Old New Synagogue

The Old New Synagogue is in Prague, a city in Czechia.

A synagogue is a building where Jewish people meet. This one was built more than 700 years ago!

The Old New Synagogue stands in Prague, in Czechia. It was built of stone in the 1270s, in the early Gothic style.

Prague's official tourist site calls it one of the oldest and most valuable Jewish monuments in Europe and the world, and the oldest synagogue in Central Europe. Today it is the main synagogue of Prague's Jewish community, which looks after it.

Prague's official tourist site describes the Old New Synagogue as an early Gothic, rectangular, massive stone building from the 1270s, one of the oldest Gothic monuments in the country and the oldest synagogue in Central Europe. It is administered by the Prague Jewish Community, not the Jewish Museum, and visitors can see it only as part of the Prague Jewish Town tour.

It has been a National Cultural Monument since 1995.

Inside, two big stone pillars hold up the ceiling.

Stone carvers decorated it with leaves of grapevines, ivy and oak.

Inside, the hall has two aisles. Its ceiling is a set of ribbed stone vaults resting on two large pillars in the middle, which makes the space feel big.

Stone carvers decorated the vaults with leaves: grapevine, ivy and oak leaves. Its old furnishings include a wrought-iron Gothic grille and chandeliers.

The interior is vaulted with six bays of five-part ribbed vaulting resting on two massive octagonal pillars. Pařík notes that the five-part vault let the builders place two narrow pointed windows in each bay, giving twelve narrow windows in all.

Fifty-four consoles, capitals and bosses carry relief plant decoration, mostly vine leaves, ivy and oak leaves, the work of several stonemasons. The city's site mentions rich stonework and old furnishings, including a wrought-iron Gothic grille and chandeliers.

In this photo, the tall brick gable points up into a blue sky.

Below it is a pale wall with a round window, and trees grow all around.

This photo was taken on 27 May 2008. It shows the steep brick gable with its pointed arches above a pale plastered wall with a round window, with lower buildings, trees and taller buildings around it.

Because it stood on its own and was solidly built, the synagogue survives almost as it was first built, though the restorers found marks of an old fire on some window frames, and a fire in 1754 partly damaged it. It has been repaired several times, most recently in a restoration finished in March 1999.

The photograph (Tony Hisgett, 27 May 2008) shows the brick gable with its pointed blind arches and stepped edges above the plastered wall and a round window, a lower annex on the left, and trees and taller buildings around it.

Pařík writes that its standalone position and solid construction spared it from fires and serious damage, so it survives almost in its original state; yet the same article reports scorch marks of a fierce fire on the southern window frames, found during the restoration, and partial damage in the fire of 1754. Repairs are recorded in 1618, 1880-1883 (Josef Mocker: new roof frame and gables), 1921-1927 and 1967. The last full restoration ran from autumn 1997 to March 1999 (the city's site gives November 1998 to March 1999), mainly against damp in the thick stone walls; archaeological research during the work suggested, with great probability, that Jews lived in the area as early as the 11th century.