Jews lived in Prague from the ninth to tenth centuries. Later, many Jews were forcibly converted to Christianity, and a wall was built around the Jewish quarter in Prague, thus forming the so-called Jewish ghetto, outside of which Jews were not allowed to settle. There were several synagogues, a cemetery, and schools. After the revolution of 1848, Jews received full civil rights and were able to move to other parts of the city. As a result, by the end of the 19th century, only 20 per cent of the ghetto's population was Jewish; the quarter was populated by beggars, homeless people, and representatives of Prague's underbelly. The quarter became a breeding ground for epidemics and filth, so in 1893 Emperor Franz Joseph I ordered the demolition of the old Jewish houses and the construction of shops, offices, and profitable houses. Almost all the old monuments were destroyed, only a few synagogues and a cemetery were preserved.
The Nazis declared the historical Jewish buildings of Prague a "Museum of the Exterminated Ethnic Group" and collected Jewish religious objects and documents from all over the country. This is how the modern Jewish Museum - one of the largest ethnographic Jewish collections in Europe - came into being.
The Meizelova Synagogue was built by Mordechai Meizl for the needs of his own family in the late 16th century, and was later rebuilt several times. It now houses an exhibition about the lives of the most prominent figures of the Prague ghetto.
The Spanish Synagogue is the most luxurious, decorated with stucco, gilding and coloured stained glass. Most of the exhibits here are about the Holocaust and concentration camps.
The Pinkas Synagogue has become a memorial to the Jewish victims of Nazism. On its walls are inscribed the names of more than 75,000 Czech Jews who perished in concentration camps. A passage through its courtyard leads to the Old Jewish Cemetery, founded in the early 15th century. More than 200,000 people are buried here.
The Old Synagogue is the oldest synagogue in Europe. It has always remained the main temple of the Jewish community and functions as such to this day. The building's brick pediment dates from the 15th century, and a 13th-century stone vault has been preserved in the lobby.
The Jewish Town Hall, the only one outside of Israel, has also been preserved. Note the town hall clock: in addition to the usual dial there is a "Jewish" one, the hands of which move in the opposite direction.
The Jewish clock is also preserved.
