Jugoslávská 802/2

One of the most fascinating aspects of Prague’s urban plan is the way in which streetnames have been altered to reflect the changing history of the region.

A good example can be found here. At the time it was constructed, this dominant revivalist building stood on the corner of Karlova třída (Charles Avenue) and Komenského náměstí (Comenius Square).

In 1926 Karlova třída was renamed Yugoslavia after the new country that had come into existence eight years previously (at the same time as Czechoslovakia). Komenského náměstí was in turn renamed after the first King of the Yugoslavian peoples, Peter I ‘The Liberator’.

From 1948 to 1952, under the aegis of the first Communist government, the busy intersection was given the name ‘October Revolution Square’, before finally acquiring its present-day attribution to I.P. Pavlov, the celebrated Russian physiologist and Nobel prizewinner.