IMAGES: GETTY; MAREK MUSIL
Josefov
The Spanish Synagogue doesn’t look much
like a synagogue — the Moorish arches and
keyhole windows feel like they belong to an
Andalusian mosque. It’s completely out of
place — but that’s in keeping with what the
city does best. “Prague is an encyclopaedia of
European architectural styles, even through
to the 1970s brutalist hotels,” says Bonita
Rhoads, co-owner of the Insight Cities tour
company, “and this district proves this.”
To the untrained eye, the neighbourhood
of Josefov seamlessly blends into the Old
Town. There are no longer walls hiving
off the former Jewish ghetto. They were
removed in the mid-19th century as the
area’s dishevelled laneways were replaced
by wider, prouder city streets, and Prague’s
Jews were integrated into city life.
But the historic Jewish burial hall,
cemetery and several synagogues remain,
and for bleak reasons. While systematically
wiping out the Jewish population, the Nazis
decided to keep Josefov as a museum to an
extinct race. In doing so, they brought in
Judaica from across Europe. Much of it
— more than 100,000 books, silver treasures,
embossed Torah mantles and other
artefacts — is still there. Today there’s amuseum covering several key buildings — a
monument to the horror of the atrocity and
the lives of the victims.
A small Jewish community lives in Prague
today and the hugely atmospheric, 13th-
century Old-New Synagogue is still the main
religious centre. Other places of worship in
the area have been repurposed. Of these, the
Pinkas Synagogue provides a thoroughly
haunting gut-punch. Its walls are covered
with the names of the 77, 297 Czech Jews
killed in the Holocaust, all listed with date
of birth and the last known date they were
alive. Upstairs, a room is covered in pictures
drawn by children while inside the Terezin
concentration camp and ghetto.
But despite the glut of souvenir
stalls, kosher restaurants and clutch of
monuments, the big surprise of Josefov is
how little it feels defined by its previous
ghetto status. It provides an impressive
concentration of Prague art nouveau
wonders, with the grand five-storey
apartment blocks covered in ever more
elaborate statues, swirling plant motifs
and orientalist fantasies. Visitors come to
Josefov for a simple, dark and well-known
narrative, but discover the story is full of
complicated tangents.MORE INFO
EasyJet flies to Prague from several
UK airports, including Bristol, Gatwick,
Manchester and Edinburgh. The
quirkily decorated Hotel Amadeus
offers affordable rooms in a handy
location roughly half way between
Karlín and Vinohrady. Rates start at
£32, room only. easyjet.com
amadeushotel.czPřístav 18600. 18600.cz
Forum Karlín. forumkarlin.cz
Kasárna Karlín. kasarnakarlin.cz
Mikrofarma. mikrofarma.cz
Vinohrady Theatre.
divadlonavinohradech.com
Dolcemente. dolcemente-vinohrady.cz
Insight Cities. insightcities.com
Prague Jewish Museum.
jewishmuseum.cz
Prague Post, an English-language
newspaper. praguepost.com
Living Prague, a city guide blog.
livingprague.com
Taste of Prague, a food blog.
tasteofprague.com
The Rough Guide to Prague (2018), by
Marc Di Duca. RRP: £13.99.
Prague City Tourism. prague.eu
Czech Tourism. czechtourism.comJosefov’s Spanish Synagogue, so-called
for its distinctive Moorish architecture
LEFT: Vineyards above Vinohrady at
Havlíček GardensMay/Jun 2020 47NEIGHBOURHOOD