The first part of the museum is dedicated to setting the scene. It shows photographs of Prague during Kafka's lifetime and conjures up a vivid picture of the city’s thriving Jewish community. One glass box contains photos of artists, writers and musicians who were Kafka’s peers, including his friend Max Brod. It is easy to imagine these young men walking around Prague’s Old Town, or hanging out in the city’s café’s, just as the young do now. Some of these same names appear in the memorial in the Pinkas Synagogue, dedicated to victims of the Holocaust.
Kafka the Insurance Man
The next part of the exhibition is titled 'Existential Space' and focuses on how Kafka’s life may have shaped his fiction. Kafka worked for an insurance company dealing with accidents in the workplace, so the intricacies of bureaucracy were familiar to him. As well as detailing events in Kafka’s life it has first editions of his work on display, including Die Verwandlung (Metamorphosis), and eerie little stick figure drawings by the man himself.
The Castle and Gregor Samsa
'Imaginary Topography' transforms Prague into the nightmares of Kafka’s imagination using a mixture of imagery and eerie music. There are blackened rows of filing cabinets representing endless bureaucracy; an animated Prague Castle looms menacingly over the city, moving occasionally, as if it were alive and reaching out for victims. In his fiction Kafka would turn the Castle into something unknowable, a place where secrets are kept hidden.
The part devoted to Gregor Samsa, the unfortunate young man who awakens to find he has become a beetle, is accompanied by unnerving insect noises. If these were the only sounds Gregor could make you get an idea of why even his beloved sister turns her back on him.
Museum Details and How to Get There
The Kafka Museum is easily visible from the King Charles Bridge. It is appropriate given how much of Kafka’s fiction is about knowledge being kept out of reach, that getting there seemed far more difficult than it should be. There are narrow little streets and side-alleys to negotiate. You can find yourself walking round in circles; past a restaurant, or the English language bookshop, or past the guy selling boat trips on the River Vltava, who after the fifth time you walk past, may think you have taken a shine to him.
The official address is at Hergetova Cihelna, Cihelna 2b. There is a sculpture by the renowned Czech artist David Cerny outside the museum of two figures urinating at each other outside, so follow the sound of giggling schoolchildren and you should find your way there. The Franz Kafka Museum is open daily from 10am-6pm.
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