The Old Jewish Cemetery, Prague

The Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague’s Josefov quarter was the only burial ground available to the Jewish community for over three centuries. The cemetery covers roughly one hectare. Because Jewish law forbids the disturbance of graves, and the community was not permitted to expand beyond the ghetto walls, the dead were buried in layers.

Twelve Deep

Between 1439 and 1787, an estimated 100,000 people were buried here. The soil was raised, layer by layer, until some sections reached twelve burials deep. Around 12,000 headstones remain visible on the surface, many tilted at angles where the ground has shifted beneath them. The oldest legible stone belongs to Avigdor Kara, a poet who survived the Easter pogrom of 1389.

Rabbi Loew

The most visited grave belongs to Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel, known as the Maharal of Prague, who died in 1609 at the age of approximately ninety-seven. According to legend, Rabbi Loew created the Golem from clay taken from the banks of the Vltava river and animated it using a shem, a tablet inscribed with one of the names of God. The Golem protected the ghetto from anti-Jewish violence. When it became uncontrollable, Loew deactivated it and stored it in the attic of the Old New Synagogue, where, according to tradition, it remains.

The Cemetery Today

The cemetery closed to new burials in 1787 when Emperor Joseph II prohibited burials within city limits. Visitors leave small stones on Rabbi Loew’s grave following Jewish custom, and slips of paper bearing written wishes.