Stories of Jewish Prague - 3 hour Small Group tour

Make your way to the Old-New Synagogue, the longest functioning synagogue in Europe, then set out on a specially-designed route through the Jewish Quarter. Start with the deepest roots of the Prague Jewish community, when local Jews hired Christians to build the synagogue in the late 13th century, and learn about Jewish religious and social customs during the medieval period. Continue to the Renaissance Town Hall that Mordechai Maisel built during the ‘golden age’ of Prague’s Jewish community. Find out how Maisel, then the mayor of the Jewish Quarter, used his own money to pave the neighborhood streets and provide charity. Hear stories about the intellectuals of the period, including writer and theologian Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel. Follow local Jews through the tumultuous years when Empress Maria Theresa expelled the entire community, then her son's reversal of the order with the ‘Edict of Toleration.’ Learn about life in the Jewish Quarter as Nazi Germany decimated Prague’s Jews, and the local politics and ethnic tensions that preceded Hitler’s invasion of Czechoslovakia. Finally, learn about the Jewish experience during the Communist era, and finish the tour with a discussion of Prague’s Jewish community today.

• Historian guide

• Food and drinks, unless specified

• Gratuities

• Hotel pickup and drop-off

• Entrance fees to Jewish Museum and Old-New Synagogue (530 CZK/adults; 370 CSK/students)