Beware! In Prague, you’ll find not one, but two sublime Baroque libraries! In my opinion, this is the third classic paying visit to Prague, after the Castle and the synagogues in the Jewish Quarter. In fact, I recommend that you book the Clementinum in advance of your trip. Capacity is limited! Reservations here.
Good to know : In both cases, you won’t be able to wander around the library because of the heritage value of the books and globes on display. Either way, it’s well worth a visit!
The baroque Clementinum library
In Prague’s Old Town, right next to the Charles Bridge , you’ll find the Clementinum (Klementinum). Albert Einstein taught here, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart played here. It is the city’s largest architectural complex after the Castle (5 courtyards on 2 hectares) and a national cultural monument. Today, it’s also the National Library (reading room in the former summer refectory).
Here’s what you’ll see:
A baroque library room (1722)
One of the most beautiful in the world. The library, designed by the great architect Kilián Ignác Dienzenhofer and visited by Mozart in his day, houses some 27,000 original books, most of them theological or scientific, the majority in Latin.
Legend has it that the Jesuits had only one book with them when they arrived in Prague!
In the center of the room, you’ll see these globes. Above all, you’ll see incredible frescoes on the theme of science and art!
The library’s most precious book
This is the Vyšehrad Codex (or Evangelium of King Vratislav). It is often considered one of the crown jewels. During the Second World War, the manuscript was moved to Karlštejn Castle. Today, its market value is estimated at 36 million euros, and it is kept in a safe and hidden place.
To visit the Clementinum Baroque Library, click here!
The library is accessible free of charge with the Prague Visitor Pass
You’ll also see an astronomical tower
This is incidentally the country’s oldest meteorological station. After 172 steep steps, you’ll have a lovely panoramic view of Prague. The tower, 68 m high, is a must-see, with the lead statue of Atlas supporting the celestial vault at its summit. From 1775 to the present day, temperatures and rainfall in the capital have been systematically recorded here. Prague thus boasts the longest continuous series of meteorological observations in Europe.
Visit the Meridian Room
The Meridian Room (above the Baroque library and on the 2nd floor of the tower) is where measurements and calculations were carried out (numerous dials and measuring instruments).
Note the taut rope marking the Prague meridian (even more precise than the line on the ground in Old Town Square at the foot of the Marian column).
A small chapel of mirrors
Also known as the Chapel of the Annunciation, it hosts daily classical concerts (info here) in an enchanting setting of stucco and mirrors.
A few facts about the Clementinum:
The Clementinum is a former Jesuit college built between the end of the 16th century and 1726 by the Society of Jesus, which came to recatholicize predominantly Protestant Bohemia in 1556.
- The Clementinum was preceded by a Dominican convent destroyed by the Hussites.
- The complex owes its name to the St. Clement’s Church (don’t miss the pretty St. Saviour’s Church, which also organizes concerts, info here).
- The prestigious Jesuit college merged with the Protestant Charles University after the Battle of White Mountain (1620). The Clementinum became a veritable academic, spiritual and scientific center, with its own incredible library.
- A national monument, the Clementinum has the same status as the Castle or the Charles Bridge.
Tip: Crossing it is also a nice shortcut between Charles Bridge and Old Town Square, allowing you to avoid tourist-crowded Karlova Street (Charles Street). This is always the route I take when I’m in the area. I take the opportunity to take a look at the pretty sundials in the courtyards.
Tip: the Clementinum is easy to spot!
Look along the right bank of the Vltava River and try to spot the astronomical tower, which you can identify by the statue of Atlas at the top. It’s right there!
Clementinum (Klementinum)
Daily 9am-7pm (8pm Apr.-Sept.)
Price: 380 CZK or just over 15 EUR (reduced price 230 CZK or just over 9 EUR for children aged 6-15 or over 65, 300 CZK or 12 EUR for 16-26 year-olds)
Good to know: The tour lasts 50 min
Strahov Baroque Library
The Strahov Baroque Library is actually two libraries:
The 17th-century philosophical room
42,000 original old books, including Diderot’s Encyclopédie, and superb ceiling frescoes depicting humanity’s struggle for knowledge. It also contains a gift from Napoleon’s second wife, a wooden library with gilded details, housing botanical works and a Louvre catalog.
The 18th-century theological room
18,000 religious texts, with its locked display cabinets of forbidden books or libri prohibiti on the upper level, its 17th-century globes and, of course, the superb frescoes adorning the majestic ceiling, make Strahov’s Baroque library one of the most astonishing in the world.
The oldest book in the library
It, too, is housed in a vault. It’s the Strahov Evangeliary, which contains the Latin texts of the four Gospels and was created in 860, in the famous convent of Saint-Martin de Tours.
More about Strahov Monastery:
- Nestled at the top of Prague’s Petřín hill (for this reason, it is also known as “Zion’s Mountain”).
- Strahov Monastery is the city’s second oldest monastery.
- Built in 1140 for the Premonstratensian order (dispossessed of the abbey by the Communists between 1952 and 1989, who transformed it into a museum of literature), the building has been rebuilt several times.
It’s not the latter that attracts visitors, but rather its two magnificent libraries and the cabinet of curiosities, which contains a tea set hidden in a book, a dodo bird, a narwhal tusk, cannonballs dating from the Swedish occupation at the end of the Thirty Years’ War, insects, minerals…
Tip: the Strahov Monastery is easy to spot! Look along the left bank of the Vltava River, and you’ll see two white towers standing between Petřín’s “Eiffel Tower” and the Castle – it’s there!
Good to know :
- On the other side of the Strahov courtyard is the St. Norbert brewery, named after the order’s patron saint, where brown and amber beers have been brewed since the 17th century!
- From the terrace behind the beautifully decorated Church of the Assumption of the Virgin (1150), where Mozart once played the organ, you can enjoy a magnificent panoramic view of the orchards and all of Prague.
Strahov Monastery
Daily 9am-7pm
Price: 190 CZK, just under 8 EUR (reduced price of 90 CZK, just under 4 EUR for children aged 6-17 or over 65).
You can buy tickets online here or at the ticket office on site here. Possibility of taking a larger tour than just the library, with access to the painting gallery.
Strahovské nádvoří 1
Streetcar : lines 22 and 23 stop Pohořelec