Prague, Czech Republic
The Anti-Alkoran of 1614 is a 17th-century treatise offering a critique of the Ottoman world, published in Prague. Written by Bohemian diplomat Václav Budovec, this book is notable because the author lived in Istanbul for seven years and studied the Quran firsthand. Budovec was executed just seven years later in Prague.
On the surface
Old book title page with detailed woodcut illustrations. A spiral tower, battle scenes, and a walled city surrounding the text.
Right beneath
The author, Václav Budovec, lived in Istanbul for seven years and studied the Quran directly — making him uniquely qualified to write this attack. He was executed just seven years after publishing it, beheaded in Prague after the Battle of White Mountain.
The hidden story
This title page announces a battle of ideas fought with ink instead of steel. Published in 1614, the Anti-Alkoran was a fierce theological attack on the Ottoman Empire and its faith. The author believed that the rapid expansion of Ottoman power was a sign of the biblical end times. He wrote this book to unify Christian Europe against what he saw as a shared existential threat. At the time, religious divisions within Bohemia were already tearing the country toward civil war. This text tried to provide a single, common enemy to focus the public mind.
Václav Budovec was a prominent leader of the Bohemian nobility and a seasoned intellectual. He was uniquely qualified to write this critique because he had lived in Istanbul for seven years. He served as a diplomat for the Habsburg court during the late sixteenth century. Unlike many of his peers, he studied the Quran and Islamic law directly from the source. He used this first-hand knowledge to frame his arguments in a way that felt authoritative to his readers. His life ended tragically just seven years after this book was printed. He was one of the lords executed in Prague after the Battle of White Mountain.
The intricate illustrations surrounding the text turn this page into a dense visual sermon. At the top center, the light of the "New Jerusalem" shines over a pristine walled city. On the left, Jacob’s ladder stretches from a checkered floor all the way to the heavens. This depicts the direct spiritual path the author advocated for his readers. Contrast this with the right side, where a massive spiral tower stands for the confusion of Babylon. At the bottom, a chaotic battle scene shows the final defeat of the biblical forces of Gog and Magog. Every small woodcut detail was designed to show the reader exactly where they stood in a cosmic struggle.
Most visitors walk right past The Anti-Alkoran of 1614 without ever knowing this.
A traveler pointed their phone at The Anti-Alkoran of 1614 — and heard this story seconds later. No guidebook. No tour group. Just a photo and a question.
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Prague, Right Beneath the Surface →