After more than a year of work, nearly 500 grave markers in Prague’s New Jewish Cemetery have been restored, thanks to a 4.7 million crown (approx €175,000) grant from the European Economic Area (EEA) and Norway, with a 1.1 million crown (approx €41,000) contribution from the Prague Jewish community.
(It should also be noted that the EEA/Norway grants program is also supporting the restoration of the Jewish cemetery in the Czech town of Mělník. See details HERE.)
Completion at the New Jewish Cemetery of the restoration project for 480 gravestones and the large family vaults of the Fuchs, Waldstein and Kubinzky families was announced last week by project manager Zuzana Berankova.
The CTK news agency writes:
Berankova said tombstones often fall because roots of high trees grow under them and move them and many tombstones are covered by ivy, which makes them even less stable. Some tombstones are so unsteady that one could knock them down with just one finger, she added.
According to a description of the project on the Prague Jewish Community web site, the aim was to “quickly provide stabilization works of 480 leaning gravestones or lifting up collapsed ones and to provide repair and restoration of 3 family tombs, to avoid decline and destruction of arts and crafts components and their original authenticity.”
It said that the physical restoration began in early 2015. This was preceded by preparatory work in 2014: “photodocumentation, choice of gravestones to be repaired and restored, tender for suppliers.”
The cemetery — where Franz Kafka and other notables are buried — was founded in 1890 in the Prague 3 district and includes an estimated 27,000 gravestones. The Jewish Community report said the estimated cost to repair and restore work all the grave markers would amount to some 50 million crowns.
The Jewish Community of Prague does not have such a big amount of money itself. The costs of the works in 2015 includ[ing] static stabilization, erecting, restoring, preserving and cleaning of gravestones and grave tombs represent nevertheless only a part (nearly 6 million) of the finances needed. The financial impact of the fact that the site is protected and listed as Czech National Heritage is that all repairs have to be done by specialists.
The EEA/Norway Grants web site describes the cemetery as “an extremely important element of the history of Prague’s Jewish community and the fate of particular individuals, families and relationships.”
Due to the negligible amount of surviving archival documentary that during World War II often completely disappeared, it is even more important and the effort to rescue the tombstones is significant. With an area of over 10 hectares and more than 27,000 tombstones, it is the largest cemetery in the country. Most of the surviving tombstones are interesting stone masonry pieces with sculptural decoration and symbolism, complemented by floral ornaments with Jewish symbolic motifs. Tombstones are valuable evidence of the development of funeral sculptures from the late 19th century through a variety of artistic forms of Art Nouveau to the Neo-Classicism and Functionalism of the twenties and thirties of the last century […] The most pressing problem that harms the monument as a whole today, in addition to theft and vandalism, is mainly the progressively deteriorating condition of the static stability of gravestones and tombs. Many of them, due to the effects of erosion influences or simply outliving the original foundation structure are gradually collapsing.
View a photo gallery of the restoration work
See description of project on EEA/Norway grants web site
Listen to a Radio Prague report on the restoration, in English
Read full description of the project
1 comment on “Nearly 500 grave markers restored at Prague’s New Jewish cemetery”
Reading the project description I am impressed by restoring gritty textures into marvels ,marvels available to everybody as a kind of complementary historic narrative ,escaped the negligence and vandalism into Light.
To be talking it up in admiration of the project merits ,now at Pesach,because it brings the cemetery itself and its visitors into a renewed awareness of the particular history of the Jews,my people.
Awareness of history is so important to broaden and deepen the perspective and perceptions what happened until this very second!
To face the future with that knowledge ,people busy with restoring,gives me some peace of mind.