Tour Details
Duration
3 hours
Product Type
Tour
Venues
- Old Jewish Cemetery
- Old New Synagogue
- Holocaust Memorial (Pinkas Synagogue)
- Spanish Synagogue
Photos & Highlights
- Get an in-depth exploration of Jewish history in Prague
- Led by a local scholar or historian
Select a date
Tour Description
From medieval beginnings through the era of the Emperors to struggles and triumphs in the 20th century, the history of Prague’s Jewish community is a unique part of a wider European and global mosaic of Judaism. In this 3-hour Jewish Prague tour in the company of a local historian, we’ll explore the Jewish Ghetto of Prague and visit key Jewish heritage sites, including the Old-New Synagogue and the Jewish Cemetery.
Jewish Prague Tour
Jews have settled in Prague since the 10th century and by the 12th century had formed their community near the very heart of the Old Town, along main merchant roads that wind up to the Prague Castle. This location of the Jewish Ghetto remained more or less the same until the 20th century, when it lost its medieval look and was infused with its current Art Nouveau charm. On our walking tour of Jewish Prague, we’ll spend time exploring the many synagogues that remain open to the public, including the Old-New Synagogue, which is the oldest remaining synagogue in Europe. The Jewish Cemetery, which dates back to the 15th century, presents the unique opportunity to discuss Jewish burial customs and rituals, while the Jewish Town Hall gives space to explore the flourishing of the Jewish community during the Renaissance. We’ll also hear traditional Czech legends that intertwine with a significant Jewish figure, Rabbi Jehuda Löw, whose lasting legacy has become intertwined with the myth of the Golem.
One City, Three Cultural Forces
In the development of the Jewish community in Prague, there is a pattern common to other European cities: isolation, slow gaining of privileges and rights and their subsequent loss, threats of pogroms, and gradual assimilation and emancipation during the Enlightenment. Beginning in the 19th century, the Ghetto became a literary theme not only for Jewish writers, but for German and Czech writers as well (for more, see our Prague Cafe Tour). At this point, Prague’s unique atmosphere of three interwoven cultures (Czech, German, and Jewish) became a defining feature of the city that distinguished it from other cities. This intersection of cultures is personified in several famous figures, with Franz Kafka being the best-known.
At the end of our walk, we’ll have traced the ancient roots of the Jewish community in Prague together, using remarkably preserved historical sites as our waypoints and hearing long-ago stories of the people who once gazed up at these same buildings and walked these same streets.
For more on 20th-century Prague, see our Prague Communism tour. For a more general introduction to Prague, try our Introductory Prague walking tour.
FAQ
Do we go inside any of the venues? Yes, we will go inside the Old-New Synagogue and several other smaller synagogues, which now belong to the Jewish Museum and house various exhibitions. Typically, we include the Jewish Cemetery and the Holocaust Memorial inside the Pinkas Synagogue; additional sites can vary.
Do we need tickets? You are prepaid for the tour and for your entrance fees at the Jewish Museum and the Old-New Synagogue.
Where do we meet? You'll meet in the area near Old Town Square. Your confirmation email will have the exact meeting point and a map.
Where You'll Start
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229 Reviews
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We really enjoyed our tour with Katerina. She was so well-versed in this subject. Really made this history come alive.
David
Reviewed on:
Oct 23, 2016
She was lovely and well informed
Renee
Reviewed on:
Aug 31, 2016
Eva was VERY nice, and was very authentic in sharing some personal stories with us as well as being a local. We have no doubt that she knows all the relevant information. However, we found two things that could have been better: 1) it would have been really helpful if Eva had given us an overview/framework at the outset that helped us put into context all the different movements of the jews (in this tour) and historical events. The three of us were eager to learn but found it difficult to follow what period she was referring to, and what events. We felt like mentally we were working too hard. A simple outline of history with key events marked could have been a good way to help us know where we are on the timeline for the things she was talking about. Also, the names are sometimes hard to understand, and it would help to have a list of key persons in history to refer to. Eva carried around several maps and showed them to us a number of times but they could have been marked as to which period of time they referred to. Toward the end of the tour it really felt like she was filling time and walked us through exhibits at the spanish synagogue. I think if she does these things for future tours it would be very helpful to tourists.
Lisa
Reviewed on:
Jul 19, 2016
