Josefov: how Prague's Jewish Quarter was lost, rebuilt and preserved

A visitor who walks from the Old Town Square toward the river along Pařížská, or Paris Avenue, passes luxury shops in elaborate Art Nouveau façades. A few steps to the side the street plan changes and the scale shrinks, and there are synagogues that predate everything around them. The abrupt change tells the story of Josefov better than a guidebook can: the old quarter was not lost by accident but cleared by decision, and what survived did so by a mixture of luck and argument.

What follows traces how the district came to be, how it was rebuilt and what remains. The subject is architecture and also the persecution of a community, and the sites are treated as memorials.

A town within the town

Jews settled in Prague from the Middle Ages, and by the 13th century the community lived in a separate quarter on the right bank, bounded by the Old Town and the river. The separation was partly imposed by law and partly by custom. The quarter had its own town hall, which still stands, its own synagogues and its own cemetery. For centuries, living there was a restriction and a protection at the same time.

Conditions changed in the late 18th century. Emperor Joseph II issued a series of tolerance measures in the 1780s that eased restrictions on Jews in the Habsburg lands. The quarter was named Josefov in his honour, though the formal naming came later, in the mid-19th century, when the district was incorporated as a unit of the city. By then the old streets were overcrowded and in poor condition, as the population of the ghetto had grown while its borders had not.

The clearance

In 1893 the city began a large urban renewal programme, known in Czech as asanace. The aim was sanitary and commercial. The medieval alleys were judged unhealthy, and the city wanted a modern street grid with a boulevard linking the Old Town Square to the river. Most of the old buildings were demolished over the following years, and new apartment blocks rose in their place in the fashionable historicist and Art Nouveau styles of the time.

Pařížská street was laid out as part of this plan, and it remains the district's main axis. Its façades are the product of an architectural fashion, not a medieval survival. The few historic buildings that were kept are all the more striking because they stand among them.

Historians continue to debate the clearance. Some argue it destroyed a unique urban landscape. Others note that the old ghetto was crowded and had real sanitary problems. Both are true.

What survived

Several buildings and sites survived the clearance, and they are the reason Josefov draws visitors today.

The Old-New Synagogue (Staronová synagoga) dates from about 1270 and is commonly described as the oldest active synagogue in Europe. It has a Gothic interior and a brick-stepped gable. According to a well-known legend, the golem of Rabbi Loew is kept in its attic. This is folklore, not history, and the rabbi himself, Judah Loew ben Bezalel, lived in the 16th century and died in 1609.

The Old Jewish Cemetery is among the oldest surviving Jewish burial grounds in Europe. Burials continued for centuries in a limited space, so graves were layered, and the tombstones now stand packed together in a way that surprises first-time visitors. The oldest gravestone with a legible date is from 1439.

The Pinkas Synagogue is a memorial to the Czech and Moravian Jews who were killed in the Holocaust. The names of nearly 80,000 victims are written on its walls. The Maisel Synagogue, the Klausen Synagogue, the Spanish Synagogue and the Ceremonial Hall complete the main group, and several of them contain parts of the museum's collections.

The Jewish Town Hall, with its two clocks, one in Hebrew with hands that run counterclockwise, is also a landmark.

How the sites work as a visit

The Jewish Museum in Prague manages most of these sites, and sells a combined ticket that covers several of them. The Old-New Synagogue has traditionally been ticketed separately and remains an active place of worship, so visiting hours are affected by religious holidays and the Sabbath. Because of this, check the museum's website before you plan, particularly around Saturdays and Jewish holidays (as of 2026; check jewishmuseum.cz).

The district today

Josefov belongs to Prague 1 and is one of its smallest parts. The street plan shows two layers: the clearance grid of the 1890s with its tall, elaborate buildings, and the preserved enclave around the synagogues. Pařížská is a luxury shopping street today. The streets nearer the cemetery and the synagogues are narrower and quieter.

The community is far smaller than it was before the war but active, and several of the synagogues are still used for services. Our piece on the Czech Jewish heritage explains how that history extends beyond Prague, to towns and villages around the country that kept synagogues and cemeteries.

For daily life, the practical questions are those of any central district. The metro stations at Staroměstská and Můstek are within a short walk, and the tram stops on the edge of the quarter are reached on foot. See our guide to the metro lines if you are planning a route.

A respectful visit

The sites are memorials, and they are visited as such. Many of them have rules on dress and behaviour that are posted at the entrance. Visitors to a synagogue in use are asked to follow the dress rules posted at the entrance. The cemetery paths are narrow, so groups bunch up there.

Reading Josefov on a map

The quarter is small, bounded by the Old Town Square on one side and the river on the other, and its geography divides cleanly into two layers.

The first is the clearance grid. Pařížská runs from the Old Town Square to the river, with shorter streets crossing it. The façades are eclectic and Art Nouveau, with ornate gables and decorative sculpture, and they date from the early decades of the redevelopment. Look up as you walk and the effort that went into making a showpiece of a former slum is plain.

The second layer is the enclave around the synagogues and the cemetery. The streets there are shorter and the buildings sit closer together, because the sites predate the clearance and the new streets were laid around them. The Jewish Town Hall, the Old-New Synagogue and the Pinkas Synagogue form a cluster, and the cemetery lies behind them. When you move from the grid into the enclave, the change in scale is the clearest evidence of what was kept.

The district is also very compact. The sites listed above can be reached on foot within a few minutes of each other, which is why a visit is more tiring emotionally than physically. Build in time to sit down between the exhibitions, and do not try to see everything in one morning.

Frequently asked questions

Why is it called Josefov?

The district was named after Emperor Joseph II, whose tolerance measures in the 1780s eased restrictions on Jews in the Habsburg lands. The name was applied formally in the 19th century.

Is the Old-New Synagogue included in the museum ticket?

Traditionally it has been ticketed separately from the other sites, and it is closed on the Sabbath. Check the Jewish Museum in Prague for current arrangements.

Is there a golem in the attic?

That is a legend attached to Rabbi Loew. There is no historical evidence for it.

How long does a visit take?

Allow a few hours for the main museum sites, more if you add the Old-New Synagogue and the streets.

Start at the Pinkas Synagogue and finish in the cemetery. Check opening days on jewishmuseum.cz first, because the Sabbath and Jewish holidays close some sites.