Page 90 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Prague

88  PR A GUE AREA B Y AREA

3 Old Jewish Cemetery
Starý Židovský Hřbitov

This remarkable site was, for over 300 years, the only
burial ground permitted to Jews. Founded in 1478, it
was slightly enlarged over the years but still basically
corresponds to its medieval size. Because of the lack
of space, people had to be buried on top of each
other, up to 12 layers deep. Today, you can see over
12,000 gravestones crammed into the tiny space, but
several times that number are thought to have been
buried here. The last burial was of Moses Beck in 1787.
View across the cemetery towards the western wall
of the Klausen Synagogue
David Gans’ Tombstone
The tomb of the writer and astronomer (1541–1613) is
decorated with the symbols of his name – a star of
David and a goose (Gans in German).

KEY
1 The oldest tomb is that of the
writer Rabbi Avigdor Kara (1439).
2 The Pinkas Synagogue is the
second­oldest in Prague (see pp86–7).
3 Jewish printers, Mordechai
Zemach (d 1592), and his son Bezalel
(d 1589), are buried under this
square gravestone.
4 Rabbi David Oppenheim
(1664–1736) was the chief rabbi
of Prague. He owned the largest
collection of old Hebrew
manuscripts and prints in the city.
5 Mordechai Maisel (1528–1601)
was Mayor of Prague’s Jewish Town
and a philanthropist.
6 The Museum of Decorative Arts
(see p86).
7 The Neo-Romanesque . 14th-Century
Ceremonial Hall Tombstones
8 Klausen Synagogue (see p87). Embedded in the wall are
fragments of Gothic tomb­
9 The Nephele Mound was where stones brought here from
infants who died under a year old an older Jewish cemetery
were buried. which was discovered in
0 The gravestone of Moses Beck 1866 in Vladislavova Street
in the New Town.

088-089_EW_Prague.indd 88 20/03/17 11:28 am
Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
Starsight template “UK” LAYER
(Source v1.9)
Date 28th August 2012
Size 125mm x 217mm