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Published: July 31st 2006
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castle hats!
maxine and sarah today was our day to visit the jewish quarter! since it's sunday, we decided to sleep in a little bit and leave the dorm at around noon. so of course instead of sleeping late i woke up at like 8:30 (silly, predictable me). we went for breakfast at around 9:30, and then i played around on the computer for a while (i downloaded a free episode on iTunes of this cool new show on bravo called "tabloid wars"- pretty neat show) and actually did my reading marketa gave us. (i was glad to do that, so i could at least feel productive lol)
so we left the dorm and headed for mustek so we could grab a quick lunch and then head over to the jewish quarter. i was really looking forward to visiting (and kind of anxious since we've been here 3 weeks and had still not been to see it!) and it really did live up to my expectations. it was amazing- and actually really nice to visit it after going to terezin because in a way it kind of contrasted/complemented it perfectly. this makes sense in my mind...i'll try to explain: the jewish quarter (besides consisting of
temples from centuries ago) has a huge collection of jewish objects that survived the war (for a kind of sick reason... hitler wanted to save them for his "extinct jewish race" museum...but still amazing that they are around today) and it just filled me with this wonderful sense of long lasting tradition to see them all. kind of refreshing and hopeful- amazing to see that this faith has lasted through so much.
anyway--- we bought our student priced ticket (score one for the ISIC card!) which gave us access to the museum, which includes 6 different sites: the maisel synagogue, the spanish synagogue, the pinkas synagogue (this spelling looked very strange to me, since my dad's name is pinchas lol), the old jewish cemetery, the klausen synagogue and the ceremonial hall. i don't even think i could say which one i enjoyed the most, because each had something special and unique about it!
we somehow began at the third site (the pinkas museum) and then went from there. [they actually run things very smoothly there, because on your ticket- they list specific times when you can visit each of the places. like- we had a 45 minute window
a clock
look at the clock with the jewish letters instead of numerals! when we were allowed to visit each place. i think this makes a lot of sense- since most of the places are quite small, and it's nice to have room to actually move and see everything.]
this first synagogue we went to was amazing because its walls are covered with the 80,000 names of the jews of bohemia and moravia who were murdered by the nazis as a memorial. it was so weird to just stare at these walls that were absolutely COVERED with writing. unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures in any of the synagogues, but i did find a postcard. also, upstairs in this synagogue we found the children's drawings from terezin- it was sad realizing most of these children died, especially when some of their drawings were so hopeful. it was very poignant.
from there, we went to the old jewish cemetery. as morbid as it might sound, this was absolutely fascinating to me. from the years of 1439-1787, this fairly small piece of land was the only space given to the burial of jewish people. so, the tombs were piled on top of each other. it's just amazing to look at (see the
pictures)-- there are at least 12,000 people buried here.
next came the klaus synagogue- here we found an exhibit featuring information (and amazingly beautiful/historic religious pieces) about the jewish holidays. this was great because we walked up to the first holiday, and it was purim: so i turned to my friends and go "do you guys just want me to tell you about this? i can give you a cliff notes version." that way they didn't have to read, and i got to feel like a tour guide! it was awesomely cool- and really made me realize how much i enjoy the meaning behind these special days. upstairs was an exhibit featuring jewish life events- birth, weddings, etc. so i got to do a little more explaining, which i think my friends really enjoyed.
after that we were off to the maisel synagogue. this synagogue was built in 1590-1592, and here we saw an exhibit featuring more of the history of the jewish czechs- and i really enjoyed seeing beautiful pieces that dress the torah.
finally, we went to the spanish synagogue. this was built in 1868 in a moorish style, and it was stunning! so much
intricate detail- incredible. there was an exhibit about famous czech jews, etc-- but i was just captivated by the space itself.
so afterward, we walked around a little bit looking for gifts/souvenirs- and then i found this stand where a woman was selling colorful, handmade, inexpensive jewish jewelry! i got really excited because my mom had asked me to buy some for the temple giftshop at home, but realized for how much i wanted to get for her- i did not have enough cash. i contemplated for a few minutes- my friends told me they would come back with me later--but then i just really decided i wanted to get them then---- so katie came with me, and we went on an adventure searching for a "bankomat"-- we ran around for about 10 minutes and finally found one!!! so i got some money, ran back and bought the necklaces for her. yay for katie for being a trooper and helping me out. 😊
we came back to the dorm afterward, and after chilling/blogging/skyping--- we went out for dinner at around 9. we were searching for a tex mex restaurant as described by our year old guidebook (we thought it would just be fun to say we had been to a tex mex restaurant in prague)--and we found the address, but the restaurant had already become something else lol. so we walked around and found a good looking italian restaurant- and i had gnocchi for dinner and it was delicious. now we're back at the dorm, and i'm already getting sleepy. goodnight!
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KT's Mom
non-member comment
Hi
Glad the trip to Jewish Quarter went well. Katie said you were a great tour guide - congrats. Good luck w/ class this week!