The Jewish town of Prague

The Jewish Museum in Prague was founded in 1906 with the aim to preserve precious art objects and documents related to the history of Czech Jewish communities.

Our tour will start at the Maisel Synagogue, which was commisioned by one of the most

influential figures of the ghetto, by mayor Marcus Mordecai Maisel [died 1601].

The exhibition covers the history of Jews in the Czech state since its very beginning up to the late 18century, the time of emancipation.

Then we will pass by the wall of the Old Jewish Cemetery to see the Pinkas Synagogue, which was turned into the Memorial of Jewish victims of the Second World War. 80,000 names have been inscribed on the walls.  A small room next to the gallery houses a precious collection of drawings done by the children who were brought to the Ghetto of Terezin. You will remember this childhood impression of life in the camp for the next of your life. Next to the Pinkas Synagogue is the Old Jewish Cemetery where almost 12.000 tombstones are jumbled together among trees. The oldest gravestone is that of Rabbi Avigdor Kara [died 1439]. Among the graves of the distinguished Jews are those of Marcus Mordecai Maisel

[died 1601], the bibliophile David Oppenheim [died 1736] and the Rabbi Loew, known as Maharal, whose writings became an inherent part of Hasidic teaching.

Flanking the exit from the cemetery are the former Ceremonial Hall and the Klausen Synagogue. The former features a display explaining activities of the Burial Society Hevrah

Kaddishah[founded in 1564], the latter, dating back to 1694, houses the permanent exhibition

„Jewish Customs and Traditions“.

From the Klausen Synagogue we walk to the Old-New Synagogue, which is architecturally the most interesting building of the ghetto and also one of the oldest preserved synagogues in

Europe [still in use].  Its main hall, one of the finest examples in Prague of the Cistercian Gothic style, is a double-aisled space with references to the figure 12, both in a plan and decorations.

We will pass by the High Synagogue [closed to the public] and the Jewish Town Hall [founded by Maisel in the late 16 century] with the Hebraic clock telling the time backwards.

Now we will go to see the Spanish Synagogue [built in 1868 in a Moorish style on the site

of the demolished Altschul]. The richly polychromed and gilded stucco arabesques and other oriental motifs together with an organ make  this interiér different from all the other buildings owed by the Jewish Museum. The second part of the exhibition „History of Jews in Bohemia and Moravia“ is presented there.

A ghetto – holding camp for Jews – was founded in the Big Fortress in November 1941. Only for the propaganda reasons, the Nazis permitted a relatively flourishing cultural life in the ghetto. First, we go to see the Museum, where paintings done by the children are displayed (over 4 thousand of them have been preserved!). After we see the museum, we will watch the ”propaganda” movie filmed in Terezín to the order of the NAZI leader Goebles in 1941. The picture presented by Nazis is in a sharp contrast to the reality of the camp where each fifth inmate died ”in situ” and from which about 87 thousand prisoners were deported to Auschwitz, Treblinka and Majdanek concentration camps. The other part of the exhibition shows how the permanently crowded camp functioned. You will learn about the work of medical staff, teachers and administration clerks. Next, we will drive through the town, passing among barracks close to the railroad tracks. In the end of our tour, we will see the Jewish cemetery and Crematorium. ...some photos