The Story of Saint Wenceslas

The story of Duke Wenceslas, the heir, holy protector and eternal ruler of the Czech land, continues to fascinate us even after more than a millennium. It is encoded deep in our blood; even though we may not perceive him in everyday life, we are subconsciously drawn to him, and in moments of anxiety, when it seems that our national existence is threatened, we turn to him with hope.

The creative duo Otomar Dvořák and Josef Pepson Snětivý have attempted to reconstruct Wenceslas's life and place his actions in a broader international context. The authors say: “Take our story as just one of many possibilities. However, it is based on the maximum amount of available data; the rest of the story is the work of our creative imagination. But not a self-serving and boundless one. Some of the hypotheses, even those published by renowned historians, seem absurd to us: for example, that Wenceslas was killed by mistake in a random drunken brawl, or that he never existed at all and his figure was created as a Christian counterpart to the pagan god Svantovít. We, on the other hand, have tried to be as serious as possible, we wanted to understand the thinking of the people of that time, to empathise with their feelings…”

Otomar Dvořák has compiled his story as a documentary novel, a fictionalised narrative interspersed with factual data, quotes and the author's reflections. He based it on his own script for a six-part television series, which will be broadcast in early 2025.

The second part of the book was written by Josef Pepson Snětivý, who approached the national saint in a slightly different way, which is, however, typical for him. He set out into the “land of St. Wenceslas” as an eager pilgrim, who humbly walks on foot through “thorns and hawthorns”, from one trace of the saint to another, paying no heed to effort and fatigue, obsessed with the desire to describe, document and capture everything in photographs. To this, he adds a lot of period data and personal observations.

The authors hope that this book will inspire their readers to reflect, but also to gain new perspectives on the beauty of our country and the misty beginnings of its colourful history. And they will be happy if, like them, you become pilgrims in the “land of St. Wenceslas”.