The Zizkov Old Jewish Cemetery

The Žižkov Old Jewish Cemetery 1680-1890

Prague guidebooks will tell you that the Old Jewish Cemetery in Josefov closed in November 1787. That’s correct, but what they often don’t tell you is what happened next and how the Jewish community chose the place that took over burials. This would be the Žižkov Jewish Cemetery often called the Žižkov Old Jewish Cemetery or the “Other” Old Jewish Cemetery. When you go looking for it you’ll find it next to the TV Tower adjacent to a park, a restaurant, an open air theatre and a minigolf course. Shockingly, all of this was built over the original cemetery.

general scene of jewish gravestones in the zizkov old jewish cemetery in prague — The oldest gravestones are still visible

The Žižkov Old Jewish Cemetery started as a plague cemetery with a size of 427 square metres. The 1680 bubonic plague had ripped through the city and killed more than 3000 jews in the ghetto. These people were buried approximately 2km outside of the Old Town fortified area. The cemetery was extended twice over the next 200 years. From 1787 the Žižkov Old Jewish Cemetery became the main Jewish Cemetery and in 1890 when it finally closed it had grown to not more than 28,000 square metres and buried approximately 37,800 people. The New Jewish Cemetery at Olšany then took over.

Žižkov Old Jewish Cemetery 20th Century History

general scene showing gravestones in one area of the zizkov old jewish cemetery in prague — Žižkov Old Jewish Cemetery has gravestones dating from 1680

In 1958 the Žižkov Old Jewish Cemetery received “Cultural Monument” status. The definition of which reads “is an important document of the historical development, way of life and environment of society from the earliest times to the present, as a manifestation of the creative abilities and work of man from various fields of human activity, for its revolutionary, historical, artistic, scientific and technical values, or has a direct relationship to important personalities and historical events”. So you’d assume this would provide some protection but it turns out not to be the case.

1960

jewish gravestone with hebrew text and the jug/bowl sign of the levi family — Jug and Bowl is the sign of the Levi family

The Communist Party decided to create a park for local residents which seems like a nice idea but to do that they demolished 75% of the Žižkov Old Jewish Cemetery basically bulldozing the gravestones and covering everything with earth. At this point only the oldest gravestones that make up the current cemetery were left in an area a little more than 7000 square metres.

1984

If you thought that was bad then in 1984, the communists selected this “park” location for the new TV Tower. During the digging of the foundations of the tower there were unearthed thousands of Jewish gravestones. Some were sent to the New Jewish Cemetery but most of these historic remnants were taken to landfill and the suitably sized stones cut up into cobbles. Many of these cobbles are in present-day Prague at the bottom of Wenceslas Square stretching into the streets called 28 Rijna on one side and Na Prikope on the other which were renovated in the late 1980s.

entry to the zizkov old jewish cemetery in prague — The very plain entry to the cemetery

Here is the Google Maps Location. The Žižkov Old Jewish Cemetery is free to enter. It opens Sunday to Thursday 0900-1600 and Friday 0900-1400 (it may appear to be closed but, pull the gate and it should open). It is monitored remotely and contains the Return of the Stones Memorial which I will describe in a separate post.