Artist, Political Cartoonist, Columnist & Author

Old Jewish Cemetery Prague - Jan Kamienski

It is not clear when exactly the cemetery was founded. This has been the subject of discussion of many scholars. Some claim that the cemetery is over 1000 years older than the accepted date, which is the first half of the 15th century. The oldest grave belongs to a Prague rabbi and poet from 1439! 

Jews must not destroy Jewish graves and in particular they are not allowed to remove tombstones. When the cemetery ran out of space and purchasing extra land was not possible, more layers of soil were placed on the existing graves, the old tombstones taken out and placed upon the new layer of soil. This explains tombstones in the cemetery placed so closely to each other. It resulted in the cemetery having twelve layers of graves.

Jan Kamienski Artist