“Another time. Another place.” Franz Kafka likely mused as he was laid to rest here at the Nov\u00fd \u017eidovsk\u00fd h\u0159bitov. Welcome to this poignant and historically rich cemetery. It is a place where prominent figures of Prague’s Jewish community found their final resting place.
The Nov\u017eidovsk\u00fd h\u0159bitov was established in 1890. It was created to alleviate the overcrowding at the Old Jewish Cemetery. The old cemetery was located where the \u017di\u017ekov Television Tower now stands. This new cemetery is more than ten times larger than the Old Jewish Cemetery in Josefov. It was designed to hold approximately 100,000 graves. This capacity was intended to last for about a century.
The cemetery has two ceremonial halls. The oldest hall was designed by Bed\u0159ich M\u00fcnzberger and Alfons Wertmiler. It was built between 1891 and 1893. A second ceremonial hall was added in 1933. It was built in a functionalist style by Leopold Ehrmann.
Here at the Nov\u017eidovsk\u00fd h\u0159bitov, you will find around 25,000 preserved gravestones. Many are in the Art Nouveau style. Some serve as memorials and symbolic graves for Holocaust victims. Other gravestones belong to well-known figures in politics, culture and industry.
Notable families such as the Petschek and Waldes families are buried here. The Waldes tomb features the last pieces of art by Josef V\u00e1clav Myslbek. He is the famous sculptor of the St. Wenceslas statue in Wenceslas Square. The Bondy family is also represented here.
The Nov\u017eidovsk\u00fd h\u0159bitov is the final resting place of several famous authors. Franz Kafka is perhaps the most well-known. Other authors buried here include Ji\u0159\u00ed Orten, Ota Pavel, Franti\u0161ek R. Kraus, Arno\u0161t Lustig and Lenka Reinerov\u00e1. Artists Ji\u0159\u00ed Kars and Max Horb are also interred here. Jan \u0160tursa designed Horb’s tomb in the form of a mourning peacock. Singers Ladislav Blum and Rabbi Gustav Sicher are also buried in the cemetery.
In 2001, a symbolic tomb was unveiled in the new section. It contains remains exhumed from Prague’s oldest Jewish cemetery. This area is known as the Jewish Garden.
Notice the Memorial of Czechoslovak Jews who perished in the Holocaust and the Resistance. Also find the commemorative plaque of Max Brod, Kafka’s friend. He significantly promoted Kafka’s work.
In recent years, extensive restoration work has been carried out here. Nearly 500 tombstones and three family vaults have been renovated. The project was largely funded by Norway Grants. It cost over six million crowns.
As you wander through the Nov\u017eidovsk\u00fd h\u0159bitov, consider the lives and legacies of those buried here. The cemetery serves as a testament to Prague’s rich Jewish history and cultural heritage. It remains a place of remembrance, reflection and respect.