Prague Metro Stations

Map of Prague's metro in 2015
Map of Prague’s metro in 2015

A few days ago my friend and I had a metro-oriented debate provoked by the name of I.P.Pavlova metro station. A friend of mine happened to move to Prague just a week ago, and not being familiar with Czech language‘s 7 cases yet, he associated Prague’s I.P.Pavlova station with the name of a former Russian ballet dancer  Anna Pavlova (this same friend’s favourite dessert Pavlova was actually named after this Russian ballerina, by the way). However, I’ve been living in Prague long enough to know, that I.P.Pavlov is  the name of the Russian (what an irony) physiologist Ivan Petrovich Pavlov.

The one who researched human reflexes, remember? Nevertheless, this incident made me think it’s not the first time I’ve been wondering, what the names of certain Prague’s metro stations mean. As curiosity has been killing me, I started my own small research and here’s what I’ve found out.

Guide on how to name a metro station

The recipe of how to successfully name a metro station in Prague includes taking the name of the nearest main street/square or area in general and transforming it into a new metro station’s name. At least, this is how Vyšehrad, Pankrác, Budějovická, Chodov and I.P.Pavlova stations’ names were created. Same principle was used for the newest Prague’s A-line metro stations: Nemocnice Motol and Nádraží Veleslavín, which names correspond to their location.

Prague metro train
Prague metro train arriving at Prosek station

Moskevská = Anděl?!

Kosmonautů, Budovatelů, Leninova. Do these names ring a bell? No surprise, these were the former names of Prague’s metro stations before 1989. You can definitely sense the communist era background in these names. One can hardly imagine how confusing it was, when one day, on the 21st of February 1990, most of the stations’ names got changed.

Gottwaldova metro station was transformed into Vyšehrad, Budovatelů became Chovov, Moskevská – Anděl metro station in Prague 5. An interesting fact, in Anděl metro station vestibule you can still see a bronze sculpture with a huge sign Moskva-Praha (Moscow-Prague). Another worth-mentioning fact is even metro stations projects were renamed back then. For instance, Invalidovna metro station was originally supposed to be called Hakenova and Českomoravská station should have been named after president Zápotocký.

Prague metro in 2020
Prague metro in 2020

Past vs. Future

The very last modification of Prague‘s metro map happened in April 2015, when 4 new stations were opened at the green A-line. But what should we expect in the future? There have been speculations regarding a completely new metro line built from scratch – metro line D. This project first came to light several years before the Velvet Revolution, and naturally back then it significantly differed from the current project, which has already been approved by Prague’s municipality in 2013.

The construction is supposed to start in 2017 with the final stage of the project scheduled for 2022. The current plan is to build this new metro line in two phases. The first stretch of 8 stations would connect the Pankrác station (line C) and Depo Písnice (line D). The second phase of the construction will only be 2 stations, connecting line D with Náměstí Míru station.

Safe travel around Prague

Fortunately, there has been no regime transformation and all the metro stations’ names remain the same. One can easily get familiar with a total of 61 metro stations on 3 metro lines in Prague. All you need to take care of is to get a valid ticket/transport pass to travel around Prague safely.  Keep in mind, other means of public transport are highly developed as well, so if you get bored by metro trains, switch to trams or buses instead. Safe and fun travels.

Annie Fed

4 thoughts on “Prague Metro Stations

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  2. First off I want to say excellent blog! I had a quick question that I’d like to ask if you
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    1. Hi Hosea,

      thank you very much for your lovely comment! I can’t speak for my colleagues but I have the same problem as you whenever I want to write something on my personal blog (which is one of the many reasons why I haven’t updated it in months) 😀
      However, writing here is my job so it’s something that has to be done. Maybe you can try to give yourself a deadline? Some people say it really helps them. But I guess it’s different for everyone and everyone needs to find what suits them 🙂

      Kind regards,

      Anna

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