First thing Sunday morning, we went for a walk to the Town Square. It's only a couple of blocks from our hotel but the streets wind and turn so much that it's easy to go the wrong way. We had two goals in mind - see and film the astronomical clock on the hour, and hear a concert in one of the churches. We succeeded half-way. We saw and filmed the clock which is shown on the preceding page. Unfortunately the church concert wasn't that day it was the following week.
On our way to the square.
Church of Our Lady before Tyn
We had hoped to meet a friend of Derek or one of my 2nd cousins. Both live in Prague but we were unable to connect with either one. So we decided on a "Jewish" tour of Prague. The meeting spot was by the Intercontinental Hotel which we were told was only a couple of blocks from our hotel. We started off and after a couple of blocks, there was no Intercontinental. It had to be nearby so we pushed on and on. Finally we found the hotel but no group. It turns out the meeting spot was in a square in front of the hotel. We did catch the group and were able to join the tour.
The old Jewish quarter of Prague is a relatively small area inside the Old Town. In this small area there are a number of synagogues, the old Jewish Town Hall, and the old Jewish cemetary. We visited three of the synagogues and the cemetrary. The Old Jewish Town Hall has two clocks. One has Roman numerals and works like a regular clock. The other has Hebrew numbers and the hands turn counterclockwise.
Corner in Old Jewish Town
Clock with Roman numberals.
Clock with Hebrew numbers.
Two views of the Old New Synagogue. The tower of the Old Jewish Town Hall can be seen in the background.
Rosh Ha-Shana schedule for the Old New Synagogue.
Inside the Old New Synagogue
The Maisel Synagogue is no longer an active synagogue and is now part of the Jewish Museum..
The Spanish Synagogue was the last to be visited on our tour. It is not a Sephardic temple. It is a Reform temple built in the late 1860s and got the name Spanish Synagogue because of the Moorish style of architecture. It is now part of the Jewish Museum. The interior is very ornate as you can see from the pictures below The facade of the synagogue is the last building in the picture on the left.
To the left and below are two pictures of the interior taken from the ground level.
Side view of the synagogue interior.
Interior view from the balcony.
Dome of the Spanish Syniagogue
Statue of Kafka in Old Jewish Quarter.
