As a centre of culture for hundreds of years, Prague has seen its fair share of interesting installations, and that remains true to this day. There’s plenty of intriguing options to choose from when planning your perfect Prague itinerary, whether you’re morbidly curious, interested in kinks, or just want to see something memorable. Whilst some of these supposedly strange attractions are more concerned with style and shock factor over substance, there’s a tonne of other hidden gems that will satiate your need for weirdness. We’ve rounded up seven of the best below for your perusal.
Anonymous Bar Prague
Social activists who love sipping on cocktails will feel right at home in this V for Vendetta inspired bar, where mixology and anarchy meet in a delicious crash of concepts. Whilst Anonymous Bar Prague takes the theme incredibly seriously, with all bartenders masked and the film playing on a loop in the background, the real star of the show is the cocktail menu.
The founders and brains behind the bar, whilst obviously sincere in their love of V for Vendetta and the Anonymous movement, are also incredibly skilled cocktail makers, and their themed drinks are some of the best in the city, proving that accusations of the place being too gimmicky come from a place of ignorance.
The V’s Blood cocktail is a particular favourite among regulars, but all of the drinks on offer are innovative and tasty in their own ways. If Anonymous Bar is too full, as it can get on the weekend, there are two outposts created by the brains behind this operation just a short walk away: Shrink’s Office and Bulletproof Bar.
Sex Machines Museum Prague
With over three floors of not safe for work tools and equipment, a visit to the Sex Machines Museum in Prague will teach you all about the things you thought your grandparents weren’t privy to, but likely invented. Open for almost two decades now, the museum takes advantage of Prague’s liberal reputation with their in your face exhibits and unashamed mission to teach the world that, no, we didn’t invent sex in the sixties.
It’s not all phalic objects and painful looking contraptions though: there’s a full replica of an old, black and white erotic theatre, and plenty of informative exhibits about the history of human sexuality. Not everything in the museum was in wide use, though; some of the more gnarly exhibits consist of erotic instruments that were never mass produced, but merely patented.
A cornucopia of sex positivity and information about how we’ve always done it, the Sex Machines Museum Prague is definitely an experience you won’t forget.
Museum of Senses
The Czech’s have a long tradition of living in the absurd and the symbolic, from Kafka’s nihilistic magical realism to the anti-establishment surrealism of Věra Chytilová. The Museum of Senses in Prague continues this obsession with the weird and allows you to step through the looking glass into a world you might not really understand but will enjoy.
The Museum of Senses plays around with perspectives to remind you that this world isn’t all we see, and to remind you that even your own two eyes can deceive you. The optical illusions are the most striking, but as you can tell from the name the museum has exhibits that allow you to play with your sense of reality across all senses. Some of the favourite attractions include the adrenaline-inducing Vortex tunnel, the musical park where everything turns into melody, and the boundless infinity mirror room.
They don’t just focus on the “big five” senses that we’re all taught about in school either, with exhibits on everything from magnetoreception to our sense of time. If you’re interested in changing perspectives, how senses feed into our reality, and how your thoughts and beliefs are sometimes at the mercy of factors outside of your control, this metaphysical mind-melding museum is a must-visit.
Sedlec Ossuary
The more morbidly curious among Prague travellers will have definitely heard of this church, which is about an hour away from Prague by car. Although there are plenty of gorgeous, impressive churches within the city limits proper, Sedlec Ossuary, or the Prague Bone Church (often called that despite being outside of the capital city) is both unique and harrowing, in the best possible way. If it wasn’t obvious from the nickname, Sedlec Ossuary is a church that was decorated with the bones of over 40,000 humans.
Although from the outside it looks like a standard Gothic construction, when you’re swept inside you see everything from a chandelier of bones (which contains at least one of each of the roughly 210 bones in the human body) to a bone made coat of arms. The church’s history is surprisingly tame, with the surplus of human bone as a result of the church allegedly having holy soil from Golgotha in Jerusalem brought to its grounds, which meant an influx of the Christians desperate to be buried there.
In the 19 century, the remains were used for decorative purposes, and that’s how the building got to where it is today. Morbid, yes, but the church is surprisingly peaceful, in spite of the human remains staring down at you from every conceivable angle.
Encryption Game
Puzzle heads and those who just like a good adventure should have a look at this mysterious website, where encryption games are posted weekly or even more often. Making use of everything from Morse code to crossword puzzles and origami, taking part in these Prague based puzzles will add a truly unique dimension to your holiday, and allow you to see parts of the city that no guidebook would ever think to mention.
The games take place all over the city and the surrounding areas, as well as on the internet, so you can play on the go too. The games are incredibly varied in scope: some are straight forward puzzles, whilst others have multiple, interlocking parts that may end up being dead ends or useless for solving the larger puzzle.
Games themselves are organised into difficulty levels, so even if you’re a novice and just like the idea of playing you can join a game that you can enjoy and not get frustrated with. Have a look on the website to see which games are going on during your trip: some last only a day, whereas some are weeklong affairs, so there’s something for everyone.
Strahov Stadium
Once the largest stadium in the world and a monument to Communist attempts at cultural domination, Strahov Stadium is a behemoth of a structure. It was originally built for massive displays of synchronised gymnastics that would put the opening ceremony for Beijing 2008 to shame, and currently, it’s used as a training pitch for the local football team, Slava Prague, but generally it’s an empty and surreal space that will intrigue even the most intrepid of urban explorers.
If you come up to have a poke around (especially at night), you’ll be able to see the structure in all its massive, creepy glory. It’s worth a trip for the history of the space alone but seeing where a quarter of a million people once came in and cheered for propaganda is quite the surreal experience as well.
There are occasional concerts here for massive bands (think Pink Floyd), but on the whole, it’s a unique piece of cultural history that you can have all to yourself, if you time it right.
Cross Club
If you really want to get a taste of alternative Czech culture, then Cross Club is a must-visit during your trip to Prague. The multi-use space hosts everything from hardcore trance nights to poetry readings, and no matter what day you go to visit you’re sure to have your cultural horizons expanded.
Although not all shows and events are suitable for all ages, there are afternoon sessions for kid-friendly programming, so you can take the whole family. If you’re feeling peckish after taking it all in, they’ve also recently opened a café that uses sustainable ingredients and techniques to pump out great food.
Need a few beers after that heavy dose of weird and wonderful attractions? Our beer lover’s guide to Prague will sort you out.
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