Jewish Quarter

The birthplace of our 20th century literary genius, the Jewish Quarter or Josefov is like a Mecca for those writers who swear by Kafka’s work and draw inspiration from the same. It is their place of worship. However, if history is taken into account, this place has seen tough times and is essentially a mirror reflecting the many injustices suffered by the Jewish community right from the 13th century pogrom to the Holocaust during the Second World War. The ghetto then only grew and prospered with the passage of time and the Jews excelled in many professions right from being astronomers to artists, engineers to historians. Today, the multitude of historically significant monuments lining the Quarter, the ones that survived the many attempts to destroy the race, are perhaps the best preserved ones in the whole of Europe. Interestingly, Kafka’s Jewish heritage is conspicuously absent from his writings.
Home to some six synagogues and the Jewish Cemetery, Josefov is located right outside the fabled Old Town Square, and your nearest metro station to get to it should be Staromestska on Line A. In case you plan to hop on a tram, look for lines 17 and 18. Exploring the neighbourhood on foot, while trying to picture Kafka’s world, is probably the wisest idea. This place brought to life one of the finest authors ever known to mankind! How could a visit possibly not be imperative?