After reconstruction, the Spanish Synagogue will be opened to the public today

Prague - Today, after reconstruction, the Spanish Synagogue in Prague will open to the public. As the youngest synagogue of Prague's Jewish Town, it was built in 1868 on the site of the oldest prayer house of the ghetto from the 12th century. It got its name due to the interior decoration in the Moorish style, inspired by the famous Spanish Alhambra. People can come to view the synagogue today and on Thursday, because on Friday, cultural heritage sites in the Czech Republic will again close due to government regulations related to coronavirus measures.

The repairs, costing several tens of millions of crowns, expanded the exhibition space and allowed barrier-free access to the three floors of the synagogue. The new exhibition maps the last 200 years of Jewish history in the Czech lands and concerts will continue to be held in the synagogue.

The past two centuries, full of historical upheavals that the Czech and Moravian Jewish community has undergone, will be presented through a long-term exhibition featuring Judaica and other three-dimensional exhibits, documents, films, and photographs.

The Spanish Synagogue is located at the corner of Dušní and Vězeňská streets, adjacent to the Church of the Holy Spirit. The owner of the synagogue is the Jewish Community in Prague, which rents it to the Jewish Museum in Prague. On the site of the current synagogue, there was probably the oldest Prague synagogue from the 12th century, known as the Old School (Altschul).

As it became insufficient in capacity for the needs of the reform Jewish community that used it in the second half of the 19th century, the Society for the Reformed Worship of Israelites in Prague had the Spanish Synagogue built in 1867 and 1868 on the site of the demolished Old School. In 1935, a functionalist building was added to the synagogue, which served as a hospital after World War II.

During World War II, the synagogue served as a storage facility for confiscated synagogue items from Czech Jewish communities. The State Jewish Museum took it under its care in 1955, and in 1960 an exhibition of synagogue textiles was opened there. From the 1970s, the synagogue was neglected and closed in 1982. Reconstruction could only begin after 1989, and in the 1990s, the Spanish Synagogue was restored.