The synagog Old woman-News of the Jewish district of Josefov to Prague (also known under the names of Alt-neu Shul in Yiddish, Altneuschule , German Altneusynagoge in or Czech Staronová synagoga in ) is oldest Synagog of Europe still in activity.

History

This example of Gothic architecture religious, one of very first of Prague, is completed in 1270. One first of all indicates it under the name of Neu Shul (“New Synagog” in Yiddish, Shul (school) indicates the synagog since one also teaches there). When, following the extension of the Jewish community of Prague, other synagogs are successively built, it becomes known like the synagog Old woman-News. An older, known synagog as the Alt Shul is demolished in 1867 and is replaced by the Spanish Synagog.

Interior

Last nine steps go from the street to the hall quasi-underground: to face the frequent floods of the Vltava the level of the roadway was elevated in all the Old city of Prague. The rectangular Nef is separated by six Intersecting ribs supported by two central columns posed in a East-West alignment. The six side bays each one are bored of two narrow windows which symbolize thus the twelve Tribus of Israel. The narrowness of the windows is responsible for the reputation of Alt-Neu Shul to be dark. The Bimah (desk of reading of the Torah) is located between the two columns. The holy arch is traditionally placed in the center of the wall is.

The synagog is built according to the habit of the orthodoxe Judaïsme with the spaces separated for the men and the women during the prayers. The women are in an contiguous part which has small windows to be able to follow the ceremonies in the principal sanctuary. The roof, the gable and the walls of support date from the Middle Ages.

Unusual in a synagog, the flag, on the western pillar, carrying a star of David and the text Shema Israel is a privilege granted by Ferdinand II of the Holy roman Empire in recognition of the services rendered by the Jewish community of Prague lasting the seat of the city by the Swedish Protestant troops lasting the Guerre Thirty Year old. The current flag is a counterpart of that offered by Charles VI of the Holy roman Empire.

Legends around the synagog

A Jewish legend praguoise proposes a different etymology in the name of the synagog, Al Tnaï (" in condition de"), according to which the construction of a stone synagog (which would come from the Temple of Jerusalem and would have been brought by angels since Jerusalem to died of Nahmanide) could be done only in the condition of adding a fifth vein to the ceiling so that, although built by the Nice ones, it would not be it according to a plan in cross.

According to another legend, the body of the Golem, creature of the rabbi Juda Loew Ben Bezalel, rests in the roofs of the synagog, at the place of the Genizah (" cimetière" Hebrew manuscripts comprising one of the seven Names of God who it is interdict to erase). The tourist guides insist on the character legendary and deprived of serious of this allegation. Always it is that this space is not opened with the public.

Illustrations