Pinkas Synagogue

The Pinkas Synagogue, a Holocaust memorial

The Prague audio-guided tour invites you to quiet contemplation before the Pinkas Synagogue, whose Gothic and Renaissance appearance, very pure, houses one of the most poignant places of memory of the city. It is fitting to enter there in silence and with gravity.

A memorial to the victims of the genocide

The synagogue was built in 1535 by one of the leaders of the Jewish city of Prague, first for his family, then opened to the ever more numerous faithful of the community. Since the twentieth century, it has housed an overwhelming memorial: on each interior wall are inscribed the names of eighty thousand Jews of Bohemia and Moravia, victims of the Nazi genocide. This work of memory pays tribute to each of these lives, with infinite dignity.

What there is to see

To walk through the Pinkas Synagogue, more than to contemplate it, is a deeply moving experience: the walls covered with names, written by hand, give an overwhelming reality to the scale of the tragedy. An exhibition also presents drawings by children from the Terezín ghetto, heartbreaking testimonies of innocence in the face of horror. It is an essential place of memory, to be discovered in silence and with the greatest respect.

Practical information

The Pinkas Synagogue is in the Jewish quarter of Josefov, in Prague. A member of the Jewish Museum of Prague, it can be visited according to its own schedule, with a charge, whose opening times may vary with the season and the holidays. A place of memory of the Holocaust, it can be discovered in silence and contemplation, with the greatest respect for the victims.

What does the Pinkas Synagogue commemorate?

It houses a memorial bearing the names of eighty thousand Jews of Bohemia and Moravia, victims of the Nazi genocide.

When was the Pinkas Synagogue built?

In 1535, by one of the leaders of the Jewish city of Prague; it has housed since the twentieth century the memorial to the victims of the Holocaust.