This is a picture of the back of the Altneuschul (the Old-New Synagogue) in Prague. There are group of men gathered in front of the synagogue; some are standing on a bench next to what appears to be a pool, while others stand nearby. The photograph shows the synagogue’s gothic style with its large rectangular structure and saddled brick roof. While the photograph is not dated, it seems to have been taken around the end of the nineteenth century or the beginning of the twentieth century. A few of the synagogue’s twelve windows, corresponding to the twelve tribes of Israel, can be seen in the picture. The purpose of the windows was to direct light onto the bimah (podium) in the centre of the synagogue.
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Altneuschul - The Altneuschul was built in 1270 in Josefov, the Jewish quarter of Prague, and is considered the oldest functioning synagogue in Europe. It was originally called the New Synagogue, but as the years passed and other synagogues were built, it was renamed the Old-New Synagogue. Another explanation of the name is based on a traditional claim that the synagogue’s foundation stones were originally from the Temple in Jerusalem and are in Prague “al tnay” (the Hebrew for “on condition”) until they are once again needed to rebuild the Temple.
The synagogue has other interesting features that cannot be seen in this photograph. There are nine steps descending from street level to the synagogue in reference to the verse from Psalms: “Out of the depths I call you, O Lord” (130:1). The main building is surrounded on three sides by low outer rooms added in later centuries, which are used as the women’s gallery. Above the bimah hangs a remnant of a red flag with the Star of David, the Jewish symbol. In 1357, Charles IV, the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire at the time, allowed the Jews of Prague to have their own city flag. Another tattered red banner hangs next to the Jewish flag. This was a gift from Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III to the Jews for their help in stopping an invasion by the Swedes in 1648 at the tail end of the Thirty Years War.
The Altneuschul is famous for the sixteenth-century legend about the Golem created by Rabbi Judah Ben Bezalel Loew, also known as the Maharal. It is believed that Rabbi Loew created the Golem, a creature made of clay from the banks of the Vltava River, and brought it to life through rituals and Hebrew incantations in order to save the Jews of Prague from anti-Semitic attacks, blood libels, and pogroms. Rabbi Loew is said to have hidden the Golem’s remains in the attic of the Altneuschul.
The buildings that surround the Altneuschul in the photograph have since been demolished, possibly during the “Sanitization” of the Jewish Ghetto from 1893 to 1913. The Sanitization was an initiative of the Prague municipality to destroy most of the Jewish ghetto due its old, cramped, and unhygienic conditions and to rebuild the area. The Altneuschul was one of six synagogues left standing and preserved after the last forced structural changes to the Jewish quarter. It serves as a testament to the intricate Jewish history of Prague over the centuries.
