Franz Kafka in Prague: where to start

Kafka is the writer people expect to find in Prague, and the city obliges with mugs, T-shirts and a lot of photographs. The real traces are quieter: a building, a street, a stone in a cemetery. Read him first and they start to mean something.

Who he was

Franz Kafka was born on 3 July 1883 in Prague, into a German-speaking Jewish family, when the city was part of Austria-Hungary. He worked in an insurance office, wrote at night and published little in his lifetime. He died on 3 June 1924 in a sanatorium near Vienna, aged 40, and was buried in Prague. His friend Max Brod didn't burn the manuscripts as Kafka had asked, and the major works, including The Trial and The Castle, were published afterwards.

He wrote in German, so Czech readers meet him in translation. His relationship with the city was also complicated by politics, since his books were unwelcome in communist Czechoslovakia for long stretches.

A walk through his Prague

Start at Old Town Square. Near the church of St Nicholas stands the site of the house where Kafka was born. Fire destroyed most of it, and only the entrance portal survives, with a plaque and a small memorial. A short walk away in Josefov, a statue by the sculptor Jaroslav Róna shows a small figure riding on the shoulders of an empty suit, a scene from one of Kafka's stories. It stands by the Spanish Synagogue.

Kinský Palace on the Old Town Square housed the German-language school Kafka attended, and his father kept a shop in the palace building for some years. For the Jewish quarter itself, our guide to the Jewish Museum explains the museum route.

At Prague Castle, the Golden Lane is a row of tiny coloured houses. Kafka worked in No. 22 in the winter of 1916 to 1917, when his sister Ottla rented it. It's crowded, so go early or late; our Prague Castle guide helps with timing.

The head and the cemetery

In the centre, a large kinetic sculpture of Kafka's head by David Černý stands outside the Quadrio shopping centre. Its mirrored layers rotate, and the effect is hypnotic. It's a contemporary public work, not a historical site, but a good photograph.

Kafka's grave is at the New Jewish Cemetery, near Želivského metro station. He lies with his parents under a simple stone. Visitors leave small stones and notes, as at other Jewish graves. Opening hours are set by the Jewish Community, not the city, so check before you go. It's a cemetery, not an attraction.

What to read

Start with The Metamorphosis (a short story about a man who wakes up as an insect) or In the Penal Colony. Then try The Trial or The Castle. His letters and diaries repay the effort too. "Kafkaesque" is overused, but an afternoon of queues and counters shows you where it comes from; our guide to your first week in Prague is a fair preview.

A museum, if you want one

A private museum in Malá Strana is devoted to Kafka and is widely marketed. Check what is on and decide for yourself. For the wider literary picture, see our list of Czech literature for newcomers.

Do this today

Read The Metamorphosis, which takes about an hour. Then walk from Old Town Square to the statue by the Spanish Synagogue and see the Černý head at dusk. If there's time, take the metro to the cemetery and leave a stone.