The Old Jewish Cemetery: Twelve Layers of Memory
Why is it significant?
Peer through the iron grilles or step into the shadowed pathways of the Old Jewish Cemetery, where twelve thousand weathered stone slabs lean, tilt, and jostle against one another like petrified waves under the shade of elderberry and black locust trees.
Key Facts
| Place | The Old Jewish Cemetery: Twelve Layers of Memory |
|---|---|
| Address | Široká, 110 00 Josefov, Praha 1 |
| Geo Coordinates | 50.08980, 14.41720 |
| Part of Walk | Prague of Kings & Golems: Old Town Square, Astronomical Clock, and Josefov |
| Generated | Generated |
Peer through the iron grilles or step into the shadowed pathways of the Old Jewish Cemetery, where twelve thousand weathered stone slabs lean, tilt, and jostle against one another like petrified waves under the shade of elderberry and black locust trees.
Used from fourteen thirty-nine until seventeen eighty-seven, this was for over three centuries the only burial ground permitted for Prague's Jewish population. Because Jewish religious law forbids the desecration or moving of graves, and because the Christian town council refused to expand the ghetto boundaries, the community was forced to bring in tons of earth and bury bodies on top of older graves—up to twelve layers deep!
Find the tomb of Rabbi Judah Loew: even today, visitors from across the world leave small pebbles and paper slips inscribed with their deepest wishes on his tombstone, praying for his mystical wisdom and blessings.
Exit into the adjacent Pinkas Synagogue.