Old Jewish cemetery in Bohemia, Prague spa
Rating: 7,5/10 (100 votes)  The Old Jewish Cemetery is the oldest surviving cemetery in Prague. The founding of the cemetery, according to sources, took place in the 15th century. At that time, Jews were not allowed to arrange burials outside the ghetto quarter, so they literally had to build graves one on top of the other. Burials in the cemetery were carried out until 1787. After the foundation, the Old Jewish cemetery gradually expanded. Today, there are about 12 thousand gravestones on the territory of the cemetery. Naturally, there are many more graves themselves. Due to the limited territory of the cemetery, new soil was laid here, in connection with which several layers were formed, and some of the gravestones were raised. Plain sandstone slabs are the oldest gravestones in the cemetery. A common sign of Renaissance and Late Gothic tombstones – deep relief of the font. In XVI – In the 17th century, sandstone was replaced by marble, while most of the renaissance decorativeness was used in the creation of tombstones. At the same time, tombstones began to appear. In the XVII – In the 18th century, more decorative pedestals were created, decorated with stucco moldings made in the form of fauna, flora or ordinary objects. In front of the facade of the Klaus synagogue is the Nefele hill, which contains burials of babies up to one month old. At the beginning of the 20th century, bones from the liquidated parts of the Jewish cemetery were transported here, a curbstone was erected in honor of this event. The most visited graves are: the curbstone of Rabbi Leva, the tombstone of David Hans – astronomer, mathematician and historian, the tombstone of Mordechai Maisel, as well as the tombstones of David Oppenheim and Joseph Del-Medig. During the Second World War, Adolf Hitler, in addition to the Jewish settlement, also decided to wipe out Jewish burial places and synagogues. However, he ordered not to touch the Old Jewish Cemetery, since he was going to create a museum out of it. 
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