National Library of the Czech Republic, National library in Prague, Czech Republic
The National Library of the Czech Republic occupies the Clementinum, a former Jesuit college in Prague's Old Town, where about half of its roughly 6 million documents are held. Its Baroque Philosophical Hall has a frescoed barrel vault, two tiers of dark wooden bookcases on twisted columns, a carved gallery railing and a diagonal checkerboard stone floor, with globes and glass-fronted cabinets along the aisle.
The Jesuit college was established in the early 1600s and gradually grew into one of the largest educational centers in Central Europe. After the dissolution of the Jesuit order the institution passed to Charles University and was later transformed into the main national repository during the 20th century.
The complex takes its name from the former Jesuit college that once occupied these buildings during the Counter-Reformation period. Today researchers and students work in the reading rooms surrounded by centuries-old volumes and decorative woodwork that recall the institution's scholarly traditions.
Visitors should be prepared for staircases and narrow corridors since the building spans multiple levels without modern elevator access. Public areas lie separate from reading rooms so it is wise to check ahead about guided tours if you want to see restricted spaces.
The library holds the Codex Vyssegradensis and the Passional of Abbes Kunigunde, its most precious medieval manuscripts. In 2005 it received the inaugural Jikji Prize from UNESCO's Memory of the World Programme for digitising old texts, a project begun in 1992 with the Czech company AiP Beroun.
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