By Jennifer Page
The Jewish Quarter is one of the most popular sites in all of Prague and for good reason. The standard tour that everyone goes on lets you see the Old-New Synagogue, Old Jewish Cemetery, and five other synagogues that all date back to at least the early 1800’s. The ticket is a bit expensive for a student at 330 CZK, but it is well worth the price when you stand in the middle of the cemetery and remember that it was there in the 1300’s. The main attraction of the tour is the Old-New Synagogue. “Built in the second half of the thirteenth century, this synagogue is, in fact, the oldest functioning synagogue in Europe, one of the earliest Gothic buildings in Prague, and still the religious center for Prague’s Orthodox Jews.” I stood in line at this synagogue for about an hour in the morning which wasn’t smart since you can buy a ticket at any of the sites on the tour. In line there were people from all over, but mostly America. In front of me there was a group of elderly, New Yorkers throwing out words like “oy vey” and “verklempt” and behind me there was a loud group of British guys that said “bloody hell its hot” about fifty times in the course of an hour. Although the line kept me amused, once in the synagogue, the dim, earthen interior that is lit only by chandeliers surrounding the bimah in the center of the temple kept me in awe. The other main attraction of the tour is the Old Jewish Cemetery. “Established in the fifteenth century, it was in use until 1787, by which time there were an estimated 100,000 buried here, one on top of the other, six palms apart, and as many as twelve layers deep.” Although usually crowded, the cemetery is a powerful reminder of the ghetto that was in Prague at the time. The slanted, falling gravestones pushed side-by-side to create more room is a visual history lesson of Jewish burial rituals and also of the overcrowded, inhumane treatment that the people living in the ghetto were subjected to. The light that streams through the leaves of the trees that border the cemetery and the monotone colors Of the graves and border wall create an other-world feeling that really should not be missed. Besides the synagogue and cemetery, the other two main sites are the Spanish and Pinkas Synagogues. The Spanish Synagogue has one of the most beautiful interiors I have ever seen. “It’s stunning, gilded Moorish interior deliberately imitates the Alhambra (hence its name).” Every square inch of the synagogue is covered with rich red and gold designs and the stained-glass windows are just as ornate and beautiful. The Pinkas Synagogue is known for its memorial to the over 77,000 Czech Jews that died in the Holocaust. It is chilling to see so many names covering so many walls. The other display is upstairs and showcases pictures drawn by the children of the Terezin concentration camp. The pictures are touching and heartrending, as most of the children later died in Auschwitz. The Jewish Quarter, Josefov, is not to be missed when you are in Prague. You will not only learn a lot about such a rich and mysterious history, but also be moved and touched in a way that nothing else in the city can really do. Historical information found in the Rough Guides: Prague Directions guidebook written and researched by Rob Humphreys
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