Streets in the Smíchov City project will be named after prominent women. The central boulevard will commemorate Madeleine Albright
Prague, 25 August 2022
The streets of Smíchov City, the largest development project in Prague’s modern history, are to bear the names of important women who fought against totalitarianism in the 20th and 21st centuries. The kilometre-long central pedestrian boulevard will be named after Madeleine Albright, a prominent American politician of Czech descent, who was born in Smíchov. Sekyra Group, an investor in the Smíchov City project, wants to dedicate the new streets to the memory of outstanding women as less than five percent of streets in Prague are currently named after them. This idea was supported by the Prague 5 city district, the Václav Havel Library, and several other influential voices, including Madeleine Albright’s family. The proposal has already been approved by the Toponymic Commission and recommended to Prague City Council.
Since 2020, Sekyra Group has been transforming a railway brownfield site in Smíchov into a new Prague neighbourhood. When finished, the project will span almost 400,000 m² of residential, administrative, commercial, and public spaces, all connected by a kilometre-long pedestrian boulevard. Its name and the names of its six streets, two parks, and a school were submitted to the Prague 5 city district by the Sekyra Foundation and the Václav Havel Library, with the support of other prominent figures, such as the Director of the Václav Havel Library Michael Žantovský, professor and theologian Tomáš Halík, politician and philosopher Daniel Kroupa, and philosopher and diplomat Martin Palouš. Prague 5 forwarded the application and proposal to the Toponymic Commission, which approved it and forwarded it to Prague City Council.
“Smíchov City is the largest urbanisation project in central Prague since the development of the Vinohrady district. It has been designed by more than thirty Czech and international architects, making it a representative showcase of contemporary architecture. From the beginning, we have prioritised the public spaces, since they are the most valuable things we can offer the city and its residents. At the same time, we want each of the neighbourhoods that we build in Prague to express a certain symbolism and identity. With the Smíchov City project, we want to commemorate important women who devoted their lives to fighting for freedom and democracy against totalitarianism. It is a commentary on gender equality and, in a sense, a correction of a historical wrong, considering less than five per cent of streets in Prague are named after women. It will primarily be a tribute to the heroic attitudes and stories of the 20th century,” explained Luděk Sekyra, founder of Sekyra Group and the Sekyra Foundation, adding: “At the same time, we are proposing that one of the newly created parks, inspired by London's Hyde Park, should have a debate corner and become a place for public speeches, discussions, and civic dialogue”.
Streets to remind us of history
The existing street Za Ženskými domovy, which marks the northern border of Smíchov City facing the historical centre, will be joined by a network of new streets named after women. The central pedestrian boulevard will be named after Madeleine Albright and will cross a street named after her friend and neighbour from Georgetown, Washington Meda Mládková, who was a known art benefactor and collector. One of the focal points of the development will be a school, again bearing Albright’s name. Another important street, which runs parallel to the pedestrian boulevard, will be named after one of the bravest women of modern Czech history – historian and imprisoned dissident, Růžena Vacková. One street will be named after one of the first Czech feminists, the dissident Jiřina Šiklová, and one after the painter Toyen. There will also be parks named after philosophers Hannah Arendtová and Alice and Anna Masaryková.
However, not all the streets in Smíchov City will bear female names. For example, the street leading to the school will be named after the writer Josef Škvorecký. It will cross some of Smíchov City’s other future streets that lead to the Smíchov railway station, one of which will be named after the writer František Langer. This is due to an initiative led by the Society of František and Jiří Langer and the Prague 5 city district.
The Mayor of Prague 5, Renáta Zajíčková (ODS), welcomed the idea and emphasised the importance of the whole project for this part of the city. “We have been turning Prague 5 into a modern part of the city for a long time. Former brownfield sites are successfully being transformed into modern residential, administrative, and commercial zones. The Smíchov City project is no exception. I welcome the emphasis on public spaces and high-quality architecture. There will be many beautiful new meeting points and recreational areas. I am even more thrilled that the whole project, the area of which could potentially become a new city district, will nobly commemorate Madeleine Albright and other brave women and men of our recent history, most of whom had close ties to Smíchov,” said Renáta Zajíčková.
More than 12,000 people are expected to live and work in Smíchov City. The first wave of residents is expected to move into their new homes at the end of the year. The total cost of the project is estimated to be over 20 billion CZK. Smíchov City is divided into two parts: north and south. These are being developed gradually in several stages and will be connected by the Albright boulevard, which will also be a major meeting point and a place for community activities. What’s more, the boulevard will be lined with greenery. In total, the Smíchov City project should include almost five acres of green spaces.
The project will preserve the Radlická kulturní sportovna community centre, which used to be a railway warehouse, but was transformed into a community and cultural centre by a group of local enthusiasts. On the opposite, southern side of the almost kilometre-long pedestrian boulevard, there will be an entirely new commercial district, including a campus for Česká spořitelna bank. Smíchov railway station is also nearby and will also be significantly reconstructed. Smíchov City manages to effectively balance private and public spaces. The individual residential blocks, each designed by a different architect, evoke a naturally growing city as opposed to unnatural solitary buildings, which are fairly common in contemporary architecture. All this, including making the pedestrian boulevard the focal point of the local community, sets new standards for large developments and brownfield transformation projects not only in Prague, but in other Central and Eastern European cities too.
Smíchov native Madeleine Albright
The central boulevard in the Smíchov City project and the school will be named after the recently deceased Madeleine Albright (1937–2022), one of the most influential American politicians and diplomats. She was born in Prague to a Jewish family in Smíchov and emigrated to the United States of America in 1948. The first woman to hold the role, she served as the 64th US Secretary of State during the Bill Clinton administration, during which she played a key role in expanding the North Atlantic Alliance towards former Eastern Bloc countries. Madeleine Albright was a professor of diplomatic practice at Georgetown University and taught an entire generation of American diplomats. In May 2012, President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Albright was a close friend, ally, and a foreign policy mentor of former Czech President Václav Havel. Michael Žantovský, Director of the Václav Havel Library, attended her funeral in the US in April and secured her family's consent to use the Albright name for the Smíchov boulevard. “Marie Jana Korbelová, known to the world as Madeleine Albright, contributed significantly to the freedom and security of the Czech Republic and Europe after the end of the Cold War. Her name is synonymous with Prague, just like the Charles Bridge or Wenceslas Square. She spent the first months of her life in Smíchov and returned regularly. Her book Prague Winter is not only a testimony to one of the most challenging times in Czech history, but also a love letter to the city that she loved to come back to, where she formed lifelong friendships and which inspired her to reflect on history as well as the present. She was proud of her birthplace, just as Prague is of Madeleine Albright. Her boulevard will be a lasting expression of the relationship between the heart of Europe and one of its most famous children,” said Michael Žantovský, Director of the Václav Havel Library.
Růžena Vacková: historian and dissident
Another key street in Smíchov City is named after Růžena Vacková (1901–1982), one of the first female professors at Charles University, art historian, member of the anti-Nazi and anti-communist resistance, political prisoner, and signatory to Charter 77. According to her friend Daniel Kroupa, a well-known philosopher and dissident, she was “an extraordinarily brave woman with unwavering moral integrity”. In early 1945, Růžena Vacková was arrested by the Gestapo and sentenced to death. Her sentence was prevented from being carried out by the May Uprising. On death row, she converted to Christianity.
She was the only university professor to join the student march on Prague Castle on 25 February, 1948. Subsequently, she expressed a wish to share the fate of the excluded students for participating in the demonstration and left the university. In 1951, she was arrested by State Security and sentenced to twenty-two years in prison for alleged espionage and high treason. She refused a pardon request and spent sixteen years behind bars. Later, she signed Charter 77. Despite her health problems, she attended the funeral of her friend Jan Patočka, accompanied by her students Daniel Kroupa and Tomáš Halík.
Other famous Smíchov natives
Albright's friend Meda Mládková (1919–2022), a Czech art collector, benefactor, and founder of the Jan and Meda Mládek Foundation and Kampa Museum, will also have her own street in the Smíchov City project. Meda also supported literature in exile. Another important woman after whom a new street in the neighbourhood will be named is Jiřina Šiklová (1935–2021), a sociologist and a writer known for her involvement in gender studies and politics and who actively fought against the communist regime, for which she was also imprisoned. She was one of the very first Czechoslovak feminists and an important contributor to Charter 77. She was the first woman to sit on the Sekyra Foundation board. Another street will be named after the painter Toyen, whose real name was Marie Čermínová (1902–1980), also a Smíchov native. She spent most of her life in Paris and is one of the most important avant-garde artists of the first half of the 20th century.
Naming Smíchov streets after writers
Josef Škvorecký (1924–2012) was a male writer, essayist, and translator who will also have street named after him in the project. He and his wife Zdena Salivarová founded the exile publishing house '68 Publishers in Toronto, Canada, which became a leading Czechoslovak publishing house. Until the early 1990s, it published exiled Czech authors and literature that was banned in Czechoslovakia. In 1980, Josef Škvorecký was awarded the Neustadt International Prize for Literature at the University of Oklahoma.
Another prominent male writer associated with the project is František Langer (1888–1965). The František and Jiří Langer Society put his name forward to Luděk Sekyra. “František Langer was one of the most important Czechoslovak figures of the interwar period. He was a doctor, legionnaire, acclaimed writer and playwright who led the Czechoslovak army medics in London during WW2. After February 1948, the communist regime deemed him an unwanted representative of Masaryk's ideas and erased him from literature textbooks. František Langer spent his final years with his close friends and died longing for freedom and democracy, forgotten by the public. In this day and age, it is especially important to remember the heroes of Czechoslovak history where attempts had been made to erase their memory. That is why the František Langer Foundation fully supports naming a street in Smíchov after him as the neighbourhood was close to his heart most of his life,” said Petr Dymeš, member of the Board of Directors of the František and Jiří Langer Society.
František Langer lived a significant part of his life in what is now Smíchov City. Despite being an important figure, he has not yet been properly commemorated in Prague. His name appears in a small park in Prague 10 where he used to go for walks with his friend and famous writer Karel Čapek and on a bust on Preslova 5 where he lived with his wife Anna.
The parks’ symbolism
Although Hannah Arendt (1906–1975) does not have direct ties to the Czech Republic, the Smíchov City project will name a park after her. Arendt was a political philosopher and columnist of German-Jewish descent. She devoted herself to political theory, becoming the first woman to receive a full professorship at Princeton University. Her book The Origins of Totalitarianism is perhaps the most cutting analysis of this 20th century phenomenon and had a significant influence on Czech intellectual dissidents.
According to the philosopher and dissident Martin Palouš, “her interpretation of totalitarianism — a specific form of autocracy and elementary threat to human freedom that emerged in the 20th century and caused not only millions of deaths, but also forced entire generations of people to live under oppression, deprived of basic human dignity — became an integral part of the discourse of the Czech ‘Parallel Polis’ concept during the Husák normalisation period, established by the Declaration of Charter 77. There is no doubt that she not only inspired philosopher Jan Patočka’s later work, but Václav Havel’s key essays from that time too.”
Another Smíchov City park will be named after Anna and Alice Masaryk. Alice (1879–1966) was the daughter of T. G. Masaryk. She was a public figure and the founder and first chairwoman of the Czechoslovak Red Cross. Alice devoted her life to improving the social standing and education of women. After the communist coup in Czechoslovakia and the mysterious death of her brother Jan Masaryk, she emigrated at the end of 1948 and moved to the USA in 1950. Anna Masaryková (1911–1996) was Alice’s niece and TGM’s granddaughter. She was a Czech art historian, critic, and loyal employee of the National Gallery in Prague.
