Places named after the first Czech saint

St Ludmila is not just commemorated by churches, statues, paintings... Her saintly legacy has prompted bells to be cast and bastions, chapels and streets built in her name. Do you know where they are in Prague?

Ludmilina [Ludmila's] street can be found in Prague 8, near the Libeň Synagogue. It has borne this name since 1895, when this short street first appeared. The name was, however bowdlerised to Lidmilina in 1940 and did not return to its original version until 1960.  Under the red enamelled placard with the name of the street there is also a blue additional sign, by which the Prague 8 City District signifies places notable for historical figures.

The Castle District street Na baště sv. Ludmily is all that remains to remind of the former Baroque fortifications of Prague Castle. The Marian walls, built between 1653 and 1730, stretched down Pohořelec and Petřín toward the Vltava River. The pentagonal floor plan of St Ludmila's bastion XVII is hinted at by today’s arrangement of residential houses and villas.

The walls of Vyšehrad also have their Ludmila. From the boundary wall of bastion XXXVI, a quite magical view of Podolí and the Vltava opens up to the visitor. Incidentally, in Vyšehrad we can also meet our saint in the largest underground space of the Baroque fortifications, in the Gorlice Hall, which was built as a rallying point for troops, and a provisions and ordnance store. Since the 1990s, it has found a much more godly application - there are 6 original statues here from Charles Bridge, among them the statue of St Ludmila by Matthias Bernard Braun. A third-time-lucky find of St Ludmila awaits on the corner of the Vyšehrad cemetery near the Basilica of Sts Peter and Paul. The Baroque statue, probably by Michael J. J. Brokoff is not in plain sight, and stands in a small Neo-Romanesque chapel.

Ludmila also resounds with a metallic C#2-pitched voice from St Wenceslas church in Vršovice, ever since 1995. This bell's predecessor, hung in 1930 and along with three other bells named in honour of Czech patrons, was requisitioned in WWII. The new Ludmila bell, cast by the Dytrych family from Brodek u Přerova, is 76cm across and weighs almost 300kg. Its upper edge is decorated with the inscription 'Saint Ludmila, add your voice to plead for our Czech nation'.

Her newest little sister is waiting to be hung in Church of St Havel. Two bells intended for this Old Town church were made at the Grassmayr bellfoundry in Innsbruck last summer. The Ludmila bell, weighing 45kg and 38cm across, is tuned to C#3 and will replace the temporary steel bell from 1925. Together with the larger bell, Jan Nepomuk, this bell will complement the bells of Mary, Havel and Wenceslas. The blessing of the new bells is set for Sunday, April 11.