The Jewish Quarter ie. The other side of Prague

Why leave the majestic Old Town and all the luxuries that it has on offer and head into a rather ugly and rundown section of the city? Well, I think that it’s worth it.

The Jewish Quarter is a short walk away from Old Town Square. Whilst you are always greeted by long queues of people lined outside the gates of the synagogues and museums, I’d imagine that it’s rather easy for the average tourist to give the Jewish Quarter in Prague a miss only due to ignorance.

I might be wrong.

On my first visit to Prague, I simply wasn’t aware of the fact that the Czech Republic was one of the worst hit by the Holocaust! So awestruck I was that I couldn’t have enough of the gothic architecture in the Old Town. I had reason to believe that the Old Town and the Prague Castle is all there was on offer.

I’m not one to avail of sightseeing tours and those ugly red and yellow tourist buses. In Prague one doesn’t need to. All of Prague can be accessed by foot. And so, they offer you *free*, that’s right *free walking tours*. All you got to do is tip the guide. We joined in only to find out what’s in store.

I just did a google but couldn’t come upon the tour company that catered to us. I liked them. But several of them operate in Prague and so I don’t want to point you to the wrong company. I’m sure that they’re all good though. Our guides wore yellow tee shirts.

Nevertheless.

The next morning, we head back to the Jewish Quarter. Remember, I didn’t know of its existence until our * Free Tours * guide took us there the previous morning.

Why leave the majestic Old Town and all the luxuries that it has on offer and head into a rather ugly and rundown section of the city? Well, I think that it’s worth it.

We came upon a handful of synagogues and the historic Jewish Cemetery. The cemetery has all of twelve layers of buried bodies. During the reign of Adolf Hitler, the Jews were ghettoised. And so, they had to reuse burial ground.

My most shocking memory was the art museum at one of the synagogues. Back in the day, one woman encouraged children at the concentration camp to paint their emotions. I need to visit Prague again to bring you her name and the age of these children but she encouraged them to paint their dreams, what freedom meant to them, memories of home etc.

(above and below) Old New Synagogue

I distinctly remember a painting of a flower vase wherein the vase and the flowers were painted in shades of black. It disturbed me. I was amazed with some of the other paintings though, words don’t come to mind but I applaud the imagination of these children. And the fact that these children were put to death before the age of fifteen is unfortunate.

Before she was put to death, this woman hid all of these painting in a suitcase and hid it only to be discovered much later.

FIN

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