Wenceslas Square

The very first attraction we visited in Prague was Wenceslas Square (Vaclavske namesti).

The square is considered to be one of the largest and most beautiful squares in Europe. It’s a square with a large number of amazingly beautiful buildings currently containing various restaurants, shops and offices.

Formerly the square was known as Koňský trh (Horse Market) for its periodic accommodation of horse markets. Only in 1848 it was named after Vaclav, the patron saint of the Czech state.

In modern history Vaclavske namesti is considered to be one of the symbols of Prague and the centre of political life of the modern Czech Republic.

We started our tour around the square with a very interesting and attractive café called Red Tram. We found the concept of the café very interesting. But unfortunately we didn’t manage to attend it and even drink beer in it, although we were drinking much of it during our trip in Prague.

But we attended McDonald’s located nearby. Of course it couldn’t be regarded as a very important event but it was the place where we had the best coffee in Prague.

After that we made our way toward the Wenceslas Monument and National Museum. Wenceslas Monument is a statue of Vaclav sitting on a horse. The monument was made by Josef Vaclav Myslbek. Work on the monument was started in 1887 and only in 1924 the monument was completed. Apart from the statue of St. Wenceslas, the monument consists of statues of other Czech patrons around him.

The inscription on the St. Wenceslas Monument reads: “Saint Wenceslas, duke of the Czech land, prince of ours, do not let perish us nor our descendants” 200 years before the monument was created there had been another monument to Vaclav made by Jan Bendl. Today you can see it in Vyšehrad Gardens.

Behind the monument you can see a majestic building of National Museum. It’s a huge building constructed between 1885 and 1890. As for exterior and interior we found them magnificent but as for the museum collections there was nothing peculiar about them, so we decided not to visit it.

After we passed the narrow streets of Nove Mesto we found ourselves in Karlovo Square.