Anděl is a busy crossing and its immediate neighbourhood in Prague 5

Prague 5

Prague 5, formally the Prague Municipal District , is a second-tier municipality in Prague. The administrative district of the same name consists of municipal districts Prague 5 and Slivenec....

's central quarter of Smíchov

Smíchov

Smíchov is a district of Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, and is part of Prague 5. It is located on the west bank of the Vltava river....

. The name means angel

Angel

Angels are mythical beings often depicted as messengers of God in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles along with the Quran. The English word angel is derived from the Greek ἄγγελος, a translation of in the Hebrew Bible ; a similar term, ملائكة , is used in the Qur'an...

 in the Czech language

Czech language

Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century...

 and originates from the 19th century U zlatého anděla (Golden Angel) pub originally named after an angel statue in front of it. The pub's awning painting of an angel was preserved after its demolition and is now displayed nearby.

Anděl is an important traffic center. Prague Metro

Prague Metro

The Prague Metro is a subway, underground public transportation network in Prague, Czech Republic. It is the fastest means of transportation around the city and serves about one and a half million passengers a day, which makes it the seventh busiest metro system in Europe and the most-used in the...

's Line B

Line B (Prague Metro)

Line B is a line on Prague Metro. Chronologically the third to open, it was first opened in 1985 and continued to expand in the 1990s. Currently it is the longest line in the network with 24 stations and of track.-History:-External links:...

 runs beneath it, the area being served by Anděl Station and tram

Tram

A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...

way lines in north-south and east-west direction cross there (lines 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 14 and 20). Otherwise, it is a pedestrian zone.

After a redevelopment in the late 1990s, when French architect Jean Nouvel

Jean Nouvel

Jean Nouvel is a French architect. Nouvel studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and was a founding member of Mars 1976 and Syndicat de l'Architecture...

 designed an office building called Zlatý Anděl (Golden Angel) above the Metro station with a picture of an angel from the movie Wings of desire

Wings of Desire

Wings of Desire is a 1987 Franco-German romantic fantasy film directed by Wim Wenders. The film is about invisible, immortal angels who populate Berlin and listen to the thoughts of the human inhabitants and comfort those who are in distress...

 and quotes from Rilke on its facade, Anděl became one of the busiest parts of the city, with many offices of national and international companies. Across it (in the north-west quadrant), there's one of Prague's biggest shopping malls, called Nový Smíchov with the biggest underground garage of the central city that was built for the shopping mall and multiplex (cinema) Palace Cinemas; another multiplex, Cinestar (former Village Cinemas), is nearby in the Anděl City complex.
Anděl is a gathering place for young Czechs, but also for a lot of homeless people that beg for money off the people walking there.