Old Jewish Ghetto

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I went because it is such an important part of Prague history, this place where more than a 100,000 jews lived before the war with its old cemetary and synagogues. And then there is teh fact that except for the small percentage which were able to escape 80,000 died. The whole jewish population of Prague was wiped out and the only reason the buildings of the ghetto were not torn down is because Hitler planned to put up a museum! of an 'extinguished race' there.

I looked, I cried - the senselessness of it. Especially moving was an exhibition of children's drawings from a concentration camp Terezin which were produced under the tutolage of an art teacher as the adults tried hard to give these children a way to process what was happening to them and others around them. They were almost all deported further to extermination camps later as was their teacher. It is a poignant reminder of how important art actually can be and also of the lives lost becasue some of those pictures were really, really good and maybe some of them would have gone on to become great artists...

On a happier note the interior of the Spanish Synagogue with every inch covered in gold and dark red and blue designs was very pretty and only slightly overwhelming. As I have never seen a Sephardic synagogue before I particularly enjoyed this.

Final stop was at the UPM, which is a museum of decorative objects housed in a gorgeous building. Its such a shame that they did not have more postcards of the interior, I was only able to buy one o fhte window and you are not allowed to take pictures! It was very pretty. The museum collections were also very nice and included lots of glass (my favorite of course), old books, textiles and some great furniture. Very nice museum, wholy worth its 80Kc entry price (3.5euros) which I did not pay as I got away again with using my waaay expired student id to get a 50% discount. (and no, I did not feel guilty, the entry prices into Prague museums and buildings are surprisingly expensive).

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Comments

[bob]

thatz kool
thatz kool