High Synagogue
High Synagogue is red-roofed
building in the center
The High Synagogue is located right next
to the Old Town Hall building in Josefov, the former Jewish quarter
of Prague. The entrance to it is on the south side of the narrow
alley called Cervena Street that runs between the Old-New Synagogue
and the Old Town Hall. Before 2000, it was open to tourists who
could see displays of textiles that were gathered from all over
Europe by the Nazis for a Jewish museum they were planning in
Prague. When I visited in 2000, it had reverted back to a non-Orthodox
synagogue where Jews come to worship and it was no longer open
to the public. This Synagogue was founded by Mordechai Maisel
who founded the Old Town Hall and it used to be a part of the
town hall.
It is called the High Synagogue because
the prayer room is located upstairs. Just inside the entrance,
on the ground floor, there is a shop that sells books about the
Jews and the Holocaust.
The street that runs parallel to Maiselova
Street, to the east of the Old Town Hall building, is Parizska
(Paris) street. The entrance to a restaurant that is right next
to the building that houses the High Synagogue is on this street.
The restaurant is shown on the left in the photograph above.
The whole setup is most confusing, especially because the Old
Town Hall is pink, leading some American tourists to believe
that it is the Pinkas Synagogue. The back of the Old-New Synagogue
faces Parizska street; it can be seen on the right in the photograph
above.
|