Jewish Cemetery

It may not be Boot Hill ("Many men are buried here / some 'cos they was rich /

some 'cos they was poor / but all 'cos they was dead"), but the Old Jewish Cemetery

is Prague's equivalent famous burial ground, like Paris's Pere Lachaise and London's

Highgate Cemetery. Situated no more than a 10-minute walk from the city centre,

and next to the Klausova Synagogue, now the Jewish Museum, it's a stunning

survival from the 15th century, with graves three or more deep (in places up to

twelve deep). In Jewish tradition, many of the gravestones incorporate a leitmotiv

(various animals, a crown, a jug and bowl, for instance) extolling the interred's

profession, personal qualities or religious characteristics, along with the name and

dates of the deceased. It ceased to be a place of burial in 1786.

It may not be Boot Hill ("Many men are buried here / some 'cos they was rich / some 'cos

they was poor / but all 'cos they was dead"), but the Old Jewish Cemetery is Prague's

equivalent famous burial ground, like Paris's Pere Lachaise and London's Highgate

Cemetery. Situated no more than a 10-minute walk from the city centre, and next to the

Klausova Synagogue, now the Jewish Museum, it's a stunning survival from the 15th

century, with graves three or more deep (in places up to twelve deep). In Jewish

tradition, many of the gravestones incorporate a leitmotiv (various animals, a crown, a jug

and bowl, for instance) extolling the interred's profession, personal qualities or religious

characteristics, along with the name and dates of the deceased. It ceased to be a place

of burial in 1786.

Jewish cemetery, Prague