Prague Hotels, Apartments and Pensions database

Wenceslas Square is one of the main public squares in the city and is also a very important business and cultural centre in Prague’s New Town. Many historic monuments stood there, and Wenceslas Square has long been established as a place for demonstrations, celebrations and other public gatherings.

In the Middle Ages the square was called Horse Market, reflecting its purpose at that time. In the 19th century it was named Saint Wenceslas Square on the basis of a proposal by Karel Havlíček Borovský.

Aerial views show that Wenceslas Square is more of a boulevard than a square, with the shape of a 750 metre long rectangle. At one end is the Czech National Museum, and at the other is a pedestrian zone.

The square is dominated by a huge statue of Saint Wenceslas – the patron saint of the Czech Republic. It was created by Josef Václav Myslbek, taking him 36 years to complete. The statue is flanked by other Czech saints, and its base features the inscription: “Saint Wenceslas, Prince of the Czech Lands, our Duke, do not let us or our descendants perish.”

Wenceslas Square has always been important from a historical point of view. For example, in 1918 the declaration of Czechoslovak independence was read there by writer Alois Jirásek. When the Nazis invaded Czechoslovakia, they used the square for mass demonstrations, and a number of buildings there were destroyed during the Second World War.

Wenceslas Square was also the scene of an infamous suicide. In 1969 philosophy student Jan Palach set fire to himself in protest against the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.

The most significant events to take place on Wenceslas Square in recent years were undoubtedly those of the Velvet Revolution in 1989. Hundreds of thousands of students, workers and families from all over Czechoslovakia came to the square to show that there was no place for totalitarianism. During the revolution people showed that the country was no longer part of the Soviet Empire.

Today the square is full of shops, hotels, restaurants, offices, currency exchange booths and fast-food joints. You can buy souvenirs there, and as you make your way down Wenceslas Square you can see a large range of tourist products in the various shops lining it. These include Czech crystal and jewellery, t-shirts, postcards, pictures, books and many others. Wenceslas Square is special and it has a truely unique atmosphere in the early evening. But keep in mind that after dark it is not quite so safe, with strip clubs and prostitutes making the atmosphere less pleasant at times.