Wenceslas Square is the centre of Prague’s new town (Nové Mesto) where is the home of the National Museum and a couple of other important heritages of the Czech nation. Actually Wenceslas Square is more like a boulevard rather than a square shape. Its around 750 meters long and covers around 45.000 square meters, more like a rectangle. It can be told without doubt the Wencelas Square is the centre of the Pgarue’s new town (Nové Mesto). There are many historical and important landmarks to see, places to eat local foods and shops to buy. Also, there are lots of high-class hotel in this area where you can stay.
Wenceslas Square: Hearth of The Prague
During history, Wenceslas Square was the home of many important events. Also, here was the centre of the demonstrations, celebrations and public activities. Square named after the St. Wenceslas who was the head of the saints of Bohemia. It is also in the World Heritage Site List as a part of Oldtown, Lesser Town and the New Town of Prague. The new town (Nové Mesto) was founded by the Bohemian King Charles IV in 1348. They intended to make the area to be the central area for markets, especially for the horses.
You can see the statue of the St. Wenceslas at the square and it is very important for the country’s history. Because Alois Jirasek who was the man read the independence proclamation of Czechoslovakia did this just in front of the statue on 28 October 1918. Also, on 16 January 1969, Jan Palach set fire on himself to protest the Warsaw Pact invasion of the country in 1968. Wenceslas Square witnessed a much more historical event during its history for longer than 700 years. But I think, a brief history about it will be enough for now.
Places to See at Wenceslas
I think it will be useful to give some information about the places, statues, building to see around Wenceslas Square. As you read above there are two main landmarks should be seen on the square; National Museum Building at the uphill end and statue of St. Wenceslas which was made by the famous Czech architect Josef Schulz. You can find the full list of places to see at Wenceslas Square below;
- Palac Koruna office building and shopping centre built between 1912-1914, designed by Antonin Pfeiffer and Matej Blecha (No:1-2)
- Lindt Building as an example of architectural constructivism, designed by Ludvik Kysela (No: 4)
- Bata shoe store build in 1929 (No: 6)
- Adam Pharmacy build between 1911-1913, designed by Matej Blecha and Emil Kralicek (No: 8)
- Peterka Building build between 1899-1900, designed by Jan Kotera (No: 12)
- Hotel Julis built-in 1926, designed by Pavel Janak (No: 22)
- Hotel Evropa built-in 1872 and designed by Alois Dryak, redesigned by Ladislav Saolun in 1905 (No: 25-27)
- Wiehl House built in 1896, designed by Antonin Wiehl (No: 34)
- Melantrich Building built-in 1914, designed by Alexander Dubcek and Vaclav Havel (No: 36)
Where is Wenceslas Square?
Wenceslas Square is at the very heart of the Prague city centre. Starting from National Museum of Prague and Prague main train station, Wenceslas Square covers an area up to the Mustek metro station. You won’t probably need but he official address of the Wenceslas Square is Václavské nám. 110 00 Praha 1.
How to Go to Wenceslas Square?
As I mentioned above Wenceslas is the centre of Prague’s New Town (Nové Mesto). If you are staying somewhere close to the centre you can take a little walk to reach the Wenceslas which would be very joyful through the history of Czech. To use public transport my suggestion is the take metro. The two major lines of the Prague metro system is just passing from under the Wenceslas. You can take the Yellow or Green line and get off at the Mustek station where is located at the northwest end of the square next to the Palac Koruna, Lindt Building and Bata shoe store.
Wenceslas Square Tours
Prague is one of the cities that offers you a variety of tours to join. If you want to discover Prague joining a tour of one of the best ways to do it. There are both private and public tours that you can join. Of course, you don’t need to join a tour to visit Wenceslas Square but it would be nice to learn the history of the importance of the district from a professional by paying a small price. You can find below three top-rated tours that you can join to discover the Wenceslas. Don’t forget to read the comment before buying any of them. Also, please share your experience with the tours on the comment section. So, I can update the information about them.
If you are looking more to read about Prague you may take a look at Prague city guide to find more. Also, please share your own thoughts and experiences about Wenceslas Square on the comment section to improve the quality of this content and help more to the people who are thinking to visit Prague.
Wenceslas Square FAQs
Wenceslas Square is a centre of Prague located between National Museum and Mustek metro station. Wenceslas Square can be described as a living centre of Prague with hotels, apartments, restaurants, bars, nightclubs and finance centres.
Wenceslas Square is only about 600 meters away from the Prague Old Town. It is possible to go the Wenceslas Square from Prague Old Town by 10 minutes of walk.
The easiest and fastest way to go to Wenceslas Square from
Vaclav Havel Airport Prague is to take a taxi which costs around 25 Euro and takes 20 minutes. Also, there are four different bus lines (119, 100,191, 910 Night Line) you get in from both Terminal One and Two.
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