Prague · Journal
Notes on Jewish Prague from the people who walk it
Ten pieces on the Jewish Quarter, the cemetery, Terezín, kosher food and the questions visitors keep asking us. Written by guides, not by a content department.
Josefov · Planning · 8 min read
The order you walk Josefov matters more than the ticket you buy
Six sites, four hundred metres, and one sequence that turns a museum crawl into a story.
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Cemetery · History · 7 min
How to read a headstone in the Old Jewish Cemetery
The carvings are not decoration. They are surnames, professions and priestly lineage, in stone.
Terezín · Memorial · 9 min
Terezín in one day: what it is, what it is not, and how it feels
An hour north of Prague, a garrison town that the SS turned into a piece of theatre.
Synagogues · History · 7 min
The Old-New Synagogue and the trouble with the Golem
A 750-year-old room, a real rabbi, and a monster invented three centuries after he died.
Synagogues · Architecture · 6 min
Why the Spanish Synagogue looks like Granada and has nothing to do with Spain
A reform congregation in 1868 chose Alhambra ornament to say something specific about who they were.
Kosher · Practical · 7 min
Eating kosher in Prague without organising your whole trip around lunch
Three restaurants, one shop, two Shabbat kitchens and a plan for the days none of them are open.
Kafka · Walks · 8 min
Kafka's Prague is a Jewish Prague, and the tourist trail hides it
Skip the museum with the peeing statues. Walk the four hundred metres he actually lived in.
History · Background · 9 min
A thousand years of Jewish Prague in the time it takes to drink a coffee
Privilege, pogrom, golden age, expulsion, emancipation, catastrophe, return. Roughly in that order, several times over.
Families · Planning · 7 min
Doing Jewish Prague with children without ruining the holiday
Two hours, one legend, one cemetery, and a clear decision about Pinkas.
Guides · Planning · 6 min
How to tell a good Jewish guide in Prague from a good actor
Five questions, asked before you book, that separate the trade from the performance.