PRAGUE GUIDE

Originally a Renaissance temple, built in 1592 for rich Mayor Mordechai Maisel, the synagogue has a beautifully restored interior, which preserves some of the 16th-century stone carving. The original Renaissance building was a victim of a big fire in 1689. A new neo-Gothic synagogue was built in its place between the years 1893 and 1905, together with the demolition of the former Jewish ghetto and reconstruction of the main buildings.

Since the 1960s the building has housed an exhibition of religious objects including five Books of Moses handwritten on rolls of parchment by scribes. There is also a fascinating collection of Jewish silver, textiles and other prints. Another very interesting item is an enormous glass beaker, made between 1783 and 1784 for the Prague Burial Society and painted with a procession of men and women dressed in funereal black.

Location: Maiselova 10, Josefov part of Jewish Museum