This is the cemetery and the Meeting or Ceremonial Hall in the Jewish Quarter of Prague that has many graves crowded into a very small space.


This is the cemetery in the Jewish Quarter of Prague that has many graves crowded into a very small space. When people say a prayer by one of the graves they place a small stone on the top of the grave or tuck a paper prayer into crevices near the grave. Jews must not destroy Jewish graves and in particular it is not allowed to remove the tombstone. This meant that when the cemetery ran out of space and purchasing extra land was impossible, more layers of soil were placed on the existing graves, the old tombstones taken out and placed upon the new layer of soil. This explains why the tombstones in the cemetery are placed so closely to each other. This resulted in the cemetery having 12 layers of graves. The Old Jewish Cemetery lies in the Josefov, the Jewish Quarter of Prague in the Czech Republic. It was in use from the early 15th century (the oldest tombstone, dates back to 1439 until 1787


Size: 4016px × 6016px
Location: Prague, Czech Republic, Europe
Photo credit: © Brenda Kean / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No

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