Jewish Cemetery in Žižkov

Description:

• Established in 1680 as plague burial ground for Prague's Jewish Community, the First Israeli Cemetery continued to be valuable when a ban on burials within the city began in 1987. Burials continued there until 1890, when the New Jewish Cemetery came into being. Although some 40,000 people rest here, it fell into a state of disrepair, even before the massive Zizkov TV Tower was built just above it. In 1998, the oldest parts of the cemetery became part of the Jewish Museum in Prague and, after extensive restoration work, it was opened to the public in 2001. Notable rabbis and leading Jewish entrepreneurs were laid to rest in this cemetery in addition to prominent members of the Enlightenment and contemporary Jewish intelligentsia.
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