Are you in the Czech Republic today? Take advantage of the fourth edition of the Day of Jewish Monuments to visit dozens of Jewish heritage sites around the country.
More than 50 selected Jewish heritage sites more than three dozen locations in Bohemia, Moravia, and Czech Silesia will be open to visitors. They include synagogues, Jewish cemeteries, museums, and other sites.
Some are fairly wellnown sites, such as those on the nationwide 10 Stars network. Or the Jeruzalemska synagogue in Prague.
But some are out of the way and well off the beaten track. Some of them are generally closed to the public; some have recently undergone extensive renovation or are in the process of restoration. In some places, there are programs such as guided tours and concerts.
There is a smartphone app as well as an interactive map to help visitors.
Click on the star to find the site — there is historical and other information, but it’s in Czech, so you will have to use google translate. (The mobile app also seems to be only in Czech.)
The event is organized by the Jewish community in Prague in cooperation with Matana, the administrative body for Jewish property, the Federation of Jewish Communities in the Czech Republic and other regional partners.
The Czech Republic is a small country, and — if you travel by car — it would not be difficult to visit several of the sites in one day.
One of the biggest attractions of this year is the newly renovated rural synagogue in village of Police u Jemnice, which was inaugurated last year.Click HERE and HERE to read our articles about it.
For its reconstruction, the Federation of Jewish Communities in the Czech Republic was nominated for the National Monument Institute Patrimonium Award for the Future this year.
There is a particularly rich program of events in Pacov and its surroundings, where there will be a concert in the Pacov synagogue (which is being restored by a grassroots organisation).
And there will be guided tours of the cemetery in Radenín and the memorial at the cemetery in Černovice.
The Jewish community in Prague owns 30 synagogues and 175 Jewish cemeteries. Others are owned by some of the 10 Jews communities or the Federation of Jewish Communities. Others still are in the possession of towns, churches and private owners.
Since the fall of communism, around 70 synagogues have been restored, most of them for cultural use — so the Day of Jewish Monuments actually only takes in a fraction of restored Jewish heritage sites in the country. Many others are well maintained and can also be visited.
The full list for the Day of Jewish Monuments includes Jewish sites in the following towns — we have posted articles about a number of these sites:
Here are pictures of some of them:
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More information about Jewish synagogues including photographs, annotations, and essays can be found in our book, Light Beyond the Shadows, by Sheila Pallay and Julius Müller. The book is available at www. mstshop.org or the Jewish Museum in Prague.