Some people say it’s the most beautiful library in the world–but it’s not on our tourist maps. The maps focus on the central areas, but the Strahov Monastery is farther out of the center, outside the borders of the maps. But we manage to determine from a very small map in one of our books the approximate location–at least good enough to figure out which train to take. We have three-day unlimited train passes, so getting on and off trains is very easy for us. And after all, once you’re on the right train, a monastery of such significance should be easy to spot, right?
Wrong.
So somewhere near the end of the line, when the car is almost empty, an elderly gentleman asks if we are lost, and can he help us find something. We tell him we’re looking for the Strahov Monastery, and he tells us that we’ve gone too far, and exactly how many stops we have to go back (three). We do as told, and find the monastery, which from the outside is quite modest. Only the spires of the church are visible from the street below.
We pay the fee to enter the library, which is on the second floor of one of the buildings. And indeed it is beautiful.
This is the “Philosophical Hall,” built in the late 1700s. My pictures gives a good idea of the room, but you can find the Picture To End All Pictures here. Zoom in for close-ups of the ceiling or of the books. Somehow, these old volumes tied a knot in my throat that doesn’t seem to want to go away.
There was, it turned out, also a second library room, known as the “Theological Hall,” that was built a hundred years earlier. If not so gracefully proportioned, it was most wonderfully decorated.
The monastery church, the Basilica of the Assumption, has been rebuilt a number of times and now looks to be of a similar Baroque vintage as the Theological Hall.
After enjoying these sights, a nearby restaurant offers a view of a different kind.
We had a dinner reservation elsewhere that evening, so we planned to go back for dinner the next evening. Alas, the weather turned cold and windy and rainy. But someday–who knows?–we may yet return. Especially now that we know where to get off the train.
