Jewish Quarter in Prague

Prague is only a few hours away from where we live, so I've now been there three times (and counting.)  It's a beautiful city!  The ornate and colorful buildings don't get old. 

Hyrum and I took our first trip there only a few weeks after arriving in Germany.  I went back with my family last May.  And this was Tiago's first time to Czech Republic.  He makes the skyline a little cuter.  

On Wednesday we met my parents at the steps of St Nicholas Cathedral.  (They flew in from London.)  I left myself plenty of time to get from the parking garage to the Old Town Square so I wouldn't be late.  I walked down roads that were familiar, feeling like a seasoned traveler.  I even stopped for a trdelnik at a small stand I'd been to before--but somehow I took a wrong turn within a block or two of the square.  A few winding cobblestone streets later later, and I was back at the parking garage.  Whoops!  I then headed back in the direction that I hoped was North, and I made it to the church with 0 seconds to spare. 

These two were happy to see Tiago!  And he was happy to see them.  I spent the rest of the day pushing an empty stroller because he was being carried around like a king.  

 Since we'd all been to Prague before, we spent the afternoon in the Jewish Quarter which we hadn't yet seen.  [aaaafter getting a hot dog.]

The highlight was the Old Jewish Cemetery.  For over 300 years it was the only place that Jews in the city were allowed to be buried.  The result was that bodies were buried up to 12 people deep!  There are about 12,000 headstones crammed in the cemetery, but an estimated 100,000 bodies.  And it's not a large cemetery by any stretch of the imagination.  The last burial was in 1787, so the tombstones are all old and crooked.

Here are six headstones all touching.  

In the picture below you can see how the cemetery became a hill as more bodies were added and more dirt was piled on top.  Some of the surrounding buildings looked like they were at least 15 feet lower than the path through the cemetery.

In addition to the cemetery, we saw several Synagogues.  First we saw the Pinkas Synagogue, which was founded in 1479.  Following WWII it became a memorial of sorts for Czechoslovak Jews who had died in the war.  The names of 77,000 victims were hand written in black lettering on the walls, with the family name in red, along with birthdays and last known date of being alive.  People were grouped together by hometowns (written in gold.)  It's sobering to see an entire wall of people from the same hometown who were killed.  In the 60's, the communists had the names removed, but they were added again in the 90's.

The picture below shows some of the original names that were intact.  

 Not much to note about the Klausova Synagogue, except it had a really large Torah on display.  Interesting to imagine the Scribes and pharisees of the New Testament reading from those types of scrolls.  It's also next to the cemetery and was used for funeral ceremonies.  Along the walls were paintings showing the Jewish rituals for the dying, and how bodies were prepared for burial.

We stopped into the Maiselova Synagogue.  It contained a collection of treasures from the Jewish community of Czechoslovakia--collected by Nazis for their "Exotic Museum for an Extinct Race" (which never came to fruition.)  I don't get to excited over artifacts--crowns, cups, books, etc--but it's amazing what a collection they have in the Jewish area of Prague considering the country's (and continent's) history.      

The Spanish Synagogue had ornate Moorish decor that felt very similar to the types of buildings we saw in Turkey.  No surface untouched!

We sat for a while in Old Town Square before heading to dinner at an old favorite.  (Ha! We've been there once...)  Jenna and Amie found this place back in 2008, and we all are there last May.  We came back for more, and were happy to see that we were the only ones at the restaurant!  We love private seating.  And the food was delicious.  They're one of the few restaurants in Europe that serve cold drinks with ICE!

Great way to wrap up our day in Prague before driving home to Vilseck, where we were in store for more culinary adventures.