Old Jewish Cemetery
The Jewish Cemetery lies in Josefov in the Old Town and hardly anybody knows that it belongs among three most famous Jewish cemeteries in Prague. The exact date of its establishment is not clear. According to the oldest preserved tombstones, the cemetery is presumed to be founded at the turn of 15thcentury. This tombstone comes from 1439 and belongs to a scholar and poet Avigdor Kara who died on 23 April 1439.
There are approximately 12 000 tombstones in the Old Jewish Cemetery. Well, we ought to mention, that the exact number of people buried here is much higher since a Jewish tradition forbids destruction of old graves and removal of tombstones. Therefore it used to be a regular practice that when the cemetery run out of space and no other burials could proceed, more layers of soil were heaped up onto the existing graves. The cemetery is believed to have up to 12 layers. The old tombstones were always levered up and placed upon the new layer.
More info: http://www.praguecityline.com/prague-monuments/old-jewish-cemetery
