Wenceslas Square isn't a square and it isn't really about the square — it's a boulevard with another, quieter Prague threaded behind it in covered arcades. This is the New Town done two ways: the wide public stage where the country keeps making its history, and the pasáže (covered arcades) where it hides from the weather.
Start at the top, under the National Museum, and walk down. Past the svatý Václav statue — the rallying point for every Czech crowd of the last century, with Jan Palach's memorial set into the pavement below — and the mid-square balconies where Havel and Dubček spoke in November 1989. Then leave the boulevard. Duck into the Lucerna pasáž, built by Havel's own grandfather, where David Černý's Horse hangs from the ceiling: St Wenceslas astride an upside-down, dead horse, the funniest piece of political sculpture in the city.
The arcades connect — Lucerna through to Světozor, then out a back door into the walled Franciscan Garden, a green pocket the crowds never find. Come out near Můstek, look back up at the Mucha-era facades, and take the metro from under your feet. Half this walk is indoors, which is the point on a grey day.
