myslivnou II, after a myslivna (gamekeeper’s lodge).

    As with yesterday, we’re spending some time in Jiráskova čtvrť, and so this is another street named after a character from a novel by Alois Jirásek (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/01/prague-2-day-154-jiraskovo-namesti/).

    This time, the novel is called Temno (Darkness), and it was published in 1915.

    The novel itself starts with the coronation of Charles VI in 1723 (so, just over a hundred years after the Battle of Bílá Hora), and ends in 1729, with the canonisation of Jan Nepomucký. The title represents the state that the Czech nation found itself to be in at the time.

    Much of the action is set in an estate called Skalka, where the inhabitants include a hunter called Machovec. He has two children, Helenka and Tomáš, who are close to Lhotský, the chief administrator of the estate.

    However, Machovec doesn’t get on with the local administrator, Čermák, who happily reports him and the kids to the authorities for not having converted to Catholicism. Machovec escapes, but can’t take Helenka and Tomáš with him.

    Considered heretics, they are expelled from the lodge and are eventually sold into serfdom for a brewer, Březina.

    Although Machovec manages to get Tomáš to escape and join him abroad, Helenka has fallen in love with one of Březina’s relatives and starts to lean towards Catholicism.

    Eventually, she realises they will never be happy together, and, when her love is revealed, she is banished, eventually managing to flee to join her family.

    Temno was a huge success, especially with Czech soldiers fighting on the front lines in World War I; the first edition sold out within three weeks, and, by November 1918, the novel was already on its sixth edition.

    Temno was made into a film in 1950, although it was inevitably adapted to suit the Communist ideology.

  • Prague 4, day 247: Vrbova


    Vrbova was built in 1935.

    Originally, it was two streets – one called Pod myslivnou (Under the gamekeeper’s lodge), and one called Ve studeném (a name we’ll get on to before we leave Braník). They were joined and renamed in 1973.

    The villa district covering parts of Braník and Hodkovičky (which is up next in this series) was built during the First Czechoslovak Republic, i.e. between the World Wars.

    Several of its streets – all of which will be coming up in the next few weeks – were named after fictional characters from works by author of historical novels (and Staré pověsti české / Ancient Bohemian Legends, a mainstay of many bookshelves and many of the stories in these posts), Alois Jirásek.

    You can find much more on him here: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/01/prague-2-day-154-jiraskovo-namesti/.

    The area with all the villas became known as (and is still known as) Jiráskova čtvrť – Jirásek’s district.

    One of Jirásek’s most famous works is the five-part F. L. Věk, ‘a picture from the history of our national awakening’, published between 1888 and 1906. It’s set during the Czech National Revival, specifically between 1769 and 1816, and is named after its lead character, the merchant František Ladislav Věk.

    One of the characters – and the one who has given his name to this street – is Matouš Vrba, a priest who decided to travel Bohemia and promote the Czech language, which he said was ‘not dead but sleeping’.

    He’s characterised as a kind type who cares about the common people… but also with something of an obsessive dislike of the French and their Revolution.

    F.L. Věk was made into a television series in the early 1970s; here’s a playlist of clips.

  • Prague 4, day 246: U ledáren


    U ledáren was built in 1981.

    Quick one today, as we’re talking about the same ledárny – icehouses – as we were yesterday (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/11/30/prague-4-day-245-ledarska/).

  • Prague 4, day 245: Ledařská

    Ledařská was built in 1998.

    A ‘ledař” is someone who works with ice (and so you’d most likely hear the word, these days, in connection with ice hockey). A ‘ledárna’, meanwhile, would be an ‘icehouse’ or an ‘iceworks’.

    At the turn of the 20th century, the innkeepers of Prague were using the icehouse on Štvanice Island (which gets a mention on https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/10/23/prague-1-day-214-siroka/).

    They needed ice, taken from the Vltava, to cool beer. But, by 1909, they needed somewhere where ice could be stored all year round, irrespective of whether there was any in the Vltava or not.

    Therefore, a group of them formed a company and, between 1909 and 1911, saw to the construction of what became known as the Branické ledárny. It (or rather, the horses pulling the carts) were able to deliver ice across Prague in all four seasons.

    The complex included stables for the horses, a villa (used as the works’ office), and a house for the building manager. The area was so lively that the local trams had their terminus here.

    However, between 1949 and 1955, the Slapy Reservoir / vodní nádrž Slapy was constructed about 22 km south of Prague. The construction of various dams and weirs keeps the temperature of the Vltava above freezing (its last significant freeze was in 1978).

    This wasn’t great news for the icehouse, which no longer had much, or any, ice from the Vltava to accommodate. Operations came to an end in 1954; the trams no longer passed by the icehouse after 1959.

    The area has been considered for a museum (in the 1980s), a brothel (in the 1990s – there isn’t really anyone living round here to object, at least compared to other proposed locations), and luxury apartments and a hotel (in the 2010s).

    Instead, the buildings are in something is a state of neglect.

    There’s still a functioning stable for horses, though.

    The area was the location of concerts as part of the Prague Open Air initiative for a few years, but these have since been moved to Holešovice, as locals weren’t too thrilled with the sound levels: https://www.prahain.cz/zivot-ve-meste/iniciativa-bojujici-proti-koncertum-v-arealu-ledaren-branik-zvitezila-22445.html.

  • Prague 4, day 244: Skálové 


    Skálové was built in 2021.

    Dagmar Šimková was born in Plzeñ in 1912. She joined a scout troop in 1934, where the other members nicknamed her Rakša.

    Rakša is Raksha – the Mother wolf in The Jungle Book who raised Mowgli as her own cub. Raksha (रक्षा) is Hindi for ‘protection’.

    She and her husband, Karel Skála, moved to Prague and founded a new scouting centre (which was attended by one Václav Havel). Dagmar Skálová was the leader of the girls’ troop.

    After 1948, both became involved in the anti-communist resistance. In February 1949, the Prokeš coup, initiated by the retired major Květoslav Prokeš, was planned for mid-May, but the plan was revealed before it could happen, and the main plotters were arrested.

    Interestingly, the main commander of the coup was meant to be Karel Kutlvašr, although he had already been in detention since December 1948. Take a look at his story on https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/02/09/prague-4-day-29-namesti-generala-kutlvasra/ (square is in Nusle) – it’s an interesting story of riches to rags.

    The insurgents were supposed to include scouts; Skálová had agreed to provide them with medical assistance and facilitate communication between them.

    While under interrogation, Skálová stated that the scouts involved just thought they were taking part in a regular scheduled activity; her statement stopped most of those scouts from getting arrested. It might have saved Karel from the death penalty, too.

    In August 1949, Skálová was sentenced to life imprisonment; the six main plotters were sentenced to death and were executed at Pankrác Prison in December 1949.

    Dagmar and Karel were ultimately freed in 1965. While in prison, she Dagmar wrote to the UN Secretary-General to make him aware of the dire human rights situation in Czechoslovakia. By that point, the scouts were no longer autonomous, and had been absorbed into the Pioneer Organisation.

    During the Prague Spring in 1968, the Scouts were revived; Karel Skála was asked to lead the Prague section, but declined, although he was involved in some scouting activities until they were absorbed into the Pioneers yet again in 1970.

    Karel died in 1973, and was buried in the family grave in Plzeň. Dagmar lived to see the revival of the Scouts after the Velvet Revolution, and was awarded the Order of T. G. Masaryk in 1997.

    She died in 2002, and is buried with her husband. She had been a resident of nearby Na usedlosti (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/11/05/prague-4-day-220-na-usedlosti/), making the decision to name this new street after her all the more appropriate.

    Vinohradská 12 did an episode on her in 2024:

  • Prague 4, day 243: Tiché

    Tiché was built in 2021.

    Michaela Tichá was born in Šumperk in 1993. She joined the army in 2017, specifically the 242nd Transport and Special Squadron of the 24th Transport Air Force Wing of the 24th Transport Air Force Base Prague-Kbely.

    She also served in the voluntary fire brigade in Braník: https://prazska.drbna.cz/zpravy/spolecnost/3989-vojacka-ktera-zemrela-pri-padu-vrtulniku-patrila-k-hasicum-z-braniku-jeji-telo-dnes-prileti-do-prahy.html.

    Her first mission abroad, starting in August 2020, was to the Sinai Peninsula, where she served in the 8th Task Force of the Czech Army and in the USA-led Multinational Force and Observers, which monitors the Egyptian-Israeli peace accord.

    On 12 November 2020, during a routine monitoring mission over Tiran Island, the helicopter Tichá was in crashed due to a technical malfunction. Seven passengers, including Tichá, were killed.

    Tichá was the 30th Czech soldier – and the first female Czech soldier – to be killed on a foreign mission; she was buried in Prague, with full military honours, on 20 November: https://praha4.cz/posledni-rozlouceni-s-rotmistryni-michaelou-tichou/.

    In 2021, she was posthumously awarded the Medal for Heroism in Battle: https://inmemoriam.mo.gov.cz/stabni-praporcice-memoriam-bc-michaela-ticha.