We started our day at the Strahov Monastery manned by Norbertine friars who came to Prague in the 12th century from France, selling their services as bibliophiles (librarians) and scribes (copies of books). Strahov means “guard” and the beautiful Strahov Monastery, overlooking the city of Prague, was the spiritual and physical guard of the city and castle.   A special tour had been arranged for us and we were able to physically enter the two beautiful halls of their library, one for theological works and one for philosophical works. The library contains over 45,000 volumes of working dating back to the 10th century, demonstrating how the church institutions were the depositories and guardians of much of the European culture. In the Hall of Theology, which held 20,000 books stacked two deep, we learned how the friars would determine whether a book was acceptable to the church or needed to be archived as a forbidden book because of the content, which was anything which challenged the teachings of the Church, such as Copernicus and Galileo’s theories. Mr. Barmore talked about how when knowledge confirms what you already believe, then it is great, but if new knowledge conflicts there is often a problem. Knowledge can be explosive and provocative because knowledge is not always comfortable.

Kamila also impressed upon us the value of a single book to people in this time period by showing us a statue in one of the halls. The man is carrying his book around in a pouch, because having a book was like having a diamond, she said, and one did not leave it behind.

Kamila showed us one of Mr. Barmore’s favorite pieces of furniture: a book wheel. Researchers could open a book and be reading one text and then need to reference a different passage from another book, so put that book on the wheel, until they needed to refer to yet another passage from an additional book which could be opened and placed on the wheel, etc. In this way, the researcher could turn the wheel and read different relevant passages. This was a precursor of what we would call in our digital age, hypertext, whereby we are linked in one document to an additional document which can add additional information or clarify something in the original document.

As we stood there in awe, we talked about how special these books are and that the survival of these works is extraordinary. Anyone who has a love for reading and the physical book, would feel privileged to be amongst these works – we certainly felt that today in the Strahov Library.

From the top of Castle Hill we had wonderful panoramic views of the city of Prague on a chilly spring day to enjoy the walk down the hill into the Lesser Town. During our walk we were able to see the Schwarzenberg Palace, the Archbishop’s Palace and the Sternberk Palace. The Archbishop’s Palace had been built above the royal palace and it was therefore higher than the royal palace signifying the superior authority of the church over the secular ruler.

We visited the former Royal Palace dating from the 12th century where Mr. Barmore told us the story of how horse manure and an event in this building called defenestration, which led to the disastrous Thirty Years War in Europe. Continuing down towards Lesser Town, the kids ate lunch at McDonald’s and the adults ate at a lovely pizza restaurant, before continuing our walk. We stopped at the John Lennon Wall which is a memorial to freedom of expression in Prague. Kamila told us how under Communism, people would write messages on the wall in violation of the law, and then the government would constantly be painting over the graffiti. Yet in no time, new statements and art appeared, and this wall continues to represent free speech. We also saw the site where people in love have attached locks to the bridge as in many other cities.

We then climbed the stairs from Lesser Town to the Charles Bridge which connects the two sides of Prague: Castle District / Lesser Town and   Old Town / New Town / Jewish Quarter. Walking over the bridge provided us with incredible views of this beautiful city and Kamila told us several stories connected with the statues and the bridge.

We spent some free time in the Old Town Square shopping before heading back to the hotel to relax before dinner.