Happy birthday America!
Today's adventures take us to Prague's Jewish Quarter also known as Josefov.
But first, some saints being dainty.
And a bust/relief of Kafka.
And a lovely hydrangea.
Jewish Biker joke!
This sign is a little old since it still refers to Deutsche Marks (DM) and this payment plan has since been completed. 1,800-3,000 DM is about ~$1,000-1,700.
This is the Pinkas Synagogue.
It is the second oldest surviving synagogue in Prague having been built in 1535.
From 1955-1960 the Pinkas Synagogue was turned into a memorial.
Nearly 80,000 names are painted on the walls.
They are organized by city and then alphabetically.
The names represent the Jewish victims of the Shoah (Holocaust) from Bohemia and Moravia.
The synagogue walls are completely covered in names.
It also has some lovely and interesting stained glass windows.
After Pinkas, we explored the Jewish Old Cemetery.
It is the largest Jewish Cemetery in Europe. The oldest tombstone dates to 1439.
"During the more than three centuries in which it was in active use, the cemetery continually struggled with the lack of space. Piety and respect for the deceased ancestors does not allow the Jews to abolish old graves. Only occasionally theJewish Community was allowed to purchase grounds to expand the cemetery and so many times it had to gain space in other ways; if necessary, a new layer of soil was heaped up on the available area. For this reason, there are places where as many as twelve layers now exist. Thanks to this solution the older graves themselves remained intact. However, as new levels were added it was necessary either to lay over the gravestones associated with the older (and lower) graves to protect them, or else to elevate the stones to the new, higher surface. This explains the dense forest of gravestones that one sees today; many of them commemorate an individual who is buried several layers further down. This also explains why the surface of the cemetery is raised several meters higher than the surrounding streets; retaining walls are necessary to hold the soil and the graves in place."
The last tombstone is from 1787.
Earlier gravestones were square on top whereas later stones have a point and look like a little house.
This is the gravestone of Handl Bassevi.
Handl's husband, Jacob Bassevi, was the first Jew in the Habsburg Empire to receive a title.
This is the grave of Leb Ben Jissachar Beer Teller.
He was a physician and instructor of student physicians.
After walking through the cemetery, we entered the Klausen Synagogue. Inside were exhibits about Jewish customs, festivals, and life rites such as births, weddings, and funerals.
More on the tombstones:
It has a lovely mosaic floor.
Another tribute to Kafka.
This one is outside of the Spanish Synagogue.
Which we entered next.
Dan's panorama.
It is beautiful.
In a funny twist, this is the newest synagogue in the Josefov, but it was built on top of the oldest synagogue - Old School.
It is called the Spanish Synagogue for its architectural style.
It was built in 1868.
It has an organ hiding in the corner of one of the balconies.
There is also a bit of a museum/exhibit about modern Jewish history in the Czech lands.
So important lesson. This is a menorah. It is a representation of the candelabrum in the first temple in Jerusalem. It has come to be a general symbol for Judaism. The menorah is usually lit everyday in the temple. It only holds seven candles.
THESE are Hanukiah (Hanukkah lamps), which are used only during Hanukkah.
They have eight candle holders, plus a ninth for lighting the other eight.
The synagogue has amazing decorative details:
It is a lovely synagogue.
Flowers that look like a dress.
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Funny statues. If they didn't cost a fortune we would have acquired them.
Supposedly this is some school group doing a native dance to earn money for their travels.
Dan was very pleased to find this giant egg with a rooster on it.
We walked past the entrance to this shopping center.
I stopped to take a photo of the Tesla stained-glass.
And now onto the Prague Beer Museum!
The Beer family tree and roots.
ALL the Czech beers!
These are ALL the breweries.
Number of breweries, microbreweries, and malt houses over time.
Data on beer.
What's a beer museum without sampling beers?
BEER!
Remember, Erin was pregnant, and I wasn't feeling stellar at the time, so Dan and Dustin got to drink most of the beers. They didn't mind.
We walked past this church in the twilight on our way to dinner. Dinner was at a Czech style beerhall called Klášterní Pivovar. Pivo means beer. The big beer here is called St. Norbert. Food and beer were delicious and were a good end to a fun weekend.
The next morning we made our way out of Prague and headed home.
Dustin and Erin headed off to Germany.
This concludes our adventures for today.
