Page 89 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Prague

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mikva or ritual bath. The core 8 Jewish Town Hall
of the present building is a hall Židovská Radnice
with Gothic vaulting. The gallery Maiselova 18. Map 3 B3. Tel 224 800
for women was added in the 849. X Staroměstská. v 17, 18.
early 17th century. @ 207. Closed to the public.
The synagogue now serves
as a memorial to all the Jewish The core of this attractive blue
Czechoslovak citizens who and white building is the
were imprisoned in Terezín original Jewish Town Hall, built
concentration camp and later in 1570–77 by architect Panacius
deported to various Nazi Roder at the expense of the
extermination camps. The immensely rich mayor,
names of the 77,297 who did Mordechai Maisel. In 1763, it
not return are inscribed on the acquired a new appearance in
synagogue walls. The building the flowery style of the Late
houses a moving exhibition of Baroque. The last alterations
children’s drawings from the date from 1908, when the
Terezín concentration camp. 18th-century silver-gilt Torah shield southern wing was enlarged.
in the High Synagogue The building is one of the
5 Klausen In 1944, an exhibition was put few monuments that survived
far-reaching sanitation of this
Synagogue on here detailing the history medieval part of Prague at the
Klausová Synagoga of the Prague ghetto. beginning of the 20th century.
On the roof stands a small
U starého hřbitova. Map 3 B3.
Tel 222 317 191. X Staroměstská. 6 Old-New wooden clock tower with a
v 17, 18. @ 207. Open 9am–6pm Synagogue distinctive green steeple. The
Sun–Fri (Nov–Mar: to 4:30pm). & ^ right to build the tower was
∑ jewishmuseum.cz Staronová Synagoga originally granted to the Jewish
See pp90–91. community after their part in
Before the fire of 1689, the defence of Charles Bridge
this site was occupied by against the Swedes in 1648
a number of small Jewish 7 High Synagogue (see pp32–5). On one of the
schools and prayer houses Vysoká Synagoga gables there is another clock.
known as klausen. The Červená 2. Map 3 B3. Tel 224 800 849. This one has Hebrew figures
name was preserved in X Staroměstská. v 17, 18. and, because Hebrew reads
the Klausen Synagogue, @ 207. Open for services only: from right to left, hands that
built on the ruins and 8:30am & 2pm Mon–Fri, 1:30pm Sat. turn in an anti-clockwise direc-
completed in 1694. The ∑ kehilaprag.cz tion. The Town Hall
High Baroque structure is now the seat
has a fine barrel-vaulted Like the Jewish Town Hall, the of the Council of
interior with rich stucco building of the High Synagogue Jewish Religious
decorations. It now was financed by Mordechai Communities
houses Hebrew prints Maisel, mayor of the Jewish in the Czech
and manuscripts and Town, in the 1570s. Originally, Republic.
an exhibition of Jewish the two buildings formed a
traditions and customs, single complex and to
tracing the history facilitate communi-
of the Jews in cation with the Town
19th-century Torah Central Europe Hall, the main hall of
pointer in Klausen back to the the synagogue was
Synagogue early Middle on the first floor.
Ages. Many It was not until
exhibits relate to famous figures the 19th century
in the city’s Jewish community that the two
including the 16th-century buildings were
Rabbi Löw (see p90), who, separated and the
according to legend, created synagogue was
an artificial man out of clay given a staircase
and bought it to life. and street entrance.
Adjoining the synagogue is You can still see
a building that looks like a tiny the original
medieval castle. It was built Renaissance
in 1906 as the ceremonial hall vaulting and
of the Jewish Burial Society. stucco decoration. Façade and clock tower of the Jewish Town Hall

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