Prague Jewish History Tour

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.

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.

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 City Tour. 

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.