Josefov: Prague’s old Jewish Quarter

Located very close to the old city, Josefov, or the old Jewish quarter, is well worth a visit. Jews are believed to have settled in Prague from as early as the 10th century, when they were ordered to live in the confines of this once walled area. Today it has been completely absorbed into the fabric of Prague.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, Josefov was heavily altered and many of its historic buildings were replaced, although there are still some ancient sites to seek out.

To see them you will have to buy a ticket to the Prague Jewish Museum, perhaps the word’s largest collection of Jewish artefacts in the world. With chilling irony, this was for the most part amassed by the Nazis, who during the occupation of the city, set out to create a ‘museum of an extinct race.’

The most moving site is the old Jewish cemetery, the oldest surviving Jewish graveyard in Europe. Although it fell into disuse in the late 18th century, about 10,000 souls are buried here. Thousands of tombstones blanket the cemetery ground, their crumbling, moss-infested state adding to the melancholic ambiance of the cemetery. In between them are some beautiful funerary mosaics and carved marble tombs.

The Gothic Old-New synagogue in Prague is Europe’s oldest working synagogue (men must over their heads to enter) and has been immortalised in the Golem legend. With high, gabled ceilings and a 15th century wrought iron grill, it has changed little since Josefov’s peak. The beautiful and recently renovated Spanish cemetery bears motif from Iberia’s ancient Moorish culture and often hosts concerts.