Walking Tour 4

Josefov (Jewish Quarter)

Start: Lesser Square (Malé námestí).

Finish: Café Bar La Dolce Vita.

Time: Allow approximately 2 hours, not including rest stops or museum visits.

Best Times: Sunday to Friday from 9am to 5pm, when the cemetery and sights are open.

Worst Time: Saturday, the Sabbath, when everything is closed.

Josefov, Prague's former Jewish ghetto, lies within Staré Mesto. The wall that once surrounded the ghetto was almost entirely destroyed to make way for 19th-century structures. Prague is considered one of Europe's great Jewish cities: Jews have been here since the end of the 10th century, and by 1708 more Jews were living here than anywhere else in Europe.

Today, Prague's Jewish community numbers less than 3,000. In 1992, the Jewish community elected Rabbi Karol Sidon as their leader, and he has led a very public fight against anti-Semitism as reported incidents of attacks against Jews and Jewish property have increased. In addition, the government has recently tried to return to Jewish citizens property confiscated by the Nazis and then the Communists. However, many claims are still unresolved.

This tour may seem short, but the sights are gripping and provide much to ponder, so budget your time loosely. Start at:

1. Lesser Square (Malé námestí)

This square is adjacent to Staromestské námestí. Though it can't boast as much history as its larger companion, excavations have proven that Malé námestí was a prime piece of real estate as far back as the 12th century. Archaeologists turned up bits of pottery, evidence of medieval pathways, and human bones from the late 1100s, when developers committed the medieval equivalent of paving over a cemetery to build a shopping mall.

From Malé námestí, turn left onto U radnice. One block ahead, in the courtyard across from the Magistrate Building and tucked against St. Nicholas Church, you'll see:

2. Franz Kafka's House

In this building, which now houses Restaurace Franze Kafky, the famous author was born. There used to be a small gallery and shop here to re-create the history of his life, but it's now a restaurant. The best way to get a look Kafka's life is by visiting the Kafka Museum in Hergetova Cihelna.

An unflattering cast-iron bust of Kafka, unveiled in 1965, sits just to the right of the entrance, at the corner of Maiselova and U radnice. Walk straight ahead onto:

3. Maiselova Street

This is one of the two main streets of the walled Jewish quarter, founded in 1254. As elsewhere in Europe, Prague's Jews were forced into ghettos following a formal Roman Catholic decision that the Jews had killed Jesus. By the 16th century, Prague's 10,000 isolated Jews comprised 10% of the city's population.

The ban on Jews living outside the ghetto was lifted in 1848. Eighty percent of the ghetto's Jews moved to other parts of the city, and living conditions on this street and those surrounding it seriously deteriorated. The authorities responded by razing the entire neighborhood, including numerous medieval houses and synagogues. The majority of the buildings here now date from the end of the 19th century; several on this street sport stunning Art Nouveau facades.

About halfway down the street, on your right, is the:

4. Maisel Synagogue (Maiselova synagóga)

This neo-Gothic temple is built on a plot of land donated by Mordechai Maisel, a wealthy inhabitant of Prague's old Jewish town. The original synagogue was destroyed by fire in 1689 but was rebuilt. During the Nazi occupation of Prague, it was used to store furniture seized from the homes of deported Jews. Today, the building holds no religious services; it's home to the Jewish Museum's collection of silver ceremonial objects, books, and Torah covers confiscated from Bohemian synagogues by the Nazis during World War II.

Continue walking down Maiselova and turn left onto Siroká. Walk past the former entrance to the Old Jewish Cemetery, through which you can catch a first glimpse of its shadowy headstones, to:

5. Pinkas Synagogue (Pinkasova synagóga)

This is Prague's second-oldest Jewish house of worship. After World War II, the walls of the Pinkas Synagogue were painted with the names of more than 77,000 Czech Jews who perished in Nazi concentration camps. The Communist government subsequently erased the names, saying that the memorial was suffering from "moisture due to flooding." After the revolution, funds were raised to restore and maintain the commemoration. It's here that then-U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright came in 1997 to see the proof that her paternal grandparents, Arnost Koerbel and Olga Koerbelová, were killed in the Holocaust. Albright said that she hadn't been aware of her Jewish ancestry until earlier in 1997. Her father, a Czechoslovak diplomat who fled Prague with his young family twice when Madeleine was a small girl (first from the Nazis, then from the Communists), raised his children as Catholics.

Backtrack up Siroká and turn left onto Maiselova. The pink rococo building on the right side at Maiselova 18 is the:

6. Jewish Community Center

This is an information and cultural center for locals and visitors. It once was the Jewish Town Hall. Activities of interest to Prague's Jewish community are posted here, and the staff provides visitors with details about Jewish tours. Also inside is Prague's only truly kosher restaurant, which, alas, is open only to members.

On the Community Center wall facing the Old-New Synagogue is a clock with a Hebrew-inscribed face. It turns left, counter to what's considered "clockwise."

Continue walking 1 block along Maiselova and turn left onto U Starého hrbitova, heading to the:

7. Old Jewish Cemetery (Starý zidovský hrbitov)

This is Europe's oldest Jewish burial ground, where the oldest grave dates to 1439. Because the local government of the time didn't allow Jews to bury their dead elsewhere, as many as 12 bodies were placed vertically, with each new tombstone placed in front of the last. Hence, the crowded little cemetery contains more than 20,000 graves.

Like other Jewish cemeteries around the world, many of the tombstones have small rocks and stones placed on them -- a tradition said to date from the days when Jews were wandering in the desert. Passersby, it's believed, would add rocks to gravesites so as not to lose the deceased to the shifting sands. Along with stones, visitors often leave small notes of prayer in the cracks between tombstones.

Buried here is Rabbi Löw, who made from the mud of the Vltava River the legendary Golem, a clay "monster" to protect Prague's Jews. Golem was a one-eyed or three-eyed monster, depending on how you look at him. Legend has it that the rabbi would keep Golem around to protect the residents from the danger of mean-spirited Catholics outside the walls of the Jewish ghetto.

Löw's grave, in the most remote corner opposite the Ceremonial Hall, is one of the most popular in the cemetery; you'll see that well-wishers and the devout cram his tombstone with notes. Across the path from the rabbi is the grave of Mordechai Maisel, the 16th-century mayor of Josefov whose name was given to the nearby synagogue built during his term in office.

As you exit the cemetery you'll pass the:

8. Ceremonial Hall

Inside the hall, where rites for the dead were once held, is a gripping reminder of the horrors of World War II. Displayed here are the sketches by children who were held at the Terezín concentration camp west of Prague. These drawings, which are simple, honest, and painful in their playful innocence, are of the horrific world where parents and other relatives were packed up and sent to die.

Backtrack along U Starého hrbitova, cross Maiselova, and walk into the small alley called Cervená. You're now standing between two synagogues. On the right is the High Synagogue (Vysoká synagóga), now an exhibition hall for the Jewish State Museum. On your left is the:

9. Old-New Synagogue (Staronová synagóga)

Originally called the New Synagogue to distinguish it from an even older one that no longer exists, the Old-New Synagogue, built around 1270, is the oldest Jewish temple in Europe. The building has been prayed in continuously for more than 700 years, except from 1941 to 1945, during the Nazi occupation in World War II. The synagogue is also one of the largest Gothic buildings in Prague, built with vaulted ceilings and fitted with Renaissance-era columns.

Until a 19th-century planning effort raised the entire area about 3m (10 ft.), much of Josefov and Staré Mesto used to be flooded regularly by the Vltava. The Old-New Synagogue, however, has preserved its original floor, which you reach by going down a short set of stairs.

You can attend services here. Men and women customarily sit separately during services, though that's not always rigorously enforced.

Continue to the end of the Cervená alley and turn right onto Parízská (Paris St.), Prague's most elegant thoroughfare, built around the turn of the 20th century. Follow Parízská back toward Staromestské námestí, but take the first left and go 1 block. On the left you'll find:

Winding Down--La Dolce Vita, at Siroká 15, half a block off Parízská, is one of the city's finest Italian cafes. Its marble interior contains five tables on the ground floor, and 10 tables on a veranda overlooking the action below. The cafe offers traditional Italian sandwiches, gelato, and espresso drinks, served by an Italian-speaking Czech waitstaff. The cafe is open daily from 8:30am to midnight. Cappuccino costs 60Kc ($2.50); homemade Italian desserts or cheesecake are 80Kc ($3.35).

Returning to Parízská and turning left will lead you back to Staromestské námestí.