World of Franz Kafka - Nám. Franze Kafky 16/1

World of Franz Kafka attracts visitors with a modern design and the name of the great writer. Right at the beginning it is made clear: no biographical museum exhibition or the like is to be expected here. Instead, the visitor is to be immersed in the so-called absurdity of life, which, according to some, Kafka already addressed. The visitor wants to expect an unknown sensory overload. Shapes, colors, sounds that do not correspond to the norm. However, the exhibition does not live up to this expectation. It is introduced with a reference to the old underground building in which it is located. Interesting, but that alone is not adequate for the price. Unfortunately, this statement must be made, as the visitor should rather get paid to visit the rest of the exhibition. The main part of the exhibition is composed of videographically staged true crime cases. The leading artist of the exhibition - by the way, his urn is visibly presented in the exhibition (god complex?) - was a police photographer. He took supposedly not everyday cases - probably of his professional life - and presented them to the public in an intended artistic way to draw attention to the absurdity of life. In fact, this does not succeed. The videographic staging seems cheap, almost as if it had been produced by a high school art class. It deliberately uses (deafeningly loud) sound and (potentially epilepsy-inducing colorful flickering) images to appear existentialist. The objects of the crime are also on display. Occasionally, one sees portraits of Kafka and other images by the artist, which one would also rather expect from a flea market artist. Conclusion: anyone expecting anything remotely other than a True Crime exhibition in the form of a cabinet of horrors - underpinned by videos probably made with Windows Movie Maker and (regardless of personal style) paintings and photographs that can at best be rated as middle class - will be sorely disappointed by this exhibition. The only thing even slightly reminiscent of Kafka or his work is a certain absurdity. But not as it is intended by the artist. But that he seriously believes that he has created something artistically and creatively interesting for the public with this exhibition. Well, at least the guy at the reception was nice.

Absolute rubbish. Rather than paying 10€ for this dumb exposition, better give the money to homeless or simply buy yourself an useless souvenir. What a waste, I wish I could get a refund!

15-20min of museum consisting of a couple of nice 800-year old rooms and a weird gallery of horrors I couldn't make much of. Haven't felt much of a kafkaesque theme. Imho, worth about a quarter of the entrance price.

This museum is painfully misunderstood by people trying hard to give everything meaning and who don't read. It says on the entry of a museum that it is not museum about kafka, I don't understand how so many people tought it was about Kafka. I loved the museum, it fullfiled my needs for absurd and impressions. I enjoyed the films and exhibition. It was captivating experience. The ones who get it get it and the ones who don't don't ??

I appreciate the effect it was trying to make with creating a world in which to experience “inside Kafka’s head”. But unfortunately it falls short and the exhibition at the end was poorly executed. Why not curate a bunch of local artists to could respond to Kafka’s work in a much more thrilling way? The end result was just flat and cheesy. Also unsure of what the ruins had to do with anything. Not worth the money or time.

One of the most disappointing exhibitions I have ever seen. Waste of time and money, a tourist trap! ps. Spoiler alert! It has nothing to do with Franz Kafka, except his short bio at the entrance!

A tourist trap if ever I saw one. I’ve only been in Prague a few hours, so seeing such an illustrious name and wanting to escape the crowd, I descended the staircase into the subterranean world of, purportedly, Franz Kafka. What I found were some ruins, a few creepy dolls, and several flickering TV monitors. What I gleaned about the esteemed author would not qualify as a Wikipedia entry. If you want to feel as maddened as one of Kafka’s protagonists, see it for yourselves.

As it's mentioned at the entrance this museum is nothing to do with Franz Kafka's life or biography. It's relatively small museum with 2 main parts, which took 45 minutes to visit. In the first part you visit exactly a Prague underground and historical information. In the second part there are paintings and video exhibition. It's hard to explain this experience but the scenes are like coming from Kafka's writings. If you like Kafka a lot and have time you can give a try to this boutique museum. You can check Slevomat.cz for discounted tickets.