Old Jewish Cemetery, Prague

Beyond the enclosing wall is the Old Jewish Cemetery, a major Jewish historical monument in Prague. The oldest marker here commemorates Rabbi and poet Avigdor Kara, who died in 1439. The tightly gathered stones preserve graves because Jewish custom forbade the removal of older burials.

When room disappeared, the community raised the ground with fresh soil and buried again above; some areas contain as many as twelve layers. That is why markers from earlier graves now stand amid later ones. This cemetery holds Rabbi Judah Löw, known as Maharal, alongside benefactor Mordecai Maisel, historian David Gans, and Rabbi David Oppenheim.

Löw’s tomb carries a lion and grape motifs. His name is connected with the Golem in legend. Burials ended after Emperor Joseph the Second banned cemeteries within city walls for hygienic reasons.