The new Jewish cemetery in Prague

The new Jewish cemetery is a separate part of the Olšan cemetery. You will find it between Želivského and Izraelská streets. In terms of area and number of gravestones, it is the largest Jewish cemetery in our country and is protected as a cultural monument.

It was founded in 1890 , when the cemetery , located in Fibichova street near Mahlerový sady in Žižkov, reached its end of life. The new cemetery is ten times larger than the Old Jewish Cemetery in Josefov. It is a resting place for more than 25 thousand people. It has served as Prague’s main Jewish cemetery since its foundation until now .

The complex is entered through an impressive gate . Inside, there are a number of buildings mostly in the Neo-Renaissance style . This is the Ceremonial Hallby the architect Bedřich Münzberger with a prayer room, a house of purification for funeral ceremonies and administrative buildings. The original ceremonial hall was built between 1891 and 1893. The second ceremonial hall, which was built in 1933 in a functionalist style according to the design of the architect Leopold Ehrmann, is surrounded by a new urn cemetery.

Each cemetery field is dedicated to certain groups of people. In the center of the cemetery there is a field dedicated to the workers of the Jewish religious communities. Here you will find the field of important rabbis, the Patria monument – a defunct Lower Kingdom village and the World War 1 Victims Memorial from 1926. Along the eastern wall are large family tombs , such as the Petschk, Waldes and Bonda families. Tombstonesthey are from different styles (nouveau-gothic, art nouveau or classicism) and often come from the workshops of important Czech sculptors and architects such as Jan Kotěra, Josef Zasch, Josef Fanta, Jan Štursa or Čeněk Vosmík.

There is also a Memorial to Czechoslovak Jews, victims of the Holocaust and the resistance of 1985. You should not forget the grave of the Prague Jewish writer Franz Kafka . On the opposite wall is a commemorative plaque of Kafka’s friend Max Brod, who is buried in Israel. The cemetery is also the final resting place of writers Ota Pavel, Jiří Orten, painters Jiří Kars and Max Horb and many others.

The cemetery has a special permit to operate an urn grove, although Jewish tradition forbids cremation of the dead. They use this option especially when burying mixed marriages. Since 1958, the place has been protected as a cultural monument of the Czech Republic .

Operator

Nowy Cmentarz Żydowski

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