The article is devoted to the ways of determining the directions in the texts from the Czechlands written between the 12th and 14th centuries and focuses on an analysis of two types of texts of different character and purpose - chronicles and charters. It first describes the symbolic meaning of the cardinal directions in medieval culture and traces its reflection in the texts from the Czech milieu. It follows the loss of the symbolic meaning of the cardinal directions in the later period and vulgarisation of the usage of their titles, which is manifested in the function of the descriptions of detailed situations dealing with everyday life. The author further deals with the other ways of marking certain directions, the most natural of which is perhaps marking according to the right and left hands. and Tomáš Klimek.