Matej Kren – the author of the sculpture in the Municipal Library

This is how it looks from the outside Have you ever been to the Prague Municipal Library at Marianske Square? If you have not been there yet, you should consider visiting this place. Marianske Square is located in the city centre, very close to the Old Town Square and Staromestska metro station, so you could visit the library on your way to the city centre. If not for reading books, then it is definelly worth of visit because of seeing an amazing sculpture made of numerous books by Matej Kren, a young Czechoslovak artist.

This is how it looks from the inside. A perfect illusion! Matej Kren is quite well-known artist. He was born in Trencin, then Czechoslovakia, today Slovakia. He studied at Art Academies in Bratislava and in Prague. As being very talented, he participated in many exhibitions, was awarded some importatnt awards and after the Velvet Revolution he was even teaching for a while. Since the beginning of the 1990s he has been having many exhibition of his works not only in imporant museums and galleries in Europe, but also overseas. And finally, in 1998, his wonderful sculpture was placed in the Prague Municipal Library, consisted of books, it perfectly fits into this place, and by using mirrors, he created an unusual effect of infinity… but it is hard to be described… should be seen. So when you go by the library, you should take a look inside to see this great piece of Art.

But this is not the only sculpture by Matej Kren made by books and mirrors. He did, for example, another such master piece for the Gallery of Bratislava City. Here, his work called the Passage offers special experience allowing you walking between something which looks like never ending rows and columns of books. But again, it is hard to be described and must be seen.

And as it was already mentioned, Matej Kren is a Czechoslovak artist. He feels to be so, because as he said, he was born in Czechoslovakia. So now he represent both the Czech Republic and Slovakia in various world exhibitions and competitions. But at the moment, he lives and works mostly in the capital of the Czech Republic – in a beautiful town of Prague.

And as we were speaking about the Municipal Library in the beginning of this article, it might be noted, that this place is really worth of visit for also for another things. There are really many interesting books and magazines to be borrowed, and some of them are also in other languages then Czech. You can either borrow them at home or just read them in the library, if you do not want to register yourself here and pay the fee for it. But if you register, you will also get a password for using free wifi internet connection here. And the library is also a good meeting place with intelectual atmosphere, as all smart Prague people come here from time to time. And if you are tired of books, you can have a rest in a not great, but still o.k. coffeteria located here. Opening days are from Tuesday to Saturday, on Sundays and Mondays they are closed.


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