The small, 18th century mortuary/ceremonial hall of the centuries-old Jewish cemetery in Boskovice, Czech Republic was reopened this week after a total reconstruction that capped a lengthy restoration and clean-up of the entire cemetery.
Before the reconstruction the building was was an utter ruin at the top of the path leading up from the cemetery entrance: just battered, roofless walls.
Jaroslav Klenovsky, who handles built heritage matters for the Brno Jewish community, reports that the €50,000 reconstruction, carried out by the Brno Jewish community (the owner of the cemetery) with the help of public subsidies, took place in 2014-15:
The small but charming mortuary was built in 1763 in the Baroque style. Inside is a stone chest (tsedaka), and two stone plates with Hebrew liturgical texts. After 20 years of restoring the whole cemetery area, the dilapidated mortuary remained the last element to correct.
The reconstruction means that virtually all of the Jewish heritage sites in Boskovice, a small town north of Brno, have been restored and are able to be visited.
See video showing the process of reconstructing the building:
Boskovice has one of the most extensive and intact old Jewish quarters in central Europe. Local activists and the town itself have been working to preserve (and promote) it since the fall of communism. A summer festival was started in the early 1990s to raise money for preservation of the Jewish quarter. The 17th century synagogue and recently renovated former Jewish school/Jewish town hall now form part of the Czech 10 Stars network — with a permanent exhibition devoted to local Jewish history and Jewish quarters in the Czech Republic.
Click to see our photo gallery of Jewish heritage sites in Boskovice
Click to see Boskovice 10 Stars page