Old Jewish Cemetery Prague: A Visitor Guide to the Graves and the Layers

How Old Is the Cemetery

The Old Jewish Cemetery dates from the first half of the 15th century, and its oldest preserved gravestone is dated 1439. The cemetery sits in Josefov, the former Jewish quarter of Prague.

The quarter around it is older still. The first pogrom recorded in the quarter's history was in 1096. Most of the old ghetto was demolished between 1893 and 1913 in a Paris-style modernisation, and the cemetery is one of the few things that survived that clearance, alongside six synagogues and the Jewish Town Hall. The quarter was renamed Josefstadt in 1850 after Emperor Joseph II, who issued the 1782 Edict of Tolerance.

Today the cemetery is administered by the Jewish Museum in Prague, which was founded in 1906 by Salomon Hugo Lieben and August Stein. That administration is why the only way in is with the museum's ticket, covered in the visiting section below.

Why the Graves Stand in Layers

The cemetery looks the way it does for one reason: space. Jewish custom forbids disturbing existing graves. The community could not clear the old burials, so it stacked new ones on top.

Graves were placed in layers, with soil brought in between them. Wikipedia and prague.eu describe up to twelve layers of soil, while the Jewish Museum's own cemetery page speaks of up to ten, so treat the figure as roughly ten to twelve depending on the source.

Old stones were not discarded when a new layer went in. They were lifted and set back on top of the fresh soil, which is why the tombstones crowd so tightly together today. Prague.eu sources describe some 12,000 visible tombstones, and one source estimates about 100,000 interments in total, an estimate worth taking as exactly that.

Two gravestone types dominate the plot. One is the upright rectangular slab, the older and simpler form. The other is the baroque tumba, shaped like a small house, which appears on later graves of wealthier families. The stones carry symbols instead of photographs: a lion stands for the name Judah, and other marks tell the trade or family of the person below.

The Last Burial and What Happened After

The last gravestone in the cemetery is dated 1787. Emperor Joseph II had banned burials within the city walls three years earlier for hygiene reasons, and the ban closed this ground. The Jewish Museum cites 1787 as the final burial, so that is the figure to trust over looser accounts that say the 1780s generally.

After the ban the cemetery stayed as the dense field of stones you see now. The Jewish Museum estimates a cemetery visit usually takes about 30 minutes.

A practical note that catches visitors out: the museum's sites close on Saturdays and on Jewish holidays, because this is an active sacred site, not a city park. Ticket sales also end 30 minutes before closing. The ghost walks that pass the cemetery in the evening see it from the outside only, since the ground itself shuts with the museum.

Visiting Today: Ticket, Prices and Hours

There is no separate cemetery ticket. Admission runs through the Jewish Museum in Prague, whose circuit covers the Maisel, Pinkas, Old New and Spanish synagogues plus the Old Jewish Cemetery. Individual adult admission is 600 CZK, students under 26 pay 400 CZK and children aged 7 to 15 pay 200 CZK. Children up to 6 enter free and disability card holders pay 100 CZK. Tickets are valid for 3 opening days.

An audio guide costs 250 CZK for adults and 200 CZK for children under 15 and students under 26, and it lasts about two hours. Tickets are sold online and at the ticket offices in the Spanish, Klausen, Pinkas and Maisel synagogues. The museum recommends buying in advance and avoiding the busiest hours from 11:00 to 15:00.

Opening hours change with the season. In 2026 the sites open 9:00 to 16:30 from 2 January to 31 March, 9:00 to 18:00 in April, 9:00 to 19:00 from 1 May to 31 August, 9:00 to 18:00 from 1 September to 17 October, and 9:00 to 16:30 from 18 October to 31 December. On 24 December they close at 14:00. They shut entirely on Saturdays and Jewish holidays, which in 2026 include Pesach on 2 to 3 and 8 to 9 April, Shavuot on 22 May, Rosh Hashanah on 13 September, Yom Kippur on 21 September, Sukkot on 27 September and Simchat Torah on 4 October.

The Old New Synagogue is run by the Jewish Community rather than the museum and usually closes an hour before the Sabbath begins. Since 1 January 2024 it can no longer be bought as a separate ticket and is part of the Jewish Town circuit.

Photography for personal use is allowed without tripod, extra lighting or flash. Professional or commercial photography needs prior agreement and a fee, and filming applications must be sent at least a week ahead. Note that no ticket includes entry to any building on an evening ghost walk, including the Mysterium night walk that ends at the cemetery wall, which lists entry to buildings as not included.

The Notable Graves and What to Look for

The table below gathers them with the dates the sources give and the marker you should look for. The most valuable background comes from the Jewish Museum's own cemetery page, which lists the same burials. Allow yourself the museum's estimated 30 minutes for the whole cemetery.

If you only have time for two, make them Rabbi Loew and Mordecai Maisel, the scholar and the financier who between them define the story of the old ghetto. Photography is allowed for personal use without flash, so you can photograph each stone as you find it.

Rabbi Loew's Grave: Pebbles and Paper Notes

Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel, known as the Maharal, took the rabbinical post in Prague in 1573 after serving as Landesrabbiner of Moravia at Mikulov from 1553. On 23 February 1592 he had an audience with Emperor Rudolf II, which appears to have concerned Kabbalah. He died on 17 September 1609 in Prague and is buried in this cemetery, where his grave and tombstone survive intact. His birth year is disputed across sources, so only the death date is reliable.

Two things mark the grave out. First, the pebbles. Visitors leave small stones on Loew's grave. Second, the notes. Visitors leave folded paper wishes called kvitlach tucked among the stones.

The Golem legend is the reason most visitors come looking for him. In the story, Rabbi Loew built a man of clay to defend the Jewish community from antisemitic attacks, and the legend says the creature's body still lies in the attic of the Old New Synagogue. The legend is usually described by historians as a literary creation of the early 19th century attached to the real 16th century rabbi, and the attic was explored with no trace of a golem found. The full story, its film history and the hunts through the synagogue attic belong on the Golem of Prague page.

Loew's memory extends well beyond the cemetery. The Czech government issued commemorative stamps for him in 1997 and 2009 and a coin in 2009. Ladislav Šaloun's statue of the rabbi, 6 metres high including its pedestal, sits on the New Town Hall on Mariánské náměstí, and a replica dated 1914 stands in the Maisel Synagogue. Visitors to the Old New Synagogue can see the seat where Rabbi Loew traditionally sat.

The Ticket That Includes the Cemetery

The cemetery is administered by the Jewish Museum in Prague, and admission goes through the museum circuit ticket. Individual adult admission is 600 CZK, students under 26 pay 400 CZK and children aged 7 to 15 pay 200 CZK. Children up to 6 enter free and disability card holders pay 100 CZK. The ticket covers the Maisel, Pinkas, Old New and Spanish synagogues plus the Old Jewish Cemetery, and the museum describes a full visit as about 2 to 3 hours. Tickets are valid for 3 opening days, so you can split the sites across several visits. The audio guide costs 250 CZK for adults and 200 CZK for children under 15 and students under 26, and it runs about two hours. Tickets are sold online and at ticket offices in the Spanish, Klausen, Pinkas and Maisel synagogues. The museum recommends buying in advance and avoiding the busiest hours from 11:00 to 15:00.

One honest warning about the synagogue on the circuit. Since 1 January 2024 the Old New Synagogue can no longer be bought as a separate ticket, so do not look for a standalone price. The old separate prices are gone and the synagogue is part of the Jewish Town circuit. Prices in the table come from the Jewish Museum's own admission pages.

Opening Hours by Season

The Jewish Museum sites follow a seasonal calendar, and the cemetery follows it with them. In 2026 they are open 9:00 to 16:30 from 2 January to 31 March, then 9:00 to 18:00 in April. The summer window is the longest, 9:00 to 19:00 from 1 May to 31 August.

From 1 September to 17 October hours run 9:00 to 18:00, and from 18 October to 31 December they drop back to 9:00 to 16:30. Ticket sales end 30 minutes before closing, so arrive before the last entry. Two special days sit outside the pattern.

On 24 December 2026 the sites close at 14:00 and on 1 January 2026 they opened 11:00 to 16:30.

Closed Saturdays and Jewish Holidays

The Jewish Museum sites are closed on Saturdays and on Jewish holidays. That includes the cemetery, so plan the visit on a weekday or a Sunday. The museum lists the 2026 holiday closures as Pesach on 2 to 3 and 8 to 9 April, Shavuot on 22 May, Rosh Hashanah on 13 September, Yom Kippur on 21 September, Sukkot on 27 September and Simchat Torah on 4 October.

The Old New Synagogue is run separately by the Jewish Community and usually closes an hour before the Sabbath begins. Check the museum's page before you travel if your dates fall near a holiday, because a Friday afternoon visit can run into Sabbath closures at some sites.

The Entrance and How Long to Allow

The cemetery entrance is at Široká 3, Prague 1, inside the Pinkas Synagogue building. That is the practical detail most visitors miss. You enter through the Pinkas Synagogue first, where the walls carry about 80,000 names of Jewish victims from Bohemia and Moravia.

The Jewish Museum says a cemetery visit usually takes about 30 minutes. Walk the whole circuit in one go and the museum budgets 2 to 3 hours, because the ticket also covers the Klausen Synagogue next to the cemetery, the Ceremonial Hall beside it, the Maisel Synagogue at Maiselova 10 and the Spanish Synagogue at Vězeňská 1. Photography for personal use is allowed without tripod, extra lighting or flash.

Professional or commercial photography needs prior agreement and a fee, and filming applications must be sent at least a week ahead.

Tours That Finish at the Wall

One of the bookable ghost walks ends at the cemetery. Prague Ghosts and Legends Nighttime Guided Walking Tour by Mysterium Tours costs $21, runs 100 minutes to 2 hours and is rated 4.7 from 1,775 reviews. Its route runs from Old Town Square through the Church of Our Lady before Týn, the Týn yard at Ungelt, a secret stop, past the Old-New Synagogue, a second secret stop, and finishes at the Old Jewish Cemetery. A costumed storyteller guides in English, German or Italian, and free cancellation applies up to 24 hours.

Nothing is entered on this tour. Entry to buildings is not included, so the finish at the cemetery means standing at the wall after dark, not walking among the graves.

Tours That Pass By

Prague Ghost Tour with a Costumed Storyteller by Prague Articulate lists the Old-New Synagogue and the Old Jewish Cemetery on its route, with the Astronomical Clock as the last stop. It costs $25, lasts 1.5 hours and runs in English from the Old Town Hall on Old Town Square. The guide wears early 1900s costume, entrance into buildings is not included and there are no jump scares. The ticket does not cover entry to the cemetery. To walk among the tombstones you need the Jewish Museum circuit ticket described above, bought in daylight hours.

The lantern route of Prague Ghosts, Legends, Medieval Underground and Dungeon Tour runs through former Jewish Ghetto lanes for $30.92 and passes an abandoned forgotten cemetery on its route, but this is not the Old Jewish Cemetery and no entry to it is claimed. If you want Rabbi Loew and the Golem story told properly, that legend has its own page at Golem of Prague, covering the attic of the Old New Synagogue where the legend says the clay body waits.

Why Night Visits Are Not Possible

The cemetery keeps museum hours and is closed at night, and Jewish law is the reason behind the care taken here. Custom forbids disturbing graves, which is why the community stacked layers of soil instead of clearing old ones, lifting old stones back on top. Even in summer, when the museum runs 9:00 to 19:00 from 1 May to 31 August, ticket sales end 30 minutes before closing, and the evening walks pass the cemetery after the gates have shut.

Seeing the wall by night with a storyteller is a different experience from the daylight visit, and doing both is the honest answer for anyone who wants the full picture.

The Synagogues on Your Ticket

Most of the old Jewish quarter was demolished between 1893 and 1913, leaving six synagogues, the old cemetery and the Jewish Town Hall. Start at the Pinkas Synagogue at Široká 3, completed in 1535 and founded by Aaron Meshullam Horowitz. Its walls carry about 80,000 names of Jewish victims from Bohemia and Moravia, and an upper floor shows children's drawings from Terezín, about 4,500 of which survive in the Jewish Museum collection.

The Klausen Synagogue at U Starého hřbitova 3a is the largest surviving synagogue of the former ghetto, rebuilt in baroque style in 1694 after small prayer houses burned in the 1689 ghetto fire, and it shows Hebrew manuscripts and exhibits on Jewish festivals. The neighbouring Ceremonial Hall continues the exhibition on the end of life. The Maisel Synagogue at Maiselova 10 covers Jewish history in Bohemia and Moravia from the 10th to the 18th century, and a replica of Šaloun's Rabbi Loew statue dated 1914 stands inside it.

The Spanish Synagogue at Vězeňská 1, built in 1868, has a Moorish Revival interior with gilding and stained glass.

The Old New Synagogue and Rabbi Loew

The Old New Synagogue was completed in 1270 and is Europe's oldest active synagogue. Its twelve narrow Gothic windows are said to stand for the twelve tribes of Israel, and visitors can see the seat where Rabbi Loew traditionally sat. Legend credits angels turned into doves with sparing it in the 1558 ghetto fire. The attic is not open to the public. The lowest three metres of the outside stairs were removed, the attic door sits about twelve metres above ground, and an 1883 renovation, a 1920 climb and an August 2014 exploration found no trace of a golem. The Golem legend itself is told on Golem of Prague.

For the man himself, Šaloun's Rabbi Loew statue sits in a recess on the main facade of the New Town Hall on Mariánské náměstí, built 1909 to 1911 by architect Osvald Polívka. The statue is 6 metres high including its pedestal and the stone figure alone measures 360 cm. Šaloun chose Rabbi Loew to symbolise the whole Jewish Quarter instead of the usual allegorical figures, showing a nude young girl holding out a rose whose scent brings about the rabbi's death.

Ticket

The table sets each sight's official adult price beside a link to book the entry online. Reduced and family rates still apply at the gate where the site offers them, so check them before you pay.