– a tour through the former Prague Jewish ghetto, you see the Old New synagogue, Spanish temple, Klausen synagogue, Mailsel synagogue, Ceremonial hall and the Old jewish cemetery.
(Duration: 3 hours)
The oldest mentions about the Jews in Prague come from the 10th century. Those were the Sephard Jewish business people who were coming to offer foreign goods but the Prague Jewish history is based on the Askenazy Jewish tribe. In Czechoslovakia, over 270,000 Jews had lived before World War Two started. The current records speak around 6,000 in all the country, from those around 1,500 live in Prague…
This tour offers a detailed look at the Prague Jewish history from the very beginning up to now. This tour answers the question why in a city occupied by the Nazis during World War Two lots of synagogues were preserved, as well as it informs about the records of Czech Holocaust survivors and life of the Czech Jews under communism.
The tour starts in the Franz Kafka Square with a look at his birth place. Then continues in the Maisel Synagogue where you hear a story of the first Jewish settlements in the Czech Kingdom and the guide explains the basic Jewish expressions like Shabat, Torah, Talmud, Synagogue… After this you will move to the Pinkas synagogue where you see over 78,000 names of Czech Holocaust victims written on the walls in the alphabetic order and the explanation concentrates on expressions like a concentration camp, labor camp, extermination camp… After this synagogue, you continue to the Old Jewish Cemetery with over 120,000 people buried in 12 layers on top of each other. The tour goes further to the Ceremonial Hall and Klausen Synagogue where the guide tells the story about the Jewish birth, education, wedding, divorce, cuisine Kosher, burial customs…
Going through the street with stands with the Jewish souvenirs you will get to the jewel of Prague Jewish Town, to the Old New Synagogue considered the oldest European synagogue from 1293, a still working temple for the orthodox part of the Prague Jewish community. You will see the Jewish City Hall and the High Synagogue and will finish the tour in the Spanish Synagogue with gorgeous sephardic decoration.
All the admissions are paid by directly by the clients according to the contemporary prices of the Prague Jewish Museum.
We kindly recommend to start the tour around 9 a.m. or 2 p.m. when the temples are emptier. The capacity of people in the building is limited and you could wait for long and would not enjoy the feeling of the memorials.
The tour is unavailable on Saturdays and during the Jewish festive occasions.
Thank you for your understanding.
