The old synagogue

Up the road from the hotel, in the courtyard of house no. 5, there is an old synagogue from 1859 built to the design of Martin Stelzer, now in disrepair and deserted. There was a Jewish graveyard on the site of what is now Palacky Square (Palackeho namesti).

In 1504 the inhabitants of Plzen extracted privilege from King Vladislav. All Jews were banished from the city and could stay there only during the day.
A change came about after the liberation by Joseph II, when Popper and Dusenay, Jewish businessmen from Prague, purchased the former building of the Plasy monastery, ref. no. 281 in Dominikanska Street (Dominikanska ulice). From then on, the Jews began to assert themselves and a testament to their expansion was the old synagogue of 1859, next to which was also a school and ritual slaughterhouse. This operated until 1892.

---

This page is available in both English and Czech versions.

Copyright © 2002 City of Plzen. All Rights Reserved.