The Czech-German Fund for the Future (CNFB) has allocated 300,000 Czech crowns (more than €11,600) toward “rescue work on damaged or eroded gravestones” in the New Jewish cemetery in Horažďovice, in southern Bohemia.
It said the project would involve the the “repair, stabilization or restoration of gravestones that pose a safety risk for visitors of the cemetery in its present condition.”
With more than 400 precious gravestones from different eras – classicism, Baroque, Gothic Revival – the Jewish cemetery of Horažďovice is a testament to the history of the Jewish community of Horažďovice and the religious heritage of the region.
It said the Federation of Jewish Communities in the Czech Republic had been seeking means to restore the cemetery for 15 years.
Horažďovice lies about 110 km southwest of Prague. Its New Jewish Cemetery, on Obodjaru street, was established in the first part of the 19th century. In 1979, some gravestones from an earlier cemetery, which had been destroyed, were brought to the New Cemetery, the oldest dating from 1684.
The funding for the cemetery is among grants to more than 100 projects on both sides of the Czech-German border totaling 16 million crowns (€612,600) announced by the CNFB on December 13.
The CNFB sponsors projects that promote dialogue and cultural exchange between Czechs and Germans. Since 1998, it has allocated a total of around 54 million euros for 9,500 projects.
Click here to see a photo gallery of the cemetery
Click to read an English-language article about the grants, from the Czech News Agency