St. Václav’s Day celebration draws 9,000 to square in Hradec Králové

Around 9,000 people took to the town square in Hradec Králové on Monday for the seventh annual St. Václav’s Day celebration. The celebration’s organisers said this year’s turnout had set the record for the event, which has a special focus on horses and equestrian spectacles. The highlight of the event was a traditional blessing of horses carried out by the town’s bishop; there was also an exhibition of horses, a display of western-style riding, and the arrival of the horse-drawn retinue of St. Václav himself.