Michelská synagoga Synagogue

Michelská synagoga stands in the street U Michele Mill no. 124, near the bank of the Botič stream in Prague Michli. It is one of the most interesting and beautiful historical objects in this area. Among other things, its uniqueness is that it belongs to the few suburban synagogues who survived World War II.

The original construction on the site of today's synagogue was probably an economic construction, probably a wine house from the Gothic period - this is evidenced by the findings of the old masonry discovered during reconstruction in the twentieth century. The exact date of synagogue formation is unknown; it is assumed to have occurred around 1730 or later. It is clearly not until the nineteenth century that it exists. During the reconstruction in the second half of this century there was a romanticizing neo-gothic adjustment of the eastern facade and extension of the building. The building was divided into two parts: in the original southern part there was a prayer room with a gallery for women, in the newer northern part there was an apartment of a cantor and administrator of the synagogue. The synagogue served the needs of Jewish communities not only from Michle, but also from nearby Nusla, Vršovice and Podolí. However, the synagogue's capacity proved insufficient after Michle became part of Prague in 1922. The Jewish community began to prepare its reconstruction, but the outbreak of World War II stopped all plans and the Jewish community died during the war.

After the war, the object fell into the administration of the Jewish Museum. At the beginning of the 1950s, a depository was established here, where about 1200 Torah scrolls were held, which the Nazis drove to Prague from the destroyed and violently closed synagogue of Jewish communities throughout the Protectorate. In 1964, most of these scrolls were transferred to the Westminster Synagogue in London, from which they were lent as live comments of exterminated Jewish communities in Bohemia and Moravia to synagogues and communities around the world. After taking the Torah to the synagogue gradually decrepit. In 1975, in a rather dismal state, the College of Albert Schweitzer, the Church of the Czechoslovak Hussite, acquired it, which restored the building and used it to this day as a prayer house.

Today, the Jewish history of the synagogue is reminiscent of a few old tombstones in a small garden in front of the southern facade, which allegedly originate from the Jewish cemetery in Uhronev. Thanks to its history and return to the lively community, Michelská synagoga represents an extraordinary memory site for decades of Jewish presence in Michli.