Old-New Synagogue

The Old-New Synagogue stands on Červená street in Josefov, the former Jewish Town of Prague, and it is the oldest surviving synagogue in Europe as well as the oldest site in the quarter. It is not a museum piece that happens to be old: the Prague Jewish Community, which administers the building, describes it as the community's main synagogue for more than seven hundred years, and it still holds services.

Nine steps drop from the street into a vestibule, and a door from there opens into the hall itself — a double nave of six vaulted bays, a plan the Christian architects appear to have borrowed from monastery and chapel work of the period. The moulding on the tympanum above the entry carries twelve vines and twelve bunches of grapes, read as the twelve tribes of Israel, and the same motif returns on the base of the bimah.

Allow thirty minutes. It is built on what the room actually is: one hall of six bays with a vestibule, no gallery route, no exhibition circuit and nothing to queue for once inside. An hour would be spent standing still. Clearly identified guide and assistance dogs accompanying visitors with disabilities are admitted with a valid visitor ticket.

The synagogue is open every day except Saturdays and Jewish holidays, and the hours move with the season. Two single days sit outside that table — 1 January opens late at 11.00 and closes at 17.00, and 24 December closes at 14.00. Ticket sales stop thirty minutes before closing.

There is no ticket to the Old-New Synagogue alone. Since 1 January 2024 the building is entered on the Jewish Town circuit ticket, which also covers the Maisel, Pinkas, Klausen and Spanish Synagogues and the Old Jewish Cemetery. Adult admission is CZK 600 through the standard Prague Jewish Town ticket. Individual and family tickets remain valid for three opening days; ticket sales end 30 minutes before closing.

The address is Červená street, Josefov, Prague 1, inside the old Jewish Town and a few minutes on foot from everything else the ticket covers. The nearest paid car park it names is under Čechův most, on nábřeží Edvarda Beneše. Two practical notes on the approach. The nearest public-transport stop is Staroměstská, served by metro line A, trams 17 and 18, and buses 194 and 207; the museum describes it as about a three-minute walk. Old Town Square is about five minutes away on foot and Charles Bridge about ten minutes.

Saturday is the trap. The synagogue is shut every Saturday and on Jewish holidays, and a Prague itinerary built around a weekend can miss the whole quarter without noticing. Dress for the building. The museum asks visitors to wear appropriate clothes with shoulders covered, and offers kippot to men at the sites. Finally, this is a working synagogue, not only a monument. The Old-New Synagogue is not accessible to visitors with limited mobility.

The Jewish Museum in Prague allows photography at its sites for personal, non-commercial use by ticket holders, without a tripod, additional lighting or flash. Anything beyond that — professional or commercial photography, or filming in the exhibitions and the Old Jewish Cemetery — needs prior arrangement, a purpose agreed in advance and a fee from the service price list, and filming applications must be submitted at least a week ahead through [email protected].