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1000 results for “jiri_svestka”

  1. You Can See a Swirling Sculpture Made of 8,000 Books at a Library in Prague – Smithsonian Magazine

    Trending Today

    You Can See a Swirling Sculpture Made of 8,000 Books at a Library in Prague

    Officials are managing an influx of tourists coming to see “Idiom,” a seemingly infinite tunnel of books by the artist Matej Krén, at the Municipal Library

    By Christian Thorsberg, Correspondent January 16, 2026

    Get our newsletter!

    Inside Idiom, which uses mirrors to provide the illusion of infinite length Omar Marques / Anadolu Agency / Getty Images

    Nearly 30 years after a dizzying sculpture fashioned from books was first installed at the Prague Municipal Library in the Czech Republic, literature lovers on TikTok and Instagram have turned the artwork into a viral fascination and unexpected tourism hotspot.

    Idiom, created by Slovak artist Matej Krén, features roughly 8,000 books stacked into a tower. Mirrors placed on the top and bottom give the illusion of infinite length, and a raindrop-shaped entryway invites visitors to peek inside the wormhole—almost like they’re literally disappearing into a good book.

    “The Idiom is meant to symbolize the infinity of knowledge,” according to a description of the sculpture on the library’s website. “[Books] are like bricks to [Krén], but they contain much more information, destinies, stories and knowledge. He puts them into the form of dwellings: primitive on the one hand, infinitely intelligent on the other.”

    During peak travel seasons, the library estimates that 1,000 people per day are visiting the installation. Omar Marques / Anadolu Agency / Getty Images

    The installation made its debut at the Sao Paulo International Biennial in 1995, and in 1996 it was brought to Prague. It was first exhibited for a summer at the Jiri Svestka Gallery, which in the 1950s was a communist warehouse of banned books, before moving to its permanent home at the library in 1998.

    For years, Idiom stood as little more than a familiar fixture, with its fame generally limited to the regular library-goers in the Czech capital. But beginning in 2022, the sculpture gained renown by going viral on BookTok, the pocket of TikTok dedicated to discussions of books and writing. Algorithms on Instagram similarly pushed the sculpture to the forefront of feeds.

    “Kids that were in Prague looking into their phones suddenly saw a cool thing that they liked and they wanted to see it as well,” Czech journalist Janek Rubeš told Radio Prague International in 2023. “And as it is in today’s world, everyone wants to have the same picture or same video, because it looks cool and they can get likes.”

    Quick fact: Idiom on the cover of Science

    A photo of the sculpture was featured on the magazine’s cover in January 2011.In that issue, researchers analyzed a massive collection of 5.2million books to study cultural trends.

    Today, librarians and local tourism officials are bewildered at the foot traffic the sculpture generates. During peak travel seasons—such as Christmas and Easter—more than 1,000 people each day endure wait times of more than two hours to snap a photograph.

    “We’ll have to deal with it in some way, because working with tourist crowds is a completely different service from that we have provided up to now,” Lenka Hanzlikova, a spokesperson for the library, tells Agence France-Presse (AFP). “Most readers laugh about it and say it’s bizarre, but we have had people who wanted to return books and joined the queue.”

    Continue/Read Original Article Here: You Can See a Swirling Sculpture Made of 8,000 Books at a Library in Prague

    Tags: 8000 Books, Czech Republic, Czechoslovakia, Idiom, Instagram, Library, Matej Kren, Municipal Library, Prague, Slovak, Smithsonian Institution, Smithsonian Magazine, Swirling Sculpture, TikTok
    #8000Books #CzechRepublic #Czechoslovakia #Idiom #Instagram #Library #MatejKren #MunicipalLibrary #Prague #Slovak #SmithsonianInstitution #SmithsonianMagazine #SwirlingSculpture #TikTok
  2. You Can See a Swirling Sculpture Made of 8,000 Books at a Library in Prague – Smithsonian Magazine

    Trending Today

    You Can See a Swirling Sculpture Made of 8,000 Books at a Library in Prague

    Officials are managing an influx of tourists coming to see “Idiom,” a seemingly infinite tunnel of books by the artist Matej Krén, at the Municipal Library

    By Christian Thorsberg, Correspondent January 16, 2026

    Get our newsletter!

    Inside Idiom, which uses mirrors to provide the illusion of infinite length Omar Marques / Anadolu Agency / Getty Images

    Nearly 30 years after a dizzying sculpture fashioned from books was first installed at the Prague Municipal Library in the Czech Republic, literature lovers on TikTok and Instagram have turned the artwork into a viral fascination and unexpected tourism hotspot.

    Idiom, created by Slovak artist Matej Krén, features roughly 8,000 books stacked into a tower. Mirrors placed on the top and bottom give the illusion of infinite length, and a raindrop-shaped entryway invites visitors to peek inside the wormhole—almost like they’re literally disappearing into a good book.

    “The Idiom is meant to symbolize the infinity of knowledge,” according to a description of the sculpture on the library’s website. “[Books] are like bricks to [Krén], but they contain much more information, destinies, stories and knowledge. He puts them into the form of dwellings: primitive on the one hand, infinitely intelligent on the other.”

    During peak travel seasons, the library estimates that 1,000 people per day are visiting the installation. Omar Marques / Anadolu Agency / Getty Images

    The installation made its debut at the Sao Paulo International Biennial in 1995, and in 1996 it was brought to Prague. It was first exhibited for a summer at the Jiri Svestka Gallery, which in the 1950s was a communist warehouse of banned books, before moving to its permanent home at the library in 1998.

    For years, Idiom stood as little more than a familiar fixture, with its fame generally limited to the regular library-goers in the Czech capital. But beginning in 2022, the sculpture gained renown by going viral on BookTok, the pocket of TikTok dedicated to discussions of books and writing. Algorithms on Instagram similarly pushed the sculpture to the forefront of feeds.

    “Kids that were in Prague looking into their phones suddenly saw a cool thing that they liked and they wanted to see it as well,” Czech journalist Janek Rubeš told Radio Prague International in 2023. “And as it is in today’s world, everyone wants to have the same picture or same video, because it looks cool and they can get likes.”

    Quick fact: Idiom on the cover of Science

    A photo of the sculpture was featured on the magazine’s cover in January 2011.In that issue, researchers analyzed a massive collection of 5.2million books to study cultural trends.

    Today, librarians and local tourism officials are bewildered at the foot traffic the sculpture generates. During peak travel seasons—such as Christmas and Easter—more than 1,000 people each day endure wait times of more than two hours to snap a photograph.

    “We’ll have to deal with it in some way, because working with tourist crowds is a completely different service from that we have provided up to now,” Lenka Hanzlikova, a spokesperson for the library, tells Agence France-Presse (AFP). “Most readers laugh about it and say it’s bizarre, but we have had people who wanted to return books and joined the queue.”

    Continue/Read Original Article Here: You Can See a Swirling Sculpture Made of 8,000 Books at a Library in Prague

    Tags: 8000 Books, Czech Republic, Czechoslovakia, Idiom, Instagram, Library, Matej Kren, Municipal Library, Prague, Slovak, Smithsonian Institution, Smithsonian Magazine, Swirling Sculpture, TikTok
    #8000Books #CzechRepublic #Czechoslovakia #Idiom #Instagram #Library #MatejKren #MunicipalLibrary #Prague #Slovak #SmithsonianInstitution #SmithsonianMagazine #SwirlingSculpture #TikTok
  3. You Can See a Swirling Sculpture Made of 8,000 Books at a Library in Prague – Smithsonian Magazine

    Trending Today

    You Can See a Swirling Sculpture Made of 8,000 Books at a Library in Prague

    Officials are managing an influx of tourists coming to see “Idiom,” a seemingly infinite tunnel of books by the artist Matej Krén, at the Municipal Library

    By Christian Thorsberg, Correspondent January 16, 2026

    Get our newsletter!

    Inside Idiom, which uses mirrors to provide the illusion of infinite length Omar Marques / Anadolu Agency / Getty Images

    Nearly 30 years after a dizzying sculpture fashioned from books was first installed at the Prague Municipal Library in the Czech Republic, literature lovers on TikTok and Instagram have turned the artwork into a viral fascination and unexpected tourism hotspot.

    Idiom, created by Slovak artist Matej Krén, features roughly 8,000 books stacked into a tower. Mirrors placed on the top and bottom give the illusion of infinite length, and a raindrop-shaped entryway invites visitors to peek inside the wormhole—almost like they’re literally disappearing into a good book.

    “The Idiom is meant to symbolize the infinity of knowledge,” according to a description of the sculpture on the library’s website. “[Books] are like bricks to [Krén], but they contain much more information, destinies, stories and knowledge. He puts them into the form of dwellings: primitive on the one hand, infinitely intelligent on the other.”

    During peak travel seasons, the library estimates that 1,000 people per day are visiting the installation. Omar Marques / Anadolu Agency / Getty Images

    The installation made its debut at the Sao Paulo International Biennial in 1995, and in 1996 it was brought to Prague. It was first exhibited for a summer at the Jiri Svestka Gallery, which in the 1950s was a communist warehouse of banned books, before moving to its permanent home at the library in 1998.

    For years, Idiom stood as little more than a familiar fixture, with its fame generally limited to the regular library-goers in the Czech capital. But beginning in 2022, the sculpture gained renown by going viral on BookTok, the pocket of TikTok dedicated to discussions of books and writing. Algorithms on Instagram similarly pushed the sculpture to the forefront of feeds.

    “Kids that were in Prague looking into their phones suddenly saw a cool thing that they liked and they wanted to see it as well,” Czech journalist Janek Rubeš told Radio Prague International in 2023. “And as it is in today’s world, everyone wants to have the same picture or same video, because it looks cool and they can get likes.”

    Quick fact: Idiom on the cover of Science

    A photo of the sculpture was featured on the magazine’s cover in January 2011.In that issue, researchers analyzed a massive collection of 5.2million books to study cultural trends.

    Today, librarians and local tourism officials are bewildered at the foot traffic the sculpture generates. During peak travel seasons—such as Christmas and Easter—more than 1,000 people each day endure wait times of more than two hours to snap a photograph.

    “We’ll have to deal with it in some way, because working with tourist crowds is a completely different service from that we have provided up to now,” Lenka Hanzlikova, a spokesperson for the library, tells Agence France-Presse (AFP). “Most readers laugh about it and say it’s bizarre, but we have had people who wanted to return books and joined the queue.”

    Continue/Read Original Article Here: You Can See a Swirling Sculpture Made of 8,000 Books at a Library in Prague

    Tags: 8000 Books, Czech Republic, Czechoslovakia, Idiom, Instagram, Library, Matej Kren, Municipal Library, Prague, Slovak, Smithsonian Institution, Smithsonian Magazine, Swirling Sculpture, TikTok
    #8000Books #CzechRepublic #Czechoslovakia #Idiom #Instagram #Library #MatejKren #MunicipalLibrary #Prague #Slovak #SmithsonianInstitution #SmithsonianMagazine #SwirlingSculpture #TikTok
  4. You Can See a Swirling Sculpture Made of 8,000 Books at a Library in Prague – Smithsonian Magazine

    Trending Today

    You Can See a Swirling Sculpture Made of 8,000 Books at a Library in Prague

    Officials are managing an influx of tourists coming to see “Idiom,” a seemingly infinite tunnel of books by the artist Matej Krén, at the Municipal Library

    By Christian Thorsberg, Correspondent January 16, 2026

    Get our newsletter!

    Inside Idiom, which uses mirrors to provide the illusion of infinite length Omar Marques / Anadolu Agency / Getty Images

    Nearly 30 years after a dizzying sculpture fashioned from books was first installed at the Prague Municipal Library in the Czech Republic, literature lovers on TikTok and Instagram have turned the artwork into a viral fascination and unexpected tourism hotspot.

    Idiom, created by Slovak artist Matej Krén, features roughly 8,000 books stacked into a tower. Mirrors placed on the top and bottom give the illusion of infinite length, and a raindrop-shaped entryway invites visitors to peek inside the wormhole—almost like they’re literally disappearing into a good book.

    “The Idiom is meant to symbolize the infinity of knowledge,” according to a description of the sculpture on the library’s website. “[Books] are like bricks to [Krén], but they contain much more information, destinies, stories and knowledge. He puts them into the form of dwellings: primitive on the one hand, infinitely intelligent on the other.”

    During peak travel seasons, the library estimates that 1,000 people per day are visiting the installation. Omar Marques / Anadolu Agency / Getty Images

    The installation made its debut at the Sao Paulo International Biennial in 1995, and in 1996 it was brought to Prague. It was first exhibited for a summer at the Jiri Svestka Gallery, which in the 1950s was a communist warehouse of banned books, before moving to its permanent home at the library in 1998.

    For years, Idiom stood as little more than a familiar fixture, with its fame generally limited to the regular library-goers in the Czech capital. But beginning in 2022, the sculpture gained renown by going viral on BookTok, the pocket of TikTok dedicated to discussions of books and writing. Algorithms on Instagram similarly pushed the sculpture to the forefront of feeds.

    “Kids that were in Prague looking into their phones suddenly saw a cool thing that they liked and they wanted to see it as well,” Czech journalist Janek Rubeš told Radio Prague International in 2023. “And as it is in today’s world, everyone wants to have the same picture or same video, because it looks cool and they can get likes.”

    Quick fact: Idiom on the cover of Science

    A photo of the sculpture was featured on the magazine’s cover in January 2011.In that issue, researchers analyzed a massive collection of 5.2million books to study cultural trends.

    Today, librarians and local tourism officials are bewildered at the foot traffic the sculpture generates. During peak travel seasons—such as Christmas and Easter—more than 1,000 people each day endure wait times of more than two hours to snap a photograph.

    “We’ll have to deal with it in some way, because working with tourist crowds is a completely different service from that we have provided up to now,” Lenka Hanzlikova, a spokesperson for the library, tells Agence France-Presse (AFP). “Most readers laugh about it and say it’s bizarre, but we have had people who wanted to return books and joined the queue.”

    Continue/Read Original Article Here: You Can See a Swirling Sculpture Made of 8,000 Books at a Library in Prague

    #8000Books #CzechRepublic #Czechoslovakia #Idiom #Instagram #Library #MatejKren #MunicipalLibrary #Prague #Slovak #SmithsonianInstitution #SmithsonianMagazine #SwirlingSculpture #TikTok
  5. You Can See a Swirling Sculpture Made of 8,000 Books at a Library in Prague – Smithsonian Magazine

    Trending Today

    You Can See a Swirling Sculpture Made of 8,000 Books at a Library in Prague

    Officials are managing an influx of tourists coming to see “Idiom,” a seemingly infinite tunnel of books by the artist Matej Krén, at the Municipal Library

    By Christian Thorsberg, Correspondent January 16, 2026

    Get our newsletter!

    Inside Idiom, which uses mirrors to provide the illusion of infinite length Omar Marques / Anadolu Agency / Getty Images

    Nearly 30 years after a dizzying sculpture fashioned from books was first installed at the Prague Municipal Library in the Czech Republic, literature lovers on TikTok and Instagram have turned the artwork into a viral fascination and unexpected tourism hotspot.

    Idiom, created by Slovak artist Matej Krén, features roughly 8,000 books stacked into a tower. Mirrors placed on the top and bottom give the illusion of infinite length, and a raindrop-shaped entryway invites visitors to peek inside the wormhole—almost like they’re literally disappearing into a good book.

    “The Idiom is meant to symbolize the infinity of knowledge,” according to a description of the sculpture on the library’s website. “[Books] are like bricks to [Krén], but they contain much more information, destinies, stories and knowledge. He puts them into the form of dwellings: primitive on the one hand, infinitely intelligent on the other.”

    During peak travel seasons, the library estimates that 1,000 people per day are visiting the installation. Omar Marques / Anadolu Agency / Getty Images

    The installation made its debut at the Sao Paulo International Biennial in 1995, and in 1996 it was brought to Prague. It was first exhibited for a summer at the Jiri Svestka Gallery, which in the 1950s was a communist warehouse of banned books, before moving to its permanent home at the library in 1998.

    For years, Idiom stood as little more than a familiar fixture, with its fame generally limited to the regular library-goers in the Czech capital. But beginning in 2022, the sculpture gained renown by going viral on BookTok, the pocket of TikTok dedicated to discussions of books and writing. Algorithms on Instagram similarly pushed the sculpture to the forefront of feeds.

    “Kids that were in Prague looking into their phones suddenly saw a cool thing that they liked and they wanted to see it as well,” Czech journalist Janek Rubeš told Radio Prague International in 2023. “And as it is in today’s world, everyone wants to have the same picture or same video, because it looks cool and they can get likes.”

    Quick fact: Idiom on the cover of Science

    A photo of the sculpture was featured on the magazine’s cover in January 2011.In that issue, researchers analyzed a massive collection of 5.2million books to study cultural trends.

    Today, librarians and local tourism officials are bewildered at the foot traffic the sculpture generates. During peak travel seasons—such as Christmas and Easter—more than 1,000 people each day endure wait times of more than two hours to snap a photograph.

    “We’ll have to deal with it in some way, because working with tourist crowds is a completely different service from that we have provided up to now,” Lenka Hanzlikova, a spokesperson for the library, tells Agence France-Presse (AFP). “Most readers laugh about it and say it’s bizarre, but we have had people who wanted to return books and joined the queue.”

    Continue/Read Original Article Here: You Can See a Swirling Sculpture Made of 8,000 Books at a Library in Prague

    #8000Books #CzechRepublic #Czechoslovakia #Idiom #Instagram #Library #MatejKren #MunicipalLibrary #Prague #Slovak #SmithsonianInstitution #SmithsonianMagazine #SwirlingSculpture #TikTok
  6. The Long-eared Owl may look alert with its “ears,” but those are actually just feathers. Its real ears are hidden—and asymmetrical—helping it locate prey with incredible precision, even in complete darkness.
    #longearedowl #asiotus #owlsofinstagram #sovysveta
    #kaloususaty #sova #ptaci #priroda #wildlife #naturephotography #birdphotography

  7. The Long-eared Owl may look alert with its “ears,” but those are actually just feathers. Its real ears are hidden—and asymmetrical—helping it locate prey with incredible precision, even in complete darkness.

  8. The Long-eared Owl may look alert with its “ears,” but those are actually just feathers. Its real ears are hidden—and asymmetrical—helping it locate prey with incredible precision, even in complete darkness.
    #longearedowl #asiotus #owlsofinstagram #sovysveta
    #kaloususaty #sova #ptaci #priroda #wildlife #naturephotography #birdphotography

  9. The Long-eared Owl may look alert with its “ears,” but those are actually just feathers. Its real ears are hidden—and asymmetrical—helping it locate prey with incredible precision, even in complete darkness.
    #longearedowl #asiotus #owlsofinstagram #sovysveta
    #kaloususaty #sova #ptaci #priroda #wildlife #naturephotography #birdphotography

  10. The Long-eared Owl may look alert with its “ears,” but those are actually just feathers. Its real ears are hidden—and asymmetrical—helping it locate prey with incredible precision, even in complete darkness.
    #longearedowl #asiotus #owlsofinstagram #sovysveta
    #kaloususaty #sova #ptaci #priroda #wildlife #naturephotography #birdphotography

  11. ❄️ A Blue Tit in the middle of falling snow.
    So tiny. So brave. So full of life. 🐦
    Did it visit your feeder this winter?

  12. ❄️ A Siberian Eagle-Owl landing on a snow-covered rock in pure winter silence.
    Power. Stillness. Perfection. 🦉

    Would you survive one night in his territory?

  13. 🌊 Common Murre (Brünnich’s Guillemot) on the island of Helgoland.
    An elegant seabird that spends most of its life on the open sea.
    Each spring, it returns to the cliffs to raise its young.
    Watching their colonies is truly unforgettable. 🪶

    #commonguillemot #helgoland #seabirds #birdphotography #wildlifephotography #naturelovers #birdlovers #wildlife

  14. A ghost of the twilight — the Barn Owl resting among heather blooms. 🦉🌸
    Its pale feathers melt into the fading light, a moment of silence before the hunt begins.

  15. A ghost of the twilight — the Barn Owl resting among heather blooms. 🦉🌸
    Its pale feathers melt into the fading light, a moment of silence before the hunt begins.

    #barnowl #owl #wildlifephotography #birdphotography #nature #heather #wildlife #nocturnal

  16. 🐾 The Eurasian lynx — silent ruler of the forest. In the Bavarian Forest National Park, it moves with incredible grace, almost invisible among the trees. 🌲
    You might catch its gaze for just a second… but you’ll never forget it. 👁️✨
    📸 Have you ever seen a lynx in the wild?

  17. 🐾 The Eurasian lynx — silent ruler of the forest. In the Bavarian Forest National Park, it moves with incredible grace, almost invisible among the trees. 🌲
    You might catch its gaze for just a second… but you’ll never forget it. 👁️✨
    📸 Have you ever seen a lynx in the wild?

    #lynx #bavarianforest #wildlifephotography #naturemagic #czechwildlife #bigcats #naturelovers

  18. 🐾 The Eurasian lynx — silent ruler of the forest. In the Bavarian Forest National Park, it moves with incredible grace, almost invisible among the trees. 🌲
    You might catch its gaze for just a second… but you’ll never forget it. 👁️✨
    📸 Have you ever seen a lynx in the wild?

    #lynx #bavarianforest #wildlifephotography #naturemagic #czechwildlife #bigcats #naturelovers

  19. 🐾 The Eurasian lynx — silent ruler of the forest. In the Bavarian Forest National Park, it moves with incredible grace, almost invisible among the trees. 🌲
    You might catch its gaze for just a second… but you’ll never forget it. 👁️✨
    📸 Have you ever seen a lynx in the wild?

    #lynx #bavarianforest #wildlifephotography #naturemagic #czechwildlife #bigcats #naturelovers

  20. 🌿 Love is everywhere — even in the wild 💚
    Have you seen birds or animals showing affection? 🐦✨

    #naturelovers #wildlife #birdphotography #animalmoments

  21. It costs $0.00 to support a 43 y.o. wildlife photographer from Czechia 🇨🇿 Decades of patience, silence, and love for the wild — shared through every photograph I take. 🦉📸 I capture moments from the wild, from misty mornings over Czech ponds to cliffside gannets by the sea. 🌏
    #wildlifephotography #birdphotography #naturephotography #birding #wildlife #forest #photographer #birdwatching #naturelover #wildlifepassion #behindtheshot #czechwildlife #intothewild #jirisvestkaphotography #silentsunday

  22. It costs $0.00 to support a 43 y.o. wildlife photographer from Czechia 🇨🇿 Decades of patience, silence, and love for the wild — shared through every photograph I take. 🦉📸 I capture moments from the wild, from misty mornings over Czech ponds to cliffside gannets by the sea. 🌏

  23. It costs $0.00 to support a 43 y.o. wildlife photographer from Czechia 🇨🇿 Decades of patience, silence, and love for the wild — shared through every photograph I take. 🦉📸 I capture moments from the wild, from misty mornings over Czech ponds to cliffside gannets by the sea. 🌏
    #wildlifephotography #birdphotography #naturephotography #birding #wildlife #forest #photographer #birdwatching #naturelover #wildlifepassion #behindtheshot #czechwildlife #intothewild #jirisvestkaphotography #silentsunday

  24. It costs $0.00 to support a 43 y.o. wildlife photographer from Czechia 🇨🇿 Decades of patience, silence, and love for the wild — shared through every photograph I take. 🦉📸 I capture moments from the wild, from misty mornings over Czech ponds to cliffside gannets by the sea. 🌏
    #wildlifephotography #birdphotography #naturephotography #birding #wildlife #forest #photographer #birdwatching #naturelover #wildlifepassion #behindtheshot #czechwildlife #intothewild #jirisvestkaphotography #silentsunday