Dan Brown’s 5 Favorite Places in Prague

The door that holds the Bohemian crown jewels at St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague has seven locks, the keys to which are held by seven people — the president of the Czech Republic, the archbishop of Prague and five others in notable positions.

It was details like this that inspired Dan Brown to set his latest novel, “The Secret of Secrets,” out this month, in Prague. “I like to use a location as a character in my novels,” said the “Da Vinci Code” author, who has now written six novels featuring the protagonist Robert Langdon, a Harvard symbology professor. “Prague is perfect for Langdon,” Mr. Brown said. “There are twisting cobblestoned alleyways, churches, crypts, hundreds of spires.”

And that door: “What’s more Langdon than a door with seven locks?” Mr. Brown said.

Mr. Brown, who first ventured to Prague while backpacking in the early 1980s, when it was still behind the Iron Curtain, visited the city many times while researching the book. In fact, the novel could be read almost as a guide to Prague. Throughout nearly 700 pages, Langdon checks off major destinations like Prague Castle and Old Town Square but also steps off the tourist trail with references to places like Frank Gehry’s dynamic “Dancing House” and the Church of Our Lady Victorious, where a 19-inch wax-coated doll called the Infant Jesus of Prague is dressed in different outfits throughout the year “like some kind of sacred Barbie doll,” Mr. Brown writes in the novel.

Mr. Brown also dives into supernatural aspects of Czech history in the book, including the tale of the Golem, a mud-and-clay figure from Jewish folklore, and the court of the Holy Roman emperor Rudolf II, who brought alchemists and astrologers to the city more than four centuries ago. “Prague has been the mystical capital of Europe ever since then,” said Mr. Brown.

Here are five places in Prague that inspired Mr. Brown. These spots also make appearances in “The Secret of Secrets,” so if you visit them, you’ll be following in Professor Langdon’s footsteps as well.

1. Black Angel’s Bar

Tucked in a Gothic stone cellar below the Hotel U Prince near Old Town Square, Black Angel’s Bar serves up cocktails like the Black Angel’s Medicine, a Bohemian riff on a martini that includes vodka, Lillet Blanc, peach bitters and Becherovka — an herbal liqueur from the Czech spa town Karlovy Vary. During the cellar’s renovation in 2009, the owners discovered a stash of diaries and notes that included cocktail recipes from a mysterious early-20th-century figure named Alois Krcha. Those drink recipes became the bar’s signature cocktail list.

“When you go down there, you feel like you’re in another world,” said Mr. Brown. “You’re underground in what feels like a cave, drinking designer cocktails as a guy is playing piano.” When Mr. Brown finished “The Secret of Secrets,” he came to celebrate with a Last Word, a classic gin-and-Chartreuse cocktail. “I was there with a group of friends, and they were making Last Words for us,” he said.

2. The Dripstone Wall

The Wallenstein Garden, in the shadow of Prague Castle, is “spectacular in its own right with great sculptures and an aviary with owls,” said Mr. Brown. But one particular feature at the back of the garden captures his imagination: the 35-foot-tall dark gray Dripstone Wall — “a towering cliff of melted rock,” as he writes in “The Secret of Secrets.” Legend holds that the wall, built in the 1620s, contains secret passageways. It doesn’t, but it’s still “eerie-looking,” Mr. Brown said. “If you stare at the wall long enough, you can see a bunch of faces in the stone. Some of them are intended and some others are just pareidolia”— the psychological tendency to perceive familiar patterns, like faces, in objects.

3. Folimanka Bomb Shelter

To delve into more recent — though no less ominous — history, descend into the Folimanka Bomb Shelter, in Folimanka Park, outside the city’s medieval walls just south of the historical center. This Cold War-era nuclear bunker, a major setting in the book, could hold 1,300 people. “It has this strange little entrance at Folimanka Park and you can imagine people shuffling down there because there was going to be a nuclear war,” said Mr. Brown. “A lot of it is still intact. It’s pretty wild.” The shelter is open one Saturday per month from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. (see the website for the schedule); guided tours, in Czech, are free.

4. The Baroque Library

In “The Secret of Secrets,” Langdon finds himself in dire circumstances in the Baroque Library at the complex of historic buildings known as the Klementinum, but still cannot help but marvel at the ornate gilded interior, the Rococo ceiling murals celebrating the mythological Temple of Wisdom, and the more than 20,000 centuries-old tomes, mostly dedicated to astronomy and science. “Even in Langdon’s current state of distress, he still found the room utterly transfixing,” wrote Mr. Brown. Founded in the 16th century, the Klementinum served as the Jesuits’ Prague headquarters during the counterreformation. It also hosted Mozart, who performed there several times, and Einstein, who taught there. “The Baroque Library is one of the most beautiful rooms in the world,” said Mr. Brown. “Don’t miss the collection of antique globes. It also has a few secret passageways that are convenient for the novel.”

5. Petrin Tower

Built in 1891 for the Prague Jubilee Exhibition, Petrin Tower took its cues from the Eiffel Tower, finished just two years earlier. Perched in verdant Petrin Park, the 192-foot tower affords fantastic views of Prague and beyond. Its total height, including the hill it sits on, is the same height as its predecessor in Paris.

Mr. Brown said he initially avoided ascending Petrin Tower because he knew he either had to climb the 299 steps or squeeze into its elevator. But “when I realized I was going to set a scene in my book there with Langdon, I knew I had to go up,” he said. “Like Langdon, I’m claustrophobic. And the day I went, the stairs were closed and I had no choice but to take the tiny elevator to the top.”

“It’s a spectacular place to get an overview of Prague,” Mr. Brown added. “I wanted the reader to see that through Langdon’s eyes.”

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