UBC July 2026 - Municipal Library of Prague

Photo Credit: Guerrero De la Luz on Pexels

A total of 44 library branches are scattered throughout Prague, offering a wide range of services and activities for locals and visitors alike. Yet despite all these options, most tourists make a beeline for one particular spot: Municipal Library of Prague.

Why? Because it is one of the largest libraries in Prague, with extensive collections for children and adults, quiet reading areas, and a long cultural tradition?

Not really.

Most visitors come for one thing only: the famous book tower.

The installation, called Idiom, is located in the foyer of the library and has become one of Prague’s most photographed indoor attractions. Created in 1998 by Slovak artist Matej Krén, the cylindrical tower is constructed from more than 8,000 real books stacked into a towering column. Mirrors placed at the top and bottom create the illusion of an endless tunnel of books stretching infinitely in both directions. The artwork is intended to symbolize the limitless nature of knowledge, stories, and human memory.

What is fascinating is that the installation has been there for decades. For years, it seems to have existed as an interesting piece of library art that many people barely noticed. 

Then social media discovered it and suddenly it became one of Prague’s must see Instagram spots, complete with queues that can apparently stretch to two hours or more during busy periods.

We did not join the crowds.

Several people online mention that you can enter through the side and glimpse the tower from another angle without joining the main queue, but we did not investigate that either.

So this is less of a detailed review and more a confirmation of modern tourist behavior. Put an unusual visual attraction on Instagram often enough, and people will happily stand in line for an hour just to recreate the same photo thousands of others already posted before them. The funny part is that there is not even an entrance fee to see the installation. It is completely free, yet judging by the length of the queue, I am fairly convinced many people would happily pay for the experience anyway.

And honestly, there is something strangely entertaining about that, too.

The irony is that while crowds gather around a tower made of books, relatively few seem interested in the actual library surrounding it. Prague remains full of hidden courtyards, quiet cafés, riverside walks, and lesser known corners that can be enjoyed without any queue at all. 

But perhaps that is exactly why the book tower has become so popular. In an age of endless scrolling, it offers the perfect combination of visual impact, cultural credibility, and social media proof that you were there.

FOMO is a powerful travel motivator indeed - to some. Have you been guilty of it?