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8) However, those in power continued to affect his work – in 1958, several of his colleagues were fired due to a witch hunt against those working in universities. Lukeš remained, but his health deteriorated.

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7) Once Czech academia was allowed again, Lukeš worked at the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Academy of Sciences; in 1946, he was appointed an academician, and, in 1952, a special laboratory was opened up for his experiments.

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6) However, the Nazis forced the closure of Czech universities in 1939. Lukeš survived the war, writing a textbook on chemistry and working at the Association for Chemical and Metallurgical Production in Vysočany.

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5) Graduating from university with honours in 1922, Lukeš would become a lecturer at the Technical University, and was also appointed associate professor at the Faculty of Science of Charles University in 1933.

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4) He was sent to Italy, where he made the best of a bad situation, learning Italian and studying organic chemistry in his free time.

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3) After graduating in 1914, he started studying at the Department of Technical Chemistry at the Technical University in Prague – but, 1914 being 1914, he was soon called up to serve in World War I.

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2) Rudolf Lukeš was born in Kralupy nad Vltavou in 1897. His family moved to Prague in 1906, and Rudolf eventually went to secondary school in Karlín, where he excelled in natural sciences.

1) What's in a Prague 4 Street Name, day 465: Lukešova, named in 1981.

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Jak vypadal Kyjov v roce 1971

14) Finally, here’s some genuinely great footage of Kyjov in 1971. www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKF5...

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YouTube video by Videokanál města Kyjova

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11) Kyjov is part of Slovácko, or ‘Moravian Slovakia’; people in the region speak a dialect which forms a transition between Czech and Slovak. Slovácko is known for its music, folklore, costumes and – yes – wine.

10) Industrial development came to Kyjov in 1844 with the opening of lignite mines; it also had a glassworks from 1858 to 1878, and, following a fire and rebuilding, again from 1883.

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9) Kyjov started to flourish again in the 1700s (the picture is the town in 1727), when it was developed by a group of Capuchin friars (they built a new parish church and monastery – still standing – while, in 1760, the Piarists added a Latin grammar school).

8) Its development was impacted in 1605, though, when it was looted and burned by forces of the Transylvanian Prince Stephen Bocskai. Things didn’t get better in 1619 (when Kyjov fell during the Bohemian Revolt) or 1623 (when it was invaded by Gábor Bethlen’s army). *And* it burned down in 1638.

7) The monastery sold Kyjov in 1539; in 1548, following local dissatisfaction with another change of ownership, Vienna promised Kyjov would be placed under direct imperial administration (which also did its economy quite a lot of good).

6) Which will explain why, in 1431, Austrian Margrave Albert II of Habsburg captured it and allegedly had about fifty of its inhabitants killed.

4) Its name is either derived from a one-time owner called Kyj, or from its location in a forest (forests contain trees, which you can use to make clubs, or ‘kyje’). ‘Kyj’ might have been pronounced ‘Kaj’ in local dialect, hence the town’s German name being Geyen, later Gaya (stamp from 1854).

3) The earliest written mention we have is from 1126, when it was gifted to Hradisko Monastery (near Olomouc). The monastery soon fell into the hands of the Premonstratensians, and therefore Kyjov did too until at least the 1380s.

2) Kyjov is a town of about 11,000 people in South Moravia, more precisely in Hodonín District.

1) What's in a Prague 4 Street Name, day 464: Kyjovská, built in 2000.

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Ed Ley @edley.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Pedantic gripe: whenever any of my sources states that a place in CZ was 'first mentioned in [year]', as if the oldest extant reference we have must also be the first one ever made. But I would also have nothing to write about without said sources, so I should probably STFU.

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2) What we do know is that it was called Libušská until 1933, and I won’t go on about that now because it would ruin another of this week’s posts.

Ed Ley @edley.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

1) What's in a Prague 4 Street Name, day 463: Za Jalovým dvorem. It’s not too clear when Za Jalovým dvorem was built. The line on that map isn’t too clear either.

Po stopách Václava IV.: Výlet na kunratický Nový hrad

12) There was a good deal of excavation of the surviving castle ruins in 2012-3, and they’re accessible to the public. The former castle is also part of the scene for the Velká kunratická cross-country race, and apparently the most challenging section. www.youtube.com/watch?v=nawr...

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YouTube video by Praha TV

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11) While various buildings destroyed in the Hussite Wars (and in later acts or disasters) were rebuilt, nobody ever seemed that bothered to do so to Nový Hrad.

NOVÝ HRAD U KUNRATIC:🤴🏰 Weekendhouse Václava IV. zbořený husity...

10) The castle didn’t survive much longer than Václav did – the people of Prague besieged it in December 1420, and burned it down in January 1421. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCwM...

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YouTube video by VálCast

9) He reacted with rage; his body reacted with a stroke, and he died at the castle on 16 August (the medical cause is not agreed on).

7) Side note that I went to Newcastle-upon-Tyne in summer 2025 and thought it was wonderful.

whatsinapraguestreetname.com

6) Václav wanted to copy what his dad had done at Karlštejn (whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/10/15/p...), and name the castle Wenzelstein, but this didn’t catch on, and it became known as ‘Nový hrad’ (‘New Castle’).

Prague 1, day 196: Karlova

Originally published on X on 9 April 2024. Charles/Karel/Karl was born in 1316, as the son of John of Bohemia and his wife Elizabeth. Because these family trees aren’t confusing enough, his birth n…

5) Drawing from www.krcakzije.cz/lokalita/upl....

4) But it also seems he liked it so much there that he gladly stayed there when it wasn’t even finished yet. I stayed in a mid-construction hotel in Romania in 1999 for almost three weeks and had absolutely no complaints, so no judgement from my side.

3) It must have been constructed pretty quickly, especially by 21st-century Prague standards, as there’s a record of his staying there in 1412.

1) What's in a Prague 4 Street Name, day 462: Novohrádecká, built in 1935.

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Sorry for the thinkpiece nobody asked for in my earlier posts. There have been some incredibly kind replies which make me feel it’s worth continuing to post on here. And I would miss the feedback. Learning is the absolute freaking best, so I will see you tomorrow for day 462. Thanks again.

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Somewhat amused about how, half an hour ago, I pointed out that the trending topics on Bluesky are too US-based, and now number 4 is about the opening dance on Strictly Come Dancing.

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10) I had been putting off trying to explain this for as long as possible, but am glad it’s done now. It's remarkably hard to translate the subtleties of Czech administrative divisions into English, especially when these too vary by country.

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9) And, on maps, Praha-Kunratice is called exactly that, with no numbers. Except all of the places listed in the previous paragraph have street signs which *do* say Prague 4 (not 11, 12, Kunratice or whatever).

8) Kunratice isn't in the Prague 4 Municipal District (Městská část Praha 4, which we’ve been covering for the last 461 posts), but it is in the Prague 4 district (okres), which also includes parts of the Municipal Districts of Prague 11, Prague 12 and Libuš, as well as all of Šeberov and Újezd.

7) The protests were successful, and the plans for building further residences were shelved. That said, Kunratice has changed significantly in recent years – its population trebled between 2005 and 2015.

whatsinapraguestreetname.com

6) In the 1990s, a new housing estate, Flora, was built in Kunratice. Local residents, however, complained about the expansion of the estate – arguing that additional 8 to 12-storey buildings would disturb the local forest (whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2026/09/12/p...).

Prague 4, day 443: Pod Krčským lesem

Pod Krčským lesem was built in 1941. You will see a big chunk of forest on the map above. Thing is, people can’t quite agree what to call it. Generally, the north-western section is known as …

5) Eventually, Kunratice became a separate municipality, Kunratice u Prahy; in 1968, when it was joined to Prague, the ‘u Prahy’ was, of course, dropped.

4) In 1728, the owner of the chateau, Jan Arnošt of Golč, also purchased three neighbouring villages: Šeberov, Hrnčíře, and Chodov. Based on a personal recommendation, Empress Maria Theresa visited the estate in 1754.

3) In 1407, King Wenceslas IV purchased the village; in 1421, King Sigismund assigned it to his courtier. It then passed through various owners, with its stronghold being restored in 1549. The stronghold, in turn, was upgraded to a chateau in 1688.