Staronová synagoga Synagogue

The Old New Synagogue in Prague's Josefov is among the oldest synagogues in Europe and the world that continue to serve religious purposes to this day. It is also one of the oldest preserved synagogue buildings in existence and the oldest preserved building of Josefov. Throughout the world, it is also known by the name Altneuschul.

It arose in the second half of the thirteenth century on the embankments of the Old Town, whose level was being raised at that time by one to three meters as protection against floods. Originally it was called the New School, because in what is now Dušní Street there already stood an older synagogue called the Old School. When later another synagogue with the name New School was built, the oldest one came to be called the Old New School. In historical sources it also appears under the designation Great School.

The synagogue gradually became the center of the Jewish Town. Around it there developed an open space where there was a marketplace and where people would come to wash their laundry. The space at the same time provided protection against fire. If the surrounding houses were burning, flames would not easily jump over to the synagogue.

The two-nave core was constructed in the style of early Cistercian Gothic after the rights were granted during the reign of Premysl Otakar the Second. Later, an entrance hall was added to the south, women's galleries to the west and north, and also a smaller antechamber with a special entrance to the women's nave.

In thirteen fifty-eight, Charles the Fourth granted the synagogue a banner. During the Easter storms of thirteen eighty-nine, approximately three thousand Jews died in its surroundings while trying to get inside. The walls apparently bore traces of their blood until sixteen eighteen, when the synagogue was repaired. This is commemorated by Hebrew inscriptions in the main hall. In seventeen sixteen, Charles the Sixth had the building renovated.

In eighteen eighty-three, architect Josef Mocker underwent a purist renovation of the synagogue. He replaced the roof trusses and replaced the Gothic gable and numerous other elements with copies. These unsuitable interventions were partly removed in the years nineteen twenty-two through nineteen twenty-four. Further reconstructions took place in nineteen sixty-six and nineteen sixty-seven and in the second half of nineteen ninety-eight. During that last one, errors occurred and due to an error by the designer, the original Gothic stone bench was later damaged.

The main hall is a rectangular two-nave room with three bays of cross-ribbed vault. Unusual is the fifth rib added to each bay. The naves are divided by a pair of octagonal columns. Light is admitted by twelve narrow pointed windows and two small rosettes in the front wall. Between the columns, the bimah with its richly wrought Gothic grille has been preserved, and at the end of the hall stands the Aron ha-kodesh with its reading lectern.