Old-New Synagogue (Staronová Synagoga): The Attic of the Golem

Why is it significant?

Stand before the steep stepped brick gables of the Old-New Synagogue on Červená Street. Completed around twelve seventy, this is officially the oldest active synagogue in all of Europe and one of Prague's earliest surviving Gothic buildings.

Key Facts

Open the walk

Stand before the steep stepped brick gables of the Old-New Synagogue on Červená Street. Completed around twelve seventy, this is officially the oldest active synagogue in all of Europe and one of Prague's earliest surviving Gothic buildings.

Look up at the high, inaccessible exterior attic window: according to centuries of Prague folklore, inside that dark attic lies the dormant body of the Golem, the mythical giant sculpted from river mud by Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel in the late sixteenth century. The Maharal brought the clay colossus to life by placing a sacred parchment inscribed with the holy name of God, the Shem, under its tongue to protect the Jewish ghetto from pogroms and blood libels.

Inside the stone sanctuary, notice that the vaulting has five ribs rather than four, an architectural precaution so the ceiling would never form the shape of a Christian cross. The synagogue's historic red banner was granted by Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand the Second in sixteen forty-eight, bearing the Shield of David.

Walk around the stone corner to the high perimeter wall of the Old Jewish Cemetery.