Prague Cemetery
The Old Jewish Cemetery in Josefov, the Jewish Quarter, was created in the 15th century when Jews were forbidden to bury their dead outside their own district. Space was scarce, so bodies were buried on top of each other in an estimated 12 layers. Over the centuries, lopsided tombstones formed unruly, poetic groupings.
The surrealist author Franz Kafka enjoyed moments of quiet reflection in the old cemetery. However, his own grave lies across town in the New Jewish Cemetery. That burial ground is half empty because the generation it was built for was transported to Nazi death camps.
The surrealist author Franz Kafka enjoyed moments of quiet reflection in the old cemetery. However, his own grave lies across town in the New Jewish Cemetery. That burial ground is half empty because the generation it was built for was transported to Nazi death camps.
The oldest grave in the cemetery is that of a rabbi, poet and physician named Avigdor Kara, who died in 1439. His original tombstone was recently replaced by a replica. Kara was one of the few survivors of a pogrom at Easter time in 1389 when approximately 3,000 Jews, almost the entire Jewish population in Prague, were killed by the Christians living in the city, after local Catholic priests accused the Jews of desecrating the Host used in the sacrament of Holy Communion.The cemetery itself was closed in 1787.
Well folks............ it looks like the funeral is going to be running just a wee bit late !!!
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