Jolly Old King Wenceslas

St. Wenceslas's Crown
(Contains the Largest Sapphire in the World)

I thought I’d post a quick fact that we’ve learned through our travels in the Czech Republic that I found fascinating.  I’m sure most, if not all, of you have at least a passing familiarity with the Christmas carol about Old King Wenceslas.  Until this week, I didn’t realize he was a real person.  Yet, not only is he real, he is of the utmost importance in the Czech Republic.

King Wenceslas was once the king of Bohemia (the Czech Republic) and later made into a saint, after his younger brother killed him in hopes of ascending to the throne in his place—a dream that was thwarted before he could ever feel the weight of the crown on his head.  St. Wenceslas is the most important saint to the Czech Republic.  What’s more, St. Wenceslas often recognized as the patron saint of beer!

At this point, I should probably enlighten you about another interesting piece of beer-saint information.  One of the lesser known Czech beers that is still (sometimes) available in the US is called Gambrinus.  Gambrinus, which is made in Plzen by Pilsner Urquell, is named after the original patron saint of beer.  However, due to St. Wenceslas’s importance in the area, he is more often cited as the patron saint of beer.  That’s all for now, I just thought that we’d share that interesting tidbit of Czech history/lore.


The crown jewels of the Czech Republic (A fake shown above) are kept under lock and key in Prague.  When I say under lock and key, I mean it.  It's in a safe, in an undisclosed location, and the safe is guarded by 7 locks, opened by 7 keys, held by the 7 most powerful offices in the country.  The crown jewels are only taken out once every 5 years to be paraded around the city.  St. Wenceslas is also buried in a tomb in the Prague Castle, but unfortunately it was under repair and we didn't get to see it.


Pretty cool tidbit that means we will always look at that Christmas carol in an entirely new light.