England

Pinkas Synagogue
Old Jewish Cemetery
Ceremonial Hall
Jewish Town Hall

Spanish Synagogue
Old-New Synagogue
Maiselova Synagogue

Klausen Synagogue
Restaurant
Misc

Spanish Synagogue

The Jewish Quarter, known as Josefov, is located between the Old Town Square and the Vltava River. It's torrid history dates back to the 13th century, when the Jewish community in Prague were ordered to vacate their disparate homes and settle in one area.

Over the centuries more and more people were crowded into the area, as Jews were banned from living anywhere else. Restrictions on their movements and the trades they were allowed to conduct underwent constant change.

The Jewish Quarter, or the Prague Jewish Ghetto as it was later to become known, also endured a lot of structural changes, the latest of which was a vast redevelopment of the area between 1893-1913. Its present appearance dates mainly from this period, although most of the significant buildings from previous eras were saved, a living testimony to the history of Prague Jews, spanning many centuries.

These buildings form the best preserved complex of Jewish historical monuments in the whole of Europe. Six synagogues remain, plus the Jewish Town Hall and the Old Jewish Cemetery - the most remarkable in Europe.

Most of the historical sights in the Jewish Quarter come under the auspices of the Jewish Museum and a single ticket will gain you entrance to all their buildings.

The Old-New Synagogue requires a separate ticket. This is the oldest preserved synagogue in Central Europe, built in early gothic style in the late 13th century and is richly adorned by intricate stonework. All interior furnishings are originals. The Old-New Synagogue is today the main house of prayer of Prague's Jewish community.

Pinkas Synagogue: The Pinkas Synagogue is dedicated to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust from Bohemia and Moravia; their names are inscribed on the walls of the main nave and adjoining areas. The interior of the synagogue comprises Memorial 77,297, which was designed and executed by the painters Václav Boštík (b. 1913) and Jiří John (1923-1972) between 1954 and 1959. The memorial was closed in 1968, however, since the building was in an increasingly poor state of repair. After remaining closed for a long time, the building was eventually reconstructed and, following the collapse of the Communist regime, a project was launched to renovate the memorial, which reopened in 1996.

The text of the inscriptions was compiled from card indexes, which were drawn up shortly after the war on the basis of extant transport papers, registration lists and survivor's accounts. The names of Holocaust victims, together with their dates of birth and death, are inscribed on all the interior walls. Where the precise date of death is not known - which is generally the case - the date of deportation to the ghettos and extermination camps in the east is stated instead - this is usually the last information we have on the victims. Their names are arranged according to the towns and villages where they were living prior to deportation or arrest and are presented in alphabetical order. The main nave features the names of people whose last address prior to deportation was in Prague; the rest of the interior space commemorates victims from towns and villages outside Prague.

On both sides of the Holy Ark (aron ha-kodesh) are recorded the names of some of the ghettos and camps where Bohemian and Moravian Jews were deported and, in most cases, exterminated. This memorial is a long epitaph commemorating the names of those for whom a tombstone could not be erected.

Old Jewish Cemetery: The Old Jewish Cemetery was established in the first half of the 15th century. Along with the Old-New Synagogue, it is one of the most important historic sites in Prague's Jewish Town. The oldest tombstone, which marks the grave of the poet and scholar Avigdor Karo, dates from the year 1439. Burials took place in the cemetery until 1787. Today it contains some 12,000 tombstones, al though the number of persons buried here is much greater. The cemetery was enlarged a number of times in the past. In spite of this the area did not suffice and earth was brought in to add further layers. It is assumed that the cemetery contains several burial layers placed on top of each other. The picturesque groups of tombstones from various periods emerged through the raising of older stones to the upper layers.

The most prominent person buried in the Old Jewish Cemetery is without a doubt the great religious scholar and teacher Judah Loew ben Bezalel, known as Rabbi Loew (d. 1609), who is associated with the legend of the Golem. Among the many other prominent persons buried in the Old Jewish Cemetery are: the Mayor of the Jewish Town Mordechai Maisel (d. 1601), the Renaissance scholar, historian, mathematician and astronomer David Gans (d. 1613), scholar and historian Joseph Solomon Delmedigo (d. 1655), and rabbi and collector of Hebrew manuscripts and printed books David Oppenheim(d. 1736).

Tombstone of Rabbi Low - The most visited grave in the cemetery is that of Rabbi Low (1520-1609). Visitors place hundreds of pebbles and wishes on his grave as a mark of respect.

Ceremonial Hall: The building housing the former Ceremonial Hall and mortuary of the Old Jewish Cemetery was built in a pseudo-Romanesque style in 1911-12 to a design by architect J. Gerstl. As part of the Jewish Museum, the Ceremonial Hall of the Prague Burial Society Hevrah Kaddishah (founded in 1564) later became an exhibition venue.

Jewish Town Hall: The Jewish Town Hall is currently home to the Federation of Jewish Religious Communities in Bohemia and Moravia, and the Jewish Religious community in Prague. It was created out of the renovation of the original town hall of Maisel, a contemporary of Rabbi Löw and a man of inordinate wealth and discriminating taste. It was erected by Pankras Roder in the late 16th century. The Baroque remodeling of the town hall was carried out by the architect Josef Schleisinger in 1763.

On the roof of the building stands a wooden turret and a clock with Hebrew figures whose hands turn anti-clockwise.

Spanish Synagogue: The Spanish Synagogue was built in 1868 on the site of the oldest Prague Jewish house of prayer ("the Old Shul"). It was designed in a Moorish style by Vojtěch Ignátz Ullmann. The synagogue has a regular square plan with a large dome surmounting the central space. On three sides there are galleries on metal structures, which fully open onto the nave. The remarkable interior decoration features a low stucco arabesque of stylized Islamic motifs which are also applied to the walls, doors and gallery balustrades. The interior, together with the stained glass windows, were designed by architects A. Baum and B. Munzberg and completed in 1893. František Škroup, the composer of the Czech national anthem, served as organist here in 1836-45.

Old-New Synagogue: The Old-New Synagogue was built in early Gothic style around the middle of the 13th century. It was originally called the “New” or “Large” Synagogue, as opposed to the older house of prayer which did not survive. It was not until the 16th century, when other synagogues were built in Prague, that it became known as the “Old-New” Synagogue. The main hall is the only existing medieval-type hall of its kind, represented originally by the Romanesque synagogue in Worms (dating from the 12th century) and the early Gothic synagogue in Regensburg. The hall is vaulted by six five-partite vault compartments supported by two octagonal pillars. The Old-New Synagogue, which is not part of the Jewish Museum, is one of the three Prague synagogues, together with the High and Jerusalem Synagogues, in which divine services are held.

Maiselova Synagogue: The Maisel Synagogue was built in 1590 - 1592 by the Mayor of the Jewish Town, Mordechai Maisel, who funded the extensive Renaissance reconstruction of the ghetto.

Klausen Synagogue: The Klausen Synagogue is located by the entrance to the Old Jewish Cemetery. It takes its name from the German word "Klaus" meaning "small building", which is derived from the Latin "claustrum". "Klausen" (plural of "Klaus") was the name of the originally three smaller buildings, which Moredehai Maisel, Head of the Prague Jewish Community, had erected in honour of a visit from Emperor Maximilian II to the Prague ghetto in 1573. After the destruction of the original Klausen by the fire of 1689, work began on the present Klausen Synagogue building which was completed in 1604. Further reconstruction of the Klausen Synagogue took place in the 1880s. The Klausen Synagogue held an important place in the history of Prague's Jewish Town. It was the largest synagogue in the ghetto and the seat of Prague´s Burial Society.

Restaurant: A restaurant located next to the Old-New Synagogue.

Misc: A shoe sculpture in the Jewish Quarter of a shoe with Rafael's Venus painted inside.

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