DISTANCE: 1.25km (1 mile)
TIME: A half day
START: Little Square
END: Spanish Synagogue
POINTS TO NOTE: The historic Jewish sites on this route are closed on Saturday.
The first Jewish community in Prague was founded in 1091. Despite periods of oppression and laws restricting Jewish residents to a small area of the city, the community nevertheless flourished, becoming a focal point for Jewish culture in Central Europe. Greater religious freedom finally came with the Age of Enlightenment and Emperor Joseph II’s Patent of Toleration of 1781. The ghetto was later renamed Josephstown (Josefov) in his honour. Then in 1848 the old segregation laws were at last repealed and the Jewish community was allowed to develop freely.
Star of David
iStock
One legacy of the centuries of discrimination, however, was that the quarter had never been provided with adequate sanitation. By the 1890s, the area was deemed a health hazard and almost all of it was demolished. Fortunately, the Jewish Town Hall, six synagogues and the Old Cemetery were all spared.
The community remained active until the Nazi occupation in 1939. Mass deportations began in 1941 and went on to wipe out 90 percent of the population. The Nazis intended to create a ‘museum of the extinct Jewish race’ here, but after the liberation it instead became the home of the largest collection of sacred Jewish artefacts in Europe. Today, Prague’s Jewish community numbers around 7,000.
Kafka’s typewriter
Rod Purcell/Apa Publications
Franz Kafka Exhibition
The walk starts at the Little Square (Malé náměstí – near the Astronomical Clock at the western end of the Old Town Square). Turn right off the Little Square into U Radnice and head north.
Very soon on your right at No. 5 is the block where the writer Franz Kafka was born in 1883. Little remains of the original fabric – only the stone portal – after a fire in 1887. Inside is the Franz Kafka Exhibition 1 [map] (Expozice Franze Kafky; tel: 222 321 675; Tue–Fri 10am–6pm, Sat 10am–5pm), featuring photographs and manuscripts relating to the writer. For those eager to learn more, there is a more substantial museum dedicated to the writer on the Malá Strana side of the river just north of the Charles Bridge at Cihelná 2b (daily 10am–6pm).
Decorative ceiling, Spanish Synagogue
iStock
Maisel Synagogue
Continue north as the street becomes Maiselova to find the Maisel Synagogue 2 [map] (Maiselova synagoga) on your right. This, along with the other main Jewish sites in Josefov (except the Old-New and Jerusalem synagogues) constitutes the Jewish Museum (www.jewishmuseum.cz; Sun–Fri Apr–Oct 9am–6pm, Nov–Mar 9am–4.30pm); a single ticket gains entrance to all the sites.
The Maisel Synagogue itself was founded in the 1590s by Mordecai Maisel, the wealthy mayor of the quarter, but was destroyed in 1689 when a fire gutted much of the district. The present building, its replacement, was only given its neo-Gothic appearance at the end of the 19th century. Inside is an exhibition of manuscripts, prints, textiles and liturgical silverware.
The Old Jewish Cemetery
Rod Purcell/Apa Publications
Pinkas Synagogue
At the crossroads with Široká, turn left for the Pinkas Synagogue 3 [map] (Pinkasova synagoga; part of the Jewish Museum; admission times as above), originally founded in 1479 by Rabbi Pinkas, who had fallen out with the elders of the Old-New Synagogue. The present building came into being in 1535, adapted from a house belonging to the prominent Horowitz family.
Since 1958 the synagogue has served as a memorial to 77,297 of the Czech Jewish victims of the Holocaust. The inscriptions around the interior walls list the name, date of birth and date of deportation of each victim. For many years these names were obscured – initially because of damp, then because the Communist authorities closed the synagogue, supposedly for restoration, but actually neglecting it, seemingly out of antipathy to the Jewish cause after the Six-Day War. In the 1990s, the names were carefully rewritten. A few remnants of the original wall can be seen.
Memorial
The synagogue now also serves as a memorial to the 7,500 children who died in Nazi concentration camps, and to the women who encouraged them to paint and draw while they were awaiting deportation from the holding camp at Terezín, in the Elbe Valley, approximately 60km (38 miles) to the north of Prague. The children’s pictures, with their names and the dates of their death, line the walls of the first-floor gallery.
The Ceremonial Hall
iStock
The Old Jewish Cemetery 4 [map] (Starý židovský hřbitov; part of the Jewish Museum) is also accessed just nearby. It came into being in the 15th century, and burials continued here until 1787. The number of graves is much greater than the 12,000 gravestones would suggest – the true figure is probably closer to 100,000. Because this was the only place where Jews could be buried, graves were piled layer on layer.
The majority of the inscriptions on the stones are poetic texts of grief and mourning. The reliefs give the family name or emblem, and the profession of the deceased (scissors for a tailor, for example). The oldest monument in the cemetery is the tombstone of the poet Avigdor Kara, dating from 1439. Also buried here, in 1601, was the noted Jewish mayor Mordecai Maisel (for more information, click here). But the most famous tomb is that of the great scholar Rabbi Löw (1525–1609), who supposedly created the Golem (see box).
Holocaust Memorial in the Pinkas Synagogue
Rod Purcell/Apa Publications
Ceremonial Hall
Back on Široká again, continue to the end of the street and then turn right onto 17 Listopadu. On your left, on the banks of the river, is the Rudolfinum while on your right is the Museum of Decorative Arts (closed for restoration but open for exhibitions; for more information, click here). Continue north, skirting the perimeter wall of the Jewish Cemetery, and turn right into Břehová and then right again into U starého hřbitova.
First on your right is the neo-Romanesque Ceremonial Hall 5 [map] (Obřadní síň; part of the Jewish Museum), built in 1911 for the Prague Burial Society, which performed charitable duties as well as burials. Inside is an exhibition devoted to Jewish life and traditions, with particular emphasis on medicine, illness and death within the ghetto.
Klausen Synagogue
Next door the Klausen Synagogue 6 [map] (Klausová synagóga; part of the Jewish Museum), is a Baroque building with a long hall and barrel vaulting. It was built in 1694 to replace the little ‘cells’: three buildings that served as houses of prayer, classrooms and a ritual bath. It houses another part of the exhibition of Jewish customs and traditions.
Old-New Synagogue
Back outside, continue to the end of the road – where it meets Maiselova – and cross over to the Old-New Synagogue 7 [map] (Staronová synagóga; www.synagogue.cz; Sun–Fri 9.30am–5pm, Apr–Oct until 6pm). This synagogue is not part of the Jewish Museum, though the modest admission charge also allows entry to the Jerusalem Synagogue (Apr–Oct Sun–Fri 11am–5pm).
The Old-New Synagogue dates back to the 1270s, and is the oldest Jewish house of worship still in use in Europe. It was first called the New Synagogue, but gained its present name when another synagogue – now destroyed – was built close by. The building is an unparalleled example of a medieval two-aisled synagogue, with buttresses and a high saddle roof and brick gable (redolent of Cistercian Gothic).
Embroidered yarmulke (Jewish skull caps) for sale
Rod Purcell/Apa Publications
The Interior
The interior is remarkably original, despite some 19th-century efforts at renovation. It had previously been left unaltered as a tribute to the 3,000 people who sought sanctuary here yet were slaughtered in the pogrom of 1389. In the vestibule are two early Baroque money boxes, used for collecting Jewish taxes from the entire kingdom. In the main aisle, between the two pillars, is the Almemor with its lectern for reading the Torah and sectioned off by a late-Gothic grille. In the middle of the east wall is the Torah shrine, called the Ark, with a triangular tympanum above. Next to the Ark is the Chief Rabbi’s Chair, decorated with a Star of David. Among the other seats lining the walls is a tall one marked with a gold star. It belonged to Rabbi Löw.
Services in Hebrew are still held here on weekdays at 7.30pm, Fridays at sundown and Saturdays at 9am. The only time in its history services have not been held was during the Nazi occupation.
Jewish Town Hall
Opposite the Old-New Synagogue is the Jewish Town Hall 8 [map] (Židovská radnice). It was designed in 1586 in Renaissance style by Pankratius Roder for the mayor, Mordecai Maisel, although the newest, southern part dates only from the beginning of the 20th century. In keeping with the Hebrew practice of reading from right to left, the hands on the clock tower move in an anticlockwise direction.
High Synagogue
Originally part of the Jewish Town Hall, but in 1883 given a separate entrance, is the High Synagogue (Vysoká synagóga), opposite the Old-New Synagogue on Červená. It is no longer open for viewing.
The ornate Moorish interior of the Spanish Synagogue
Rod Purcell/Apa Publications
Spanish Synagogue
Now cut through Červená to emerge onto Pařížká, an Art Nouveau boulevard of shops and restaurants. Turn right, and when you meet Široká again, either turn right again to have lunch at King Solomon, see 1, or else turn left to continue the tour.
Continuing the walk eastwards, you soon encounter Jaroslav Rona’s 2002 Kafka Statue on your left before reaching the Spanish Synagogue 9 [map] (Španělská synagóga; part of the Jewish Museum). This restored Reform synagogue was built in 1868 on the site of an earlier place of worship (older even than the Old-New Synagogue). The synagogue takes its name from the Moorish-style stucco decoration of the interior – an imitation of the style widely used in parts of Spain, including the Alhambra. On the ground floor is an exhibition on the history of the Jews in Bohemian lands from the 1780s until World War II. The first floor holds a collection of synagogue silver from Bohemia and Moravia.
On completing your Jewish cultural tour, seek out two of the area’s excellent restaurants and bars: V Kolkovně, see 2, and Nostress, see 3, just across the road.
The Golem
According to legend, Rabbi Löw created a ‘Golem’ to defend the Jewish Quarter after Emperor Rudolf II decreed that Prague’s Jews were to be expelled or killed. The Rabbi made the Golem using clay from the banks of the Vltava, and brought it to life with mystical Hebrew incantations. As the Golem grew bigger, it became more violent and started killing gentiles. Before long, the emperor rescinded his decree and the Rabbi destroyed the Golem by rubbing out the first letter of the Hebrew word emet (‘God’s truth’) from the Golem’s forehead to leave the word met (‘death’). Rabbi Löw stored the monster’s remains in a coffin in the attic of the Old-New Synagogue so that it could be summoned again if needed.
Food and Drink
1 King Solomon
Široká 8; tel: 224 818 752; www.kosher.cz; Sun–Thu noon–11.30pm; €€€
The only strictly kosher restaurant in Prague. Hebrew-speaking staff. Among the classic dishes of Central European Jewish cooking are chicken soup, gefilte fish, carp with prunes and duckling drumsticks with schollet and sautéed cabbage. Kosher wines are from Israel, Hungary, France and the Czech Republic. It is also possible to arrange Shabat meals beforehand and even have them delivered to your hotel (see website for details).
2 V Kolkovně
Kolkovně 8; tel: 224 819 701; www.vkolkovne.cz; daily 11am–midnight; €€
Though located in a former printing office in a fine 19th-century building, V Kolkovně is a modern take on the traditional beer hall and is licensed from the Pilsner Urquell brewery. The decor is smart and understated (except for a slightly Captain Nemo copper-plated bar). The food is solid Czech fare – fried cheese, pork schnitzel, roast duck – and reasonably priced.
3 Nostress
V Kolkovně 9; tel: 222 317 007; www.nostress.cz; daily 10am–midnight; €€€
Stylish café-restaurant with a gallery showing contemporary photography attached. The daily lunch menus are reasonably priced (sandwiches and beer are also recommended). Dinner, however, is much more expensive. The well-executed cooking is generally of the fusion cuisine variety.