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Published: June 14th 2007
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Old Jewish Cemetary
This is the oldest Jewish cemetary in Europe, with the first grave dating back to 1439. Because Jews of the time weren't allowed to be buried anywhere else, the cemetary grew to be quite crowded, with as many as 12 bodies placed vertically and each new tombstone placed in front of the last. Today there are more than 20,000 graves at this site. Today was a big walking day in Prague. We passed the Municipal House and Powder Tower (which we have seen about a dozen times already since they are next to our hotel) and headed into the main square of Old Town. Our first stop was the Church of Our Lady Before Tyn, a beautiful church with twin spires that tower over the town center. Inside the church lies the tomb of the famous Danish astronomer Tycho de Brahe, but, like many of the other churches in Prague, we were unable to take pictures.
We headed back to the square to find, unfortunately, that the Jan Hus statue is being renovated and is completely covered with advertisements so you cannot see more than an outline of what it looks like. Jan Hus was a 15th century preacher who was burned at the stake for challenging the Roman Catholic hierarchy. The struggle between his supporters, known as the Hussites, started the religious wars that destroyed Bohemia in the 15th and 17th centuries.
After passing the statue, we headed over to the Old Town Hall, which is where the Astronomical Clock is located. Since the crowds were thinner than when we
Church of Our Lady Before Tyn
Looking up at the Church of Our Lady Before Tyn... saw the clock the other day, I was able to get a better position for a picture. We then stopped to look at a series of white crosses that are embedded in the town square just to the right of the town hall. The 27 crosses represent the 27 Prostestants who were beheaded in the square by the Hapsburg rulers in the 1620's.
We then headed over to St. Nicholas Church, which is not as pretty as some of the other churches in Prague but does allow photos inside. There is a beautiful chandelier that hangs just inside the entrance that is worth having a look at.
To the right of the church and past the Jan Hus statue is Kinsky Palace, a rococo building that now houses a modern art collection. We took a quick photo and then headed over toward Zelezna street. Heading down the street led us to the Estates Theatre, where Mozart premiered Don Giovanni in the late 18th century and where Milos Forman directed the movie "Amadeus". There was an odd statue perched outside the theatre that looked a bit like a jedi from "Star Wars" so I had to get a closer
Old Town Hall
Old Town Hall was constructed in 1338 under the order of King John of Luxemburg to set up a town council. The Astronomical Clock, the most popular part of the tower, was installed in 1410 and rebuilt in 1490. look. The statue is actually there to commemorate Mozart's "Don Giovani" (I guess it's not a jedi after all, unless Don Giovani was a jedi? Hmmm...).
We then walked over to the Czech Savings Bank, the largest savings bank in the Czech Republic and also a headquarters for the Communists between 1948 and 1989. We took a look inside (but could not take pictures) and then headed down the street to Havel's Market, a street market that sells fruits, vegetables, and various souvenirs. After spending a bit of money on some cashews and a painting of the Prague Castle, we headed over to U Radnice Street (after consulting our map several times) to start our walking tour of the Jewish Quarter.
One important thing to note about the Jewish Quarter: you should buy tickets at a designated location BEFORE you try and enter any of the synagogues. Many of the synagogues we passed required you to already have a ticket before entering, and it is much easier to buy the combination ticket that allows you entrance into everything (they just scan your ticket at each entrance). Also, the Old-New Synagogue is considered a separate attraction, so you can
Old Town Hall
Looking up at the Old Town Hall and Astronomical Clock... either see it by itself for 200 kc, or purchase it with the combination ticket for 470 kc. We managed to get into the Old-New Synagogue without paying (which we didn't realize until after we'd exited), so we didn't pay for the extra admission charge. The ticket we did purchase, for 270 kc, was valid for the Jewish Cemetary, Jewish Museum, Spanish Synagogue, Maisel Synague, Pinkas Synague, and Ceremonial Hall. Most of these areas are within a few feet of each other and are all worth having a look at. The Pinkas Synagogue was especially interesting, as it has the names of the 70,000 Czech Jews who perished during WWII painted on the walls of its interior. The Pinkas Synagogue also leads directly into the Jewish Cemetary, which by itself is worth the admission price. The cemetary, which contains more than 20,000 graves, has headstones places literally on top of each other. Because the Jews were not allowed to be buried anywhere else, as many as 12 bodies were placed on top of each other. Also buried in the cemetary is Rabbi Low, who made the legendary Golum out of clay from the Vltava River. Golem, a "monster", was created
Astronomical Clock
Another shot of the Astronomical Clock... to protect the Jews of Prague. It started to rain while we were at the cemetary, so I hurredly took some pictures and headed for cover. By the time we made our way out, the rain had fortunately stopped again.
The Spanish Synagogue lies a bit further away from the main area, but next to it is the Franz Kafka statue that I was looking forward to seeing, so I'm glad we walked over in that direction.
After walking through the Jewish Quarter we made our way back to Old Town and ate at Country Life, an inexpensive vegetarian restaurant (with an adjacent market). I had a veggie burger and slice of organic pizza. Our entire meal came to only 205 kc (about $10).
We then boarded the metro and headed on the green line to Jirihoz Podebrad station to see the infamous Prague TV Tower. The tallest building in Prague, many people here consider this structure to also be the ugliest thing here. It certainly isn't the prettiest thing I've ever seen, but I had to get a closer look to see the strange babies that were added to the tower to make it less unattractive
Crosses
The 27 small crosses in Old Town Square (seen in the distance beyond the big cross in front) are here to commemorate the 27 Protestants who were beheaded by the Hapsburgs in the 1620's. (or so I hear). The babies crawl up and down the tower in several directions, and certainly make the whole thing interesting to look at.
We reboarded the metro in the opposite direction and headed for Hlavni Nadrazi (the main train station) to buy our tickets for our day trip to Kutna Hora tomorrow. The train station here is a bit confusing, but there is an international information window to ask questions at. We bought our tickets and walked back to our hotel, which is located only a few blocks from the station. We took a short break and headed back out to have some beer and dessert (not a great combination, but hey, we're on vacation!). We ended up back at U Zlateho Iva (the place we had dinner last night), and I had an apple strudel and two Budweisers. The apple strudel was much better than the one I had back in Vienna. It started to rain again so we tucked ourselves under the umbrella and it soon stopped. As we were walking back, the rain started to come down again so we stopped for bit underneath the Powder Tower and then hurried back toward our hotel.
St. Nicholas Church
This church, located in Old Town Square, was designed in 1735 by architect K.I. Diezenhofer (who also designed the St. Nicholas Church in Mala Strana as well). We stopped at a liquor store to buy a few more beers before heading inside, which I am about to go enjoy! Tomorrow we are off to Kutna Hora (hopefully with no problems finding our train and sunny weather waiting for us at the other end!).
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Michael
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It's such a shame there are so many churches that won't allow you to take photographs, I'm sure you could have taken some amazing pictures. It's fascinating to hear about the brutal history of all these places you're passing through. It's awful that all the Jews had to be buried in such a cramped little graveyard, but it must be a sight to see. Wow! I never knew there was an actual Rabbi who made the Golem and had a grave! *shudders* The babies on the tv tower sound kinda frightening. Sorry to hear the bad weather is finally catching up with you, but at least there's plenty of delicious food to warm you up :) Hope you had good weather for Kutna Hora