As well as being a repository of ancient Jewish buildings, modern Josefov - particularly along Parizska, Kozi and V kolkovne - is a neighborhood of tres hip sidewalk cafes, international designer boutiques, and drop-dead-cool cocktail bars. Parisian Ave (Parizska trida), built at the time the ghetto was cleared, is lined with courtly four- and five-storey residential French Art Nouveau buildings adorned with stained glass and sculptural flourishes - just off the strip, Maiselova 21 is particularly stunning. (Neal Bedford, etc., Czech & Slovak Republics, Lonely Planet 2004)
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As there was not enough space in the Old Shul to meet the needs of the rapidly growing ritual reform society, it was not long before a decision was taken to erect a new building. The Old Shul was pulled down in 1867 and a new synagogue was built on the same site, opening in May 1868. The building was designed by Prague architect Vojtech Ignatz Ullmann, the interior by architect Josef Niklas and construction work was carried out by the builder Quido Belsky.
The synagogue has a central square plan with a large dome surmounting its central space and built-in lightened galleries on three sides that fully open onto the main hall. The remarkable interior decoration was executed between 1882 and 1883 to designs by architects Antonin Baum and Bedrich Munzberger. It consists of a low stucco arabesque of stylized Islamic motifs, derived from the Spanish Alhambra. The same richly-gilt and polychrome ornamental features were applied to the carved decorations of the doors, the organ, gallery banisters and wall cladding on the ground floor. The ground floor and upper floor windows were fitted with stained glass. As the interior was richly decorated in a Moorish style, the building came to be known as the Spanish Synagogue.
The Spanish Synagogue was used for religious services until September 1941 and then turned into a Nazi warehouse for confiscated Jewish property. In 1955 the synagogue came under the administration of the Jewish Museum and from 1960 to 1982 it housed an exhibition of synagogue textiles. In 1994 it was returned to the Prague Jewish community and work began on its complete renovation - copper sheet roof in 1995, plaster and facade decoration in 1996, and furnishings, decorative paintwork, stained glass windows and the organ in 1997-1998. In November 1998 a permanent exhibition on the history of the Jews in the Czech lands from the enlightenment to the present opened in the synagogue. Concerts and celebrations of Jewish festivals are also held here. (quoted from Arno Parik, Jewish Prague, 2002)
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The Old-New Synagogue is now the oldest site of the Jewish Town of Prague and the oldest surviving synagogue in Europe. Built in the 13th century, it was originally called the New - or Great - Shul, but it was not until the establishment of other synagogues in the ghetto in the late 16th century that it became known as Old-New (Ger. Altneuschul). Another explanation for its name is provided by an old Jewish legend of Prague, according to which the foundation stones for the Old-New Synagogue were brought by angels from the destroyed Temple of Jerusalem on condition (Heb. al-tenai) that would be returned once the Temple was restored.
The Old-New Synagogue enjoyed tremendous respect in Prague's Jewish Town and in Jewish communities abroad and became enveloped in numerous legends and tales in the course of its over 700 years of existence. According to one legend, the synagogue was protested against fire in the ghetto by the wings of angels transformed into doves, which is why it has remained miraculously intact to this day. Another legend has it that the attic of the synagogue is home to the remains of the Gorem, the artificial creature which Rabbi Loew brought to life in order to protect the Prague Jewish community.
The Old-New Synagogue is the oldest surviving example of the medieval twin-nave type of synagogue. It is an oblong structure with a large saddle roof, the outside walls of which are supported by buttresses and punctuated by narrow windows. The main building is surrounded by low annexes on three sides that serve as a vestibule and naves for women. The wall of the women's section has narrow apertures opening onto the main hall of the synagogue to enable women to take part in services. As a customary sign of humility, the floor level in the main nave is several degrees lower than that of the adjacent street. Two early Baroque money boxes in the vestibule are said to have been used for the deposing of Jewish taxes gathered here from the entire kingdom. (quoted from Arno Parik, Jewish Prague, 2002)
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From the earliest of times, Jewish communities in the Diaspora had their own self-government. This was headed by an elected council of elders, which decided on community matters and represented the community in relation to the sovereign and the town. Another important institution of self-government was the rabbinic court, which dealt with religious and family law and resolved disputes within the community.
The first reference to a town hall in the Jewish Town of Prague dates from 1541. At the time, it was probably located on the same spot as the present town hall, that is on the corner opposite the Old-New Synagogue in the centre of the Jewish town. After being damaged by fire, it was rebuilt in 1577 with funding by Mayor Mordecai Maisel and under the supervision of the Italian builder Pankracius Roder. The Jewish Town Hall subsequently came to stand for the independence of the Prague ghetto. After the fire of 1689, it was rebuilt in a Baroque style by the Prague builder Pavel Ignatz Bayer, and after the fire of 1754, it was rebuilt in 1763-65 by Joseph Schwanitzer. During the reconstruction, a memorial record marking the loan of 200,000 guilders (which facilitated the renovation of the Jewish Town after the fire) was placed in the tower. To this day, the Jewish Town Hall has retained its characteristic form as a small, late Baroque palace with a richly articulated facade, mansard roof and dormer gables, above which juts out a picture postcard spire with gallery and decorative rococo grille. (quoted from Arno Parik, Jewish Prague, 2002)
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Alongside the Old-New Synagogue, the Old Jewish Cemetery is the most prominent site of the Jewish Town of Prague and one of the oldest and best preserved Jewish cemeteries in Europe. It was not, however, the Jewish community's first burial spot. The oldest ever Jewish cemetery in Prague is said to have been located somewhere in the Ujezd district of the Letter Town below Prague Castle. Another medieval Jewish cemetery, known as the Jewish Garden, was already in existence in the 13th century beyond the walls of the Old Town, between today's Spalena and Jungmannova streets in the New Town. Burials took place in this spot until 1478.
The Old Jewish Cemetery was founded in the early 15th century on the western edge of the ghetto. Despite gradual enlargement, the cemetery plot soon reached its full capacity. As it is prohibited to disturb old graves under religious custom, it was necessary to add further layers of earth for subsequent burials, while existing tombstones were raised to the surface. In time this produced an accumulation of densely packed tombstones from various centuries, leaning one upon the other.
Today the cemetery contains almost 12,000 tombstones, spanning from 1439 to 1787, when a ban was placed on further burials in the centre of town. The actual number of burials held here during these 350 years, however, is much greater, for countless tombstones either sank into the ground or were destroyed in the course of time. The historical significance of the cemetery resides both in the tombstone inscriptions, which form an important source for the history of Prague Jews, and in the number of luminaries that are buried here. The cemetery is also a unique site in terms of art history and a valuable record of the development of Jewish tombstone sculpture. (quoted from Arno Parik, Jewish Prague, 2002)
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In 1590 Mayor Mordecai Maisel bought a piece of land at the southern end of the ghetto on which to build his own private synagogue and in 1591 he was granted a special building permit by the Emperor Rudolph II. The synagogue was completed by the following year and was dedicated on the festival of Simhat Torah (Rejoicing of the Torah). It was built by Joseph Wahl to a design by Judah Tzoref de Herz.
A contemporary of Meisel, the historical building was an unusually imposing construction built on twenty pillars. It amazed people at the time on account of the size of its main nave, and it surpassed the opulence. Aisles were added along the sides, serving as a vestibule and a women's section.
The synagogue was enriched by wealth of textiles, Torah mantles and contains that had been donated by Maisel and his wife. It also housed a banner that was fashioned after the large flag in the Old-New Synagogue for Maisel on the basis of a privilege granted by Rudolph II in 1592. For almost a whole century, Mordecai Maisel's synagogue was the largest and most lavish building of the Jewish Town.
The Maisel Synagogue was almost completely destroyed by the ghetto fire of 1689. All that remained were the pillars and the outside walls. In view of the need for a prompt renovation, the eastern side was the only part to be rebuilt by 1691 and the building was reduced in length by a third. The Maisel Synagogue was rebuilt between 1892 and 1905 in a Neo-Gothic style to a design by Alfred Grotte. During the reconstruction, a large vestibule was built in front of the main entrance.
During the Nazi occupation, the synagogue served as a storehouse for confiscated Jewish property. Services were not revived after the war. In 1955, a depository for the Jewish Museum was established here. In 1965-88, the synagogue housed the exhibition Silver from Bohemian and Moravian Synagogues. In 1994-95, the building underwent general reconstruction. 1996 saw the opening of a new permanent exhibition, which focuses on the history of the Jews in the Czech lands from the earliest times to the enlightenment. (Quoted from Arno Parik, Jewish Prague, 2002)
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The land for the New Jewish Cemetery was acquired from the local authority of Zizkov by the Prague Burial Society in 1886 and was brought into use in July 1890.
After its establishment, the cemetery was divided into 22 almost square fields and, in the 1920s, the eastern section was extended by the addition of a new plot (field 23-33). Today, for the most part, burials take place only in four fields (23 A, B, C, D) separating the older part of the cemetery from the new. In 1933 a newly established grove of ums and a functionalist ceremonial hall designed by Leopold Ehrmann were added to the eastern part of the new section.
Although the New Jewish Cemetery - with a current area of 101,430 square meters - is more than ten times larger than the Old Jewish Cemetery and three times as large as the Jewish cemetery in Zizkov, it was already almost filled to capacity between 1890 - 1940. Nearly 15,000 people were buried here during this period, including many prominent names from the economic, scientific and cultural fields. The New Jewish Cemetery served as the main burial site for the Prague Jewish community in Josefov, but also as a cemetery for co-religionists from other Prague communities - (among others) Kralovske Vinohrady, Zizkov, nearly Karlin, Michle, Nusle and Brank. (quoted from Arno Parik, Jewish Prague, 2002)
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Many of the statues were later additions, put up to promote their particular ecclesiastical orders. These days the most popular is that of the country's patron saint, Jan of Nepomuk, tortured to death by Vaclav IV. Most of the statues are copies - the originals are preserved in Vysehrad and at the Fairgrounds Lapidarium. (Neal Bedford, etc., Czech & Slovak Republics, Lonely Planet 2004)
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