Strahov Monastery

This guide to Strahov Monastery in Prague follows the gamble Abbot Václav Mayer made in 1782, as Emperor Joseph II began dissolving monasteries across the empire: instead of hiding the library's books, he built the grandest hall he could and filled it with anything that looked useful to the state. It takes you through the Philosophical Hall's carved walnut shelving and Anton Maulbertsch's ceiling fresco, and into the cabinet of curiosities next door, with its narwhal tusk once sold as a unicorn's horn.