Prague’s Jewish Quarter: What to See in Josefov

For centuries, Jewish communities were persecuted across much of Europe. Those that existed lived on the margins of society — oppressed, persecuted, and bound by all kinds of restrictions, since they didn’t have the same privileges as the Catholic population. Prague was no different: the Jewish community answered directly to the king, and from the 13th century they were crowded behind a wall in what we now know as the Jewish Quarter.

Today Prague’s Jewish population is estimated at around 5,000 — far fewer than the 92,000 Jews who lived in the city before the Second World War, then nearly 20% of all its citizens (figures from the Jewish Virtual Library). The district took its current name, Josefov, in 1785, in honor of Emperor Joseph II, who granted the Jewish population certain freedoms. But it wasn’t until 1848 that Jews received the same rights as other citizens and were allowed to live outside the ghetto. During the Nazi occupation in WWII, most of the quarter’s Jewish residents were deported, almost without exception, to Theresienstadt (Terezín), where the majority lost their lives. Today the quarter holds both original synagogues and others rebuilt or remodeled.

Tickets, prices, and hours for the Jewish Quarter

Walking the quarter from the outside is free, but to enter the synagogues and the cemetery you need the Jewish Museum of Prague combined ticket. A single ticket gives access to four synagogues (Spanish, Maisel, Pinkas, and the Old-New) and the Old Jewish Cemetery. Since 2024 the Old-New Synagogue is included; before, you paid for it separately.

• Price: 600 CZK adults (about $27), 400 CZK students under 26, 200 CZK children 6–15, free under 6.
• Validity: the ticket is good for 3 days, so you don’t have to see everything at once.
• Hours: Sunday to Friday, 9 a.m.–6 p.m. in summer (April–October) and 9 a.m.–4:30 p.m. in winter (November–March).
• Closed: every Saturday (Shabbat) and on Jewish holidays.

We recommend buying online on the official site to skip the lines, especially in summer, and going first thing or after 3 p.m. And take note of the Saturday closure: it catches a lot of people who arrive that day to find everything shut. If you want koruna for the ticket, here’s our guide on changing money in Prague without getting fleeced.

A walk through Prague’s Jewish Quarter

1. Old Town Square

We’ll start the route for the quarter’s highlights from Prague’s historic center, a step away from Josefov. We’ll move through just a few streets, so we’ll always be less than a 5-minute walk from the last stop. You can’t get lost.

2. The Franz Kafka statue

One of the most photographed sculptures in Prague. It’s the work of Czech artist Jaroslav Róna, unveiled in 2003, and it has always stood in the same spot. You see Franz Kafka riding on the shoulders of a suit with no hands and no head. Since the artist never fully explained it, the interpretation is left open: the most common theory ties it to his story “Description of a Struggle.” Look at the ground, too, where an insect is depicted — here there’s no doubt, it’s a nod to “The Metamorphosis.” Once you pass the Kafka statue you’ve crossed the old walls and officially entered the Jewish Quarter. (More on it in our guide to the Kafka statues.)

3. Spanish Synagogue

One of the most famous in the quarter, thanks to its neo-Moorish architecture, built in 1893. Before it, on the same site, stood another synagogue known as “the old one,” destroyed and rebuilt several times until it became the synagogue we see today. It got its name in memory of the Sephardic Jews who fled Spain after their expulsion in 1492 by the Catholic Monarchs. Its interior is one of the most striking you’ll see in the quarter: it’s said to have been inspired by the Alhambra in Granada, and when you step inside you understand why.

4. Old-New Synagogue (Staronová)

Also known in English as the Old-New Synagogue, it sits in the heart of the quarter and was built around 1270. It’s the oldest synagogue in the quarter, the oldest in Europe still in use, and it has kept up worship for more than 750 years. According to Prague’s most famous legend, the remains of the Golem of Prague are kept in this synagogue’s attic. Tradition says Rabbi Judah Loew, the Maharal, created it from Vltava clay in the 16th century, during the reign of Rudolf II, to protect the ghetto. Even The Simpsons made an episode about the Golem.

5. Jewish Town Hall

It stands right opposite the Old-New Synagogue and dates from 1570, though it’s been renovated several times. It no longer functions as a town hall, but part of the administration of Prague’s Jewish community still operates here. Look at the top of the building and you’ll see the Hebrew alef clock — a curious clock almost nobody can read. Its face uses letters of the Hebrew alphabet, the hands turn counterclockwise (just as Hebrew is read the opposite way to English), and the long hand marks the hours while the short one marks the minutes — everything backwards from our clocks. Try telling the time without checking your watch!

6. The Old Jewish Cemetery

Across from the Town Hall, almost without moving, you can see the old Jewish Cemetery over the top of the wall. It’s one of the city’s main draws and absolutely unique. With so little space in the ghetto to bury their dead, the community was forced to create several layers of earth and bury the dead one on top of another. It’s estimated that in that small space there are 12 burial levels, more than 100,000 Jews buried, and over 12,000 headstones counted. The oldest burial dates to 1439, the last to 1787. You visit the cemetery from the inside and it’s included in the combined ticket; among the graves rest key figures of the community, like the Maharal, the rabbi of the Golem legend. You enter from the Pinkas Synagogue.

7. Pinkas Synagogue

The synagogue sits right on the Jewish cemetery — and as a practical note, you enter the cemetery through the Pinkas Synagogue itself. It was built in 1535 in the Gothic style and is the second-oldest still standing. It’s probably the most moving stop in the quarter: on its walls, written one by one and in alphabetical order, are the names of nearly 80,000 Czech victims of the Shoah (the Jewish Holocaust) who died in the concentration camps. Upstairs are the drawings made by the children of the Terezín camp. It’s hard to leave here without a lump in your throat.

8. Klausen Synagogue

This is the white building wrapped around the Jewish cemetery. It’s the only Baroque synagogue left in the quarter: during the redevelopment of the district in the early 20th century, several Baroque synagogues were demolished, and this was the only one kept. Worship is no longer held inside; after WWII a museum of Jewish festivals and traditions was installed, which — after several openings and closings — has become a permanent fixture.

9. Maisel Synagogue

The Maisel Synagogue was founded as a private house of prayer for the family of Mordecai Maisel, at the time the mayor of the Jewish community. It’s on the street that bears his name, Maiselova, which runs down to Old Town Square. The synagogue dates from 1592, but the great fire of 1689, which razed much of the Jewish Quarter, reached it too and destroyed it. It had to be rebuilt in Baroque style — though, as you’ll notice, it doesn’t look Baroque, because it later suffered another fire and, after several reconstructions, ended up neo-Gothic.

10. Museum of Decorative Arts

At the western edge of the cemetery stands the Museum of Decorative Arts, built around 1901 in neo-Renaissance style. Beyond special exhibitions, it holds collections of Bohemian glass, 16th-century furniture, Art Nouveau pieces, and jewelry. It’s outside the Jewish Museum combined ticket, but it’s a good stop if you’re interested in the decorative arts.

11. St. Agnes Convent

To the northwest, on the edge of the Jewish Quarter and right by the river, stands St. Agnes Convent — open to the public and less than a 5-minute walk from the Pinkas Synagogue. Because of where it is, many travelers never make it there, which is a shame: it’s a quiet, lovely way to close the route. In 1234, Princess Agnes, sister of King Wenceslas I, founded this convent for the Franciscan order. From 1240 a men’s monastery was built and joined to St. Agnes’s. The complex has three churches and auxiliary buildings, and today houses a remarkable medieval art gallery well worth the visit.

Josefov is small enough to see in a morning, but everything you look at carries centuries of history, persecution, and legend. Without context, the stacked headstones or the names on the Pinkas walls stay just a photo; with someone to tell you the story, they change completely. Our Old Town and Jewish Quarter free tour covers the Old Town and the Jewish Quarter and passes the Kafka statue. Planning the rest? Here’s our Prague in 2 days itinerary.

See you in Prague.