Discover the fascinating, rich, yet tragic history of Prague’s Jewish Quarter

Discover the fascinating, rich, yet tragic history of Prague’s Jewish Quarter

– a guided tour with a professional and experienced local guide

Route length: approx. 3-3,5 kilometers
Duration: 3 hours

You will visit the following sites: the Jewish Quarter – Josefov, the Old-New Synagogue, the Maisel Synagogue, the Pinkas Synagogue with the Memorial to the Victims of the Shoah from the Czech Lands, the Old Jewish Cemetery, and the Spanish Synagogue.
The walking tour takes you not only past the exteriors but also inside these sites. It includes visits to the interiors of the individual monuments.

Cena

	Minimum number of people per group	Maximum number of people in a group	Price per person
Group Tour	10	20	EUR 82
Group Tour	21	40	EUR 69
Private Tour (by request)	2	8	EUR 206
Solo Traveler (by request)	1	1	EUR 619

Admission fees to attractions and public transportation tickets are already included in the price.
If clients wish, the guide will accompany the group back to the hotel.

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Get an up-close look at one of the most extensive preserved complexes of Jewish heritage sites in the world, along with the unique exhibits of the Jewish Museum in Prague, the third-oldest museum of its kind in the world, featuring one of the most extensive collections of Judaica, including synagogue textiles and other textiles, the scope of which is unparalleled anywhere in the world. Set out to discover the world of Prague’s former Jewish ghetto, whose history in this area dates back to the 13th century—and perhaps even further. You’ll walk through places that offer a glimpse into the Jewish Town’s origins, its heyday, and the many difficult periods and pogroms it endured—from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, when the area was cleared and virtually the entire Jewish Town was demolished, right up to the present day.

The Jewish Quarter, known as Josefov since 1850, is the smallest cadastral district in Prague, directly adjacent to Prague’s Old Town. Its current area is just under 9 hectares, of which roughly one-ninth is occupied by the Old Jewish Cemetery. Compared to the 129 hectares of Prague’s Old Town, it is indeed a tiny part of Old Prague in terms of area, yet it remains highly interesting for its history and cultural richness. The Jewish Quarter—Josefov—became part of Prague in 1950 as the 5th district, the fifth city, and is therefore sometimes referred to as the Fifth District. The original Jewish ghetto, by the late 1880s a slum no longer inhabited solely by Jews, was slated for demolition. And although only a few buildings from the ghetto have survived, it remains the largest and one of the most significant collections of Jewish monuments in Europe.

The site of what was once Central Europe’s largest Jewish ghetto, whose history dates back to the Middle Ages, underwent a fundamental transformation between 1895 and 1914—that is, until the outbreak of World War I. The neighborhood, full of narrow, winding alleys near Old Town Square, was almost entirely demolished, and in its place, stately and prestigious buildings, wide streets, and boulevards were constructed—just as the councilors of Prague’s Old Town had wished. Thus, the redevelopment did not affect only the Jewish Quarter—Josefov—but also parts of Prague’s Old Town, where many historic buildings and monuments were also demolished. These events spurred the creation of organizations dedicated to the preservation of historical monuments and Jewish heritage; thus, the Club for Old Prague was founded in 1900, and the Jewish Museum in Prague was established in 1906. Thanks in part to these organizations, some of these monuments have been preserved to this day.

Even so, many historic sites have been lost forever; of the original nine synagogues in the Jewish Quarter, only six remain—the oldest and largest have survived. Nearly 470 houses have disappeared, but hundreds of new ones have been built, and the impressive, modern Pařížská Avenue has been created—even though the buildings along it are constructed in a historicist style that, in a certain way, evokes the old days. They are different now. And much taller than the original buildings were.

What did the former Jewish Quarter look like? In today’s context, it’s probably very difficult to imagine. Before the demolition, it had about 300 houses and 31 alleys. After the demolition, only 83 houses and 10 streets remained. The Jewish Quarter was truly a unique and picturesque neighborhood, filled with smaller and larger houses crammed together in all sorts of ways, with numerous passageways, courtyards, and winding alleys. It looked just as it had when it was first built and as it had been lived in over the centuries. Of course, the area near the Vltava River, in its original form, suffered from flooding, and poor sanitary conditions prevailed there—these were the arguments in favor of the redevelopment. Moreover, the land was otherwise relatively lucrative for construction, wasn’t it?

Whatever the reasons may have been, only a few of the original buildings of the Jewish Quarter have survived; even so, they constitute one of the most extensive and significant collections of Jewish monuments in Europe. We have preserved the oldest synagogue in Europe where services are still held today—the more than 750-year-old Old-New Synagogue—as well as a large portion of the Old Jewish Cemetery, where burials have been documented since the 15th century and where MaHaRaL, the great teacher Rabbi Löw, Jehuda Liva ben Becalel. We also have the originally Renaissance Maisel Synagogue, the early Baroque Klaus Synagogue—the largest synagogue in the Jewish Quarter—and the originally late Gothic Pinkas Synagogue, the second-oldest surviving synagogue in the Jewish Quarter, which currently also houses the Memorial to the Victims of the Shoah from the Czech Lands—a deeply moving experience for visitors, where inscriptions on its walls list more than 80,000 names of victims from Bohemia and Moravia. Also preserved is the originally Renaissance Vysoká Synagogue, also known as the Town Hall Synagogue, which is closed to tourists and used exclusively for religious services, as well as the youngest synagogue in the Jewish Quarter, built in the Moorish style in 1868 on the site of the Old School. Furthermore, the originally Renaissance Jewish Town Hall and its later addition have been preserved, as well as the Ceremonial Hall of the Burial Society, which, although it appears ancient, was built in the Neo-Romanesque style between 1906 and 1908.

During World War II, the abandoned Jewish Quarter became a storage facility for confiscated property, primarily belonging to Jews who had been deported to concentration camps. After the war ended, many of these estates remained in the possession of the Jewish Museum because their original owners had been murdered in concentration camps. The Jewish Museum thus became the second-largest museum of its kind in the world; today, in terms of the scope of its collections, it is the largest Jewish museum in the world, with more than 40,000 collection items and 100,000 books. And although only a few of the most significant monuments to the centuries-long history of Prague’s Jews were preserved and saved from demolition in the Jewish Quarter, they currently constitute the best-preserved complex of Jewish monuments in Europe.

What places will we visit on our walking tour?

From the Savoy Hotel, located practically at the very western end of historic Prague and Hradčany, we’ll first head down toward the Vltava River to get closer to the historic districts on the river’s right bank: Prague’s Old Town and the Jewish Quarter, which was and remains in its immediate vicinity.

From the Malostranská stop, which is still on the left bank of the Vltava River—just like Malá Strana, Hradčany, and the Savoy Prague Hotel—we’ll set off on foot toward the Jewish Quarter, crossing the Mánes Bridge, which offers a beautiful view of Charles Bridge, located just a few hundred meters upstream on the Vltava River, to the south. We’ll walk past the Rudolfinum building—currently the home of the Czech Philharmonic—along the riverfront toward Pařížská Street. At the end of the street closest to us stands the Old-New Synagogue, the oldest surviving synagogue in Europe where services are still held at present. This structure, more than 750 years old, was built by workers from the royal foundry, reportedly the same craftsmen who built Prague’s first Gothic complex, the St. Agnes Convent, and which houses Prague’s oldest surviving Gothic portal, dating back to the 13th century. We’ll be able to enter this synagogue and explore its main nave with its impressive Gothic vaulting, the Holy Ark, the bimah, and the symbolic spot dedicated to Rabbi Löw.

Next, we’ll head to the Maisel Synagogue, built by Mordechai Maisel, the primate of the Jewish Town and a patron of the arts. In its foyer, you can view the oldest known and preserved tombstone from the Old Jewish Cemetery—which serves as the basis for dating the synagogue’s age—the tombstone of Rabbi Avigdor Kara, which dates back to 1439. The synagogue, which no longer serves as a place of worship but rather as an exhibition space and venue for cultural and educational events and gatherings, houses an exhibition focused on the history of the Jews in Prague and the Czech lands from the 10th to the 18th century, including some very impressive exhibits as well as historically interesting and rare items. Among these, in addition to Torah pointers and crowns, are the robe and banner of the Jewish mystic, Kabbalist, and messianic figure Shlomo Molcho, which were originally acquired by the Horowitz family and stored in the Pinkas Synagogue.

Next, we will visit this very synagogue—the second-oldest surviving synagogue in the Jewish Quarter—the late-Gothic Pinkas Synagogue, which was originally the family synagogue of the Horowitz family. Since the 1960s, this synagogue has also housed the deeply moving Memorial to the Victims of the Shoah from the Czech Lands; on the inscriptions on the walls of this building, you can read the 80,000 names of Holocaust victims from Bohemia and Moravia.

In the immediate vicinity of the Pinkas Synagogue lies the Old Jewish Cemetery, where burials took place continuously—with interruptions during the years of plague epidemics, when burials within the city limits were prohibited—from at least 1439 until 1787. Covering an area of about 0.9 hectares, it occupies nearly one-tenth of the total area of the Jewish Quarter. Some 100,000 people were buried in several layers of earth at the Old Jewish Cemetery, and we can see about 12,000 tombstones above ground, including several burial mounds. One of these belongs to Rabbi Löw, the Chief Rabbi of Prague, the great teacher known as the MaHaRaL, whose name was Yehuda Liva ben Becalel; according to legend, he was the creator of the Golem, an artificial being intended to protect the inhabitants of the Jewish Quarter. Rabbi Löw is buried in a tomb bearing the symbol of a lion, in the western part of the cemetery, near the Museum of Decorative Arts, which is located behind the cemetery wall; both he and his wife, Pearl, are buried there. Here we can also find the graves of other notable figures, such as the aforementioned rabbi and poet Avigdor Kara, whose tombstone is the oldest surviving one at the Old Jewish Cemetery; Mordechai Maisel, primate of the Jewish Town and patron of the arts; a chronicler, mathematician, and astrologer, a contemporary of Brahe and Kepler; David Gans, Chief Rabbi of Prague and of Bohemia and Moravia; David Oppenheim(er), a great scholar of the Talmud and passionate bibliophile; and Hendel Baševi, the wife of Jakob Baševi, the first Jew to be ennobled in the Habsburg Monarchy.

From the Old Jewish Cemetery, we’ll exit through the gate between the Neo-Romanesque building of the Funeral Brotherhood’s Ceremonial Hall—Chevra Kadisha—and the early Baroque Klaus Synagogue, the largest synagogue in the Jewish Quarter, which stands on the site of three smaller structures—cloisters and schools—hence the name Klaus Synagogue. Continuing on, once again past the Old-New Synagogue—this time not along Maiselova Street but along Červená Street—we’ll head toward the last synagogue we’ll visit: the youngest synagogue in the Jewish Quarter, the Spanish Synagogue. On our way down Červená Street, we’ll pass the Jewish Town Hall with its clock, which displays the time in the opposite direction from what we’re used to, We’ll also walk beneath the windows of the High Synagogue and reach Pařížská Street, which we’ll follow until we turn toward the Church of the Holy Spirit, located right next to the Spanish Synagogue on the site of the Old School, which was demolished in 1867.

Are you looking for more than just a basic tour?

Let your guide take you to places that most tourists don’t visit when they come to Prague. Become the kind of tourist who delves deeper into history, the present, stories, and the people, personalities, and places that can leave a lasting impression on you—even though you usually won’t find much information about them online or on social media.