This is the melancholic Prague. When visiting The Jewish Quarter history unfolds as you walk the streets, enter the synagogues, the cemetery of the former Jewish ghetto.

Despite the terrible purges of the Nazi occupation, the beautiful monuments the Jewish Quarter survived as testimony of the Jewish culture and history.

The Jewish Quarter in Prague, known as Josefov, is located between the Old Town Square and the Vltava River.

The Prague Jewish ghetto gathered Jews living in Prague, and received new arrivals expelled from Moravia, Germany, Austria and Spain. More and more people crowded the quarters (1522–1541).

Prague’s Jewish quarter was totally demolished in the early 1900s, except for the synagogues and a few other buildings, and rebuilt in the fashion of the time, art nouveau style.

In 1939, when the country was occupied by Nazi Germany, and during the Second World War, most Jews were deported and killed by the Germans.

The most significant historical buildings saved from destruction are testimony to the history of the Jews in Prague. They form the best preserved complex of historical Jewish monuments in the whole of Europe, and an integral part of the history of Prague.

The Jewish Quarter has six synagogues, including the Spanish Synagogue and Old-New Synagogue, the Jewish Ceremonial Hall, and the Old Jewish Cemetery, the most remarkable of its kind in Europe.

It’s a fascinating and deeply moving story.

After the Jewish Quarters walked back to Old Town Square (see Be Ready For Prague) along the upscale shopping boulevard–Pařížská Street—Prague’s most prestigious boulevard, home to a wide range of luxury boutiques representing the world’s most prominent fashion brands.

Pařížská Street traverses the Jewish Town of Prague, connecting Old Town Square with Čechův Bridge. It is

lined with stately townhouses Art Nouveau façades.

While in this neighborhood we stopped for lunch at Casa De Carli, Italian restaurant (Casa De Carli VEZENSKSKÁ 5).

Famous Jews from Prague are, amongst others, the Maharal, Franz Kafka, Miloš Forman and Madeleine Albright.