Old Jewish Cemetery

The Old Jewish Cemetery (Starý židovský hřbitov) in Josefov is one of the most remarkable burial grounds in Europe, in active use from 1439 to 1787 as the only permitted resting place for Prague's Jewish community. Because Jewish law prohibits disturbing graves and the ghetto could not expand, bodies were buried in layers directly on top of one another — up to 12 layers deep — creating the cemetery's distinctive uneven terrain and dense clustering of some 12,000 tombstones. Estimates suggest over 100,000 people are interred here. Among the most visited graves is that of Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel (1512–1609), the legendary creator of the Golem, whose ornate Renaissance tumba draws visitors who leave handwritten wishes tucked into its stonework. The cemetery is entered through the Pinkas Synagogue — itself a Holocaust memorial bearing the names of nearly 80,000 Czech Jewish victims — and exited through the Klausen Synagogue.