Klausen Synagogue

The Klausen Synagogue is the largest surviving synagogue of Prague's former Jewish ghetto and its only preserved example of Baroque synagogue architecture. The name comes from the German "Klaus" (small building): in the 1570s Mordechai Maisel built a complex of three small structures on this site — a yeshiva (Talmudic school) founded by the famous Rabbi Loew, a prayer room, and a ritual bath. After the great ghetto fire of 1689 destroyed them all, a new single synagogue was completed in 1694 in early Baroque style. In 1696 a monumental three-tiered Torah Ark was added, funded by Samuel Oppenheimer, one of the most influential Jewish financiers of the Habsburg monarchy. The synagogue served as the community's second main house of prayer and the synagogue of the Prague Burial Society. It was reconstructed in 1883–84 by architect Bedřich Münzberger. Since 1984 it has been part of the Jewish Museum in Prague, housing the permanent exhibition on Jewish customs and traditions — now being replaced with a new exhibition on the treasures of Czech, Moravian, and Silesian Jewish communities, due when the synagogue reopens after reconstruction.

Note: The Klausen Synagogue has been closed since July 2024 for major renovation. Reopening is planned for 2028 at the earliest. Verify current status at jewishmuseum.cz before visiting.