Jewels of Bohemia Day 2 Afternoon

Wednesday, August 27    Afternoon

The Jewish Quarter

We spent the afternoon of our first full day in Prague exploring the synagogues, museum and cemetery in the Jewish Quarter. The Prague Ghetto and vibrant Jewish community have contributed to Prague’s character since the tenth century.   Dave and I bought a pass and got to about 6 of the remaining synagogues, the museum, and the Jewish cemetery.  The cemetery was too small to bury all Prague’s Jews so they began covering over the old graves with dirt and layered on new ones.  In some places the graves are 12 layers deep.  They brought up the headstones from each layer so that now the top is covered with headstones, many toppling over.

The Prague Jewish Museum

Below:  Completed in 1270 in the Gothic style, the Old-New Synagogue was one of Prague's first Gothic buildings.  It was originally called the New or Great Shul to distinguish it from a still older one, which was demolished in 1867. Then, when newer synagogues were built in the 16th century, it became known as the Old-New Synagogue!

Photos were not allowed inside the synagogues, but Dave managed to shoot a few anyway.