Wenceslas Square - Art and Architecture

Art and Architecture

The two obvious landmarks of Wenceslas Square are at the southeast, uphill end: the 1885–1891 National Museum Building, designed by Czech architect Josef Schulz, and the statue of Wenceslas.

The mounted saint was sculpted by Josef Václav Myslbek in 1887–1924, and the image of Wenceslas is accompanied by other Czech patron saints carved into the ornate statue base: Saint Ludmila, Saint Agnes of Bohemia, Saint Prokop, and Saint Adalbert of Prague. The statue base, designed by architect Alois Dryák, includes the inscription: "Svatý Václave, vévodo české země, kníže náš, nedej zahynouti nám ni budoucím" ("Saint Wenceslas, duke of the Czech land, prince of ours, do not let perish us nor our descendants"). A memorable parody of this statue, created by David Černý, hangs in a Lucerna Palace gallery near the square.

Other significant buildings on the square include:

• Antonin Pfeiffer and Matěj Blecha's Palác Koruna office building and shopping center, #1–2, 1912–1914, with architectural sculpture by Vojtěch Sucharda
• Ludvík Kysela's Lindt Building, No. 4, an early work of architectural constructivism
• the BAŤA shoe store, No. 6, 1929
• Matěj Blecha and Emil Králíček's Adam Pharmacy, No. 8, 1911–1913
• Jan Kotěra's Peterka Building, No. 12, 1899–1900
• Pavel Janák's Hotel Juliš, No. 22, 1926
• Alois Dryák's Hotel Evropa, #25–27, 1905 redesign, with architectural sculptor Ladislav Šaloun
• Antonin Wiehl's Wiehl House, No. 34, 1896
• the Melantrich Building, No. 36, 1914, where Alexander Dubček and Václav Havel appeared together on its balcony in November 1989, a major event of the Velvet Revolution