Wenceslas Square

It looks like a boulevard, not a square — 750 meters long and 60 meters wide, more Champs-Elysees than piazza. For centuries it was called the Horse Market, because that's literally what happened here: people bought and sold horses. In 1848, during the revolutionary fever sweeping Europe, the market was renamed after the patron saint of Bohemia, and Wenceslas Square became the stage for Czech history's biggest moments.

This is where Czechoslovak independence was proclaimed on October 28, 1918. This is where Soviet tanks rolled in to crush the Prague Spring on August 21, 1968. And this is where, in January 1969, a 20-year-old student named Jan Palach set himself on fire to protest the Soviet occupation. His self-immolation shocked the world and made him a martyr — a small memorial cross marks the spot near the National Museum where he fell.

Twenty years later, in November 1989, half a million people packed Wenceslas Square during the Velvet Revolution. Vaclav Havel stood on a balcony overlooking the crowd, jangling his keys in the air — a gesture that became the symbol of Czechoslovakia's peaceful overthrow of communism. Within weeks, Havel went from dissident playwright to president. The protesters were giving flowers to riot police and playing guitars. They called it the Velvet Revolution because it was that smooth.

Today the square is lined with hotels, shops, and the imposing National Museum at its southeastern end. It's more commercial than historical on the surface, but the ghosts of 1918, 1968, and 1989 are everywhere if you know where to look.