While wandering around Prague, I decided to go into the Strahov Monastery. It is not high on the list of attractions in a city that includes so many amazing towers, castles, bridges and churches…but I found myself right next to it one day and decided to pay the entry fee to have a look around. It is mainly a museum these days, fairly plain in exterior appearance, but it contains two amazing interior rooms. This one is the library, known as the Theological Hall completed in 1679. 

You can’t actually enter the room as ropes keep you restricted to the outside hallway, but from the entrance you can look down its long corridor and view the ornate ceiling, paintings and bookcases. Based on the simple design of the rest of the building, I was completely surprised to walk down a hall an find this! 

In order to take photographs inside, you must donate 5 euros to the monastery. I happily made the donation and consider it money well spent as this is one of the coolest rooms I have seen. Exploring lesser-known attractions occasionally results in surprise finds like this one…especially in cities as rich in history as Prague…and can provide unique opportunities to capture something that few others have.