Jewish Quarter in Prague

Josefov is a quarter of Prague situated in a bending of the Vltava River and surrounded by the Old Town. There was a Jewish town since the Middle Ages, but after its dissolution in the 19th century it turned into a shanty town, which was demolished within the Development of Prague and replaced with new houses. Only the most important Jewish monuments are still preserved, among them the Old New Synagogue and other ones, an old cemetery and a town hall. Josefov is also the smallest cadastral area of Prague. During World War II Jewish inhabitants were deported to concentration camps. The abandoned Josefov became a storage of confiscated property. After the end of the war much of the estate remained in the hands of the Jewish Museum as its owners had been murdered in concentration camps, and thus the Jewish Museum became the second biggest Jewish museum in the world. Although only several significant monuments reminding us of the long history of Jewish inhabitants of Prague are preserved now, they represent the best preserved set of Jewish monuments in Europe.