Prague Jewish Ghetto Tour - Cemetary, Old New Synagogue

Old New Synagogue - built in 1270

 

Additional photos of the Old New Synagogue

The Jewish cemetery located in the Jewish Ghetto.  The cemetery has been in use for hundreds of years.  With bodies buried on top - so the depth of the cemetery actually goes below street level.  It is estimated to be over 20,000 grave markers

The Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague – “Beth Chaim” (House of Life) – is the second oldest Jewish cemetery in Europe. It is situated in Josefov, the former Prague Jewish Town, among old synagogues and other sights. The cemetery was founded in the 15 ^th century, the oldest existing gravestone is dated 23 ^rd April 1439. You can see gravestones from various historical periods there: long black Gothic ones, marble stones from the 16 ^th century, typical Renaissance decoration, mighty Baroque gravestones, and some of the Rococo ones.

Gravestones at the Old Jewish Cemetery

About 20 000 gravestones seem to be pressed to each other and variously inclined. It is because of the lack of space in the Old Jewish Cemetery: during the centuries, the graves had to be put one on another, somewhere even in twelve layers.
It is forbidden to picture dead people in the Jewish faith, so there are various symbols on the graves to indicate who is buried there. For example, the musicians´ graves are adorned with a violin, scissors indicate a tailor, a crown belongs to the erudite men and so on. An animal symbol mostly signifies the dead man´s surname (e.g. a lion on the Rabi Loew´s grave).