Jewish Museum

Made by: Jade Kreft and Amber de Weert

Introductory information
The name of the museum is the Jewish museum, it is a museum that consist of different buildings. There
are numerous of synagogues you can visit and there is one art gallery. There is another gallery with
different Jewish objects and there is a graveyard. On the display, they have Jewish objects, for example
spice boxes, Torah crowns and Torah pointers. They also had some of the drawings they had in Terezín
stadt.

Opening hours

DATE TIME

1 January – 23 March 2018 9 a.m. - 4.30 p.m.*

25 March – 26 October 2018 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.*

28 October – 31 December 2018 9 a.m. - 4.30 p.m.*

24 December 2018 9 a.m. - 2 p.m.

* Closing starts from 4.20 p.m. / 5.50 p.m.

OLD-NEW SYNAGOGUE
Červená 2, 110 00 Praha 1
Old-New Synagogue is open every day except Saturdays and Jewish holidays

DAY MONTH TIME

Sunday – Thursday January – March 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

April – October 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.

November – December 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Friday The synagogue closes an hour before the Sabbath see below

Address details
Jewish Museum
U Staré školy 141/1
110 00 Staré Město
Czech Republic
How to get there

Public transport
Staroměstská Station (Metro A, Tram 17 or 18, Bus 194, 207) – 3-minute walk
Bus stop U Staré školy (Bus 194) - next to the Spanish synagogue

By foot
Old Town Square – 5-minute walk
Charles Bridge – 10-minute walk

By car
It is not always easy to find a good place to park in the historic centre of Prague. We therefore
recommend that you leave your car outside the city centre and come to the museum by public transport
or by foot. The nearest paid parking lot is located below Čechův most (bridge) on nábřeží Edvarda Beneše
(embankment).

Ticket Prices
250 czk a person.
‘Mini’ lecture

Before we start the interactive tour we will explain what we are going to see and what we expect of you. The
Jewish museum consist of different buildings, there are five synagogues, an art gallery a ceremonial hall and a
graveyard. In the synagogues they show objects that they use during ceremonials. In the first synagogue there
are some objects that came from Terezín stadt. This was one of the concentration camps during the second
world war, in this camp Jews stayed until they were transported to one of the extermination camps. In Terezín
stadt children were aloud to make drawing, some of the drawings are shown in the synagogue. They have
some propaganda pictures that were made in Terezín stadt on the display too, on those pictures you see
healthy looking people play soccer or perform a play. Those pictures were used to the world to show that a
concentration camp was a fun place to be. In the art gallery there is an exhibition about Kafka a Jewish writer
and they made some jokes about him on the paintings. In the next synagogue there are different clothes on the
display those clothes had been worn by the kohaníms during a ceremonial and there are a lot of objects that
are used regularly during the ceremonials for example Torah pointers and the synagogue key. The third
synagogue does not really have objects on the display. However, it shows the names of the Jews that died in
the concentration and the extermination camps, as well as the names of those camps. In the graveyard you will
see that there are stones on the gravestones, Jews do this instead of bringing flowers, because stones last
forever. After this we will visit the ceremonial hall, here they show which object they use during different
ceremonials. We won’t visit the last synagogues, because in all the synagogues they mostly show the same kind
of things. During the tour we want you to keep quiet and be respectful, because there are also a lot of Jews
her, they came here to remember what happened in the war and to honour the Jews that died during the war.
We have to respect this therefore we ask you to keep this and mind and behave in a serious way. Also boys will
be asked to wear a kippah, we want to ask you to just do this, otherwise you will not be aloud to enter the
synagogues. If you want to you are aloud to take pictures during the tour as long as you have your flash light of
and are not using a tripod. However in the room where they show pictures of Terezín stadt you are not. The
museum has put a sign here which shows you are not aloud to take pictures here, so you know when not to
take pictures. We hope everything is clear now and if there are no more questions we can start the tour.
The Tour
During the tour, we will enter different synagogues. If you are a boy you have to wear a Jewish yarmulke
to show your respect towards the faith of the Jewish people.

This is one of the walls to be found in one of the synagogues. On these walls
you will find all the names of all the Jews from who we know who have died
during the second world war. You see the date of birth and the date of
death. All walls are covered with the names. We do not know how many
names there are.

This is a place you come across in the same

synagogue. Back to the stand you can see the
names of all concentration camps which were
used during World War II, including
Terezínstadt.

This is a cup that was used during the banquet of a burial

society. The burial society included the people who voluntarily
helped arrange a funeral.
 This painting can be found in the exhibition that is a
part of the Spanish synagogue. Kafka and the
cockroach are highlighted in this section. Kafka was
a German writer who was a Jew. He lived in the
Czech Republic. He felt double disadvantaged. He
compares himself with a cockroach, because
cockroaches are not wanted just like he was.

The Torah pointers or Yads ensure that the parchment doesn't

need to be touched and thereby not be damaged or dirty. The
paper does not absorb the ink, so if someone touches it we
will not be able to read it anymore.
Interactive hunt

1. What do you see here? 2. What do the names represent?

3. What is this? 4. Which person is represented?

5. What are these things called?

Answers interactive hunt
1. All the names of all the Jews who died during the war.
2. All the concentration camps.
3. The society burial beaker.
4. Kafka.
5. Torah pointers or Yads.
Map
Sources
- The Jewish museum.
- The knowledge we gained from the museum.