The cemetery is one of the oldest Jewish necropolis in Europe, it dates back to the 15th century. The most ancient and very plain standing stele dates from 1439: it marks the grave of Abigdor Karo, a poet and a great scholar. The last burial in the cemetery took place in 1787, before the Imperial decree by Joseph II forbidding burials in the city center.
There are about 12 000 gravestones accounted for dating from various eras and huddled every which way in a very narrow space. The amount of buried bodies is even greater: even though the cemetery was enlarged on several occasions in the past, the area remained totally insufficient for the ghetto’s Jewish community. Since it is strictly forbidden to dig out buried corpses, the tombs were squeezed in or even piled up on several layers. Hence the oldest tombs appear next to the newest ones in a disorderly tangle.
In the Renaissance era, the most elaborate steles would bear the name of the deceased or symbols illustrating his or her name or occupation. More recent Baroque tombs are adorned with longer texts praising his virtues.
Among the most famous personalities of the Prague Jewish community buried here, we should mention:
- The great religious leader and scholar Judah Loew ben Bezalel, more renowned as Rabbi Löw, he is connected to the legend of the Golem (he died in 1609),
- the mayor of the Jewish town Mordechai Maisel (he died in 1601),
- the humanist scholar David Gans, he was a historian, mathematician and astronomer (he died in 1613),
- the scholar and historian Joseph Solomon Delmedigo (he died in 1655),
- the rabbi David Oppenheim, collector of ancient Jewish manuscripts and works (he died in 1736).
The Old Jewish Cemetery belongs to the Jewish Museum, the admission includes a visit to various synagogues in the district (except the Old New Synagogue).
You will enter the cemetery through the Pinkas Synagogue (which houses a Holocaust Memorial) and the exit is made through the Klausen Synagogue (with an exhibition of old objects of worship).
Old Jewish Cemetery - Starý židovský hřbitov
Jewish museum - Židovské muzeum
Široká 3
Prague 1 - Josefov
www.jewishmuseum.cz
How to get there:
Subway Grren line A, station “Staroměstská”;
Tram 17, 18, stop “Staroměstská”
Opening hours:
November to March every day except Saturdays, from 9am to 4:30pm
April to October every day except Saturdays, from 9am to 6pm
WARNING: THE OLD JEWISH CEMETERY IS CLOSED ON JEWISH HOLIDAYS
Admission includes the Synagogues Maisel, Spanish, Pinkas, Klausen and the Ceremonial Hall (Jewish Museum in Prague).
