A similar image retrieving device for retrieval of a similar image of a query image, comprising: an image database configured for storage of a plurality of images, and corresponding sets of keywords, each set of keywords comprising one or more keywords associated with a corresponding one of the images; characterized in that a clustering classifier configured to read the images, provide each of the images with a compatibility vector comprising respective elements indicating whether each of the keywords is in the set of keywords corresponding to each image or not, classify the images into clusters thereof in accordance with the compatibility vectors, and calculate respective nonlinear eigenspaces, each nonlinear eigenspace indicating a correlation between image feature values and compatibility vectors of the images belonging to the corresponding cluster; an optimum cluster extractor configured to introduce the nonlinear eigenspaces into constraint conditions of the Projection onto Convex Sets algorithm to select one of the clusters to which the query image belongs using the distance of the nonlinear eigenspaces of the clusters from a feature vector of a known image feature value of the query image, and provide the query image with a compatibility vector using the nonlinear eigenspace of the selected cluster, wherein the distance between the feature vector of the query image and the nonlinear eigenspaces of the clusters is the smallest of the distances between the feature vector of the query image and the nonlinear eigenspaces of the clusters; and a similar image extractor configured to output, as a similar image, an image based on a distance between the compatibility vector of said image and the compatibility vector of the query image, among the images belonging to the cluster selected by the optimum cluster extractor. an image database configured for storage of a plurality of images, and corresponding sets of keywords, each set of keywords comprising one or more keywords associated with a corresponding one of the images; characterized in that a clustering classifier configured to read the images, provide each of the images with a compatibility vector comprising respective elements indicating whether each of the keywords is in the set of keywords corresponding to each image or not, classify the images into clusters thereof in accordance with the compatibility vectors, and calculate respective nonlinear eigenspaces, each nonlinear eigenspace indicating a correlation between image feature values and compatibility vectors of the images belonging to the corresponding cluster; an optimum cluster extractor configured to introduce the nonlinear eigenspaces into constraint conditions of the Projection onto Convex Sets algorithm to select one of the clusters to which the query image belongs using the distance of the nonlinear eigenspaces of the clusters from a feature vector of a known image feature value of the query image, and provide the query image with a compatibility vector using the nonlinear eigenspace of the selected cluster, wherein the distance between the feature vector of the query image and the nonlinear eigenspaces of the clusters is the smallest of the distances between the feature vector of the query image and the nonlinear eigenspaces of the clusters; and a similar image extractor configured to output, as a similar image, an image based on a distance between the compatibility vector of said image and the compatibility vector of the query image, among the images belonging to the cluster selected by the optimum cluster extractor.