High Synagogue, Prague

The High Synagogue is easy to spot by its more restrained Renaissance-style appearance. The modest exterior can be misleading, though, as the most important space was deliberately placed upstairs: the elevated prayer hall that gave the synagogue its name.

The High Synagogue was funded by Mordechai Maisel, one of the wealthiest and most influential Jewish figures in 16th-century Prague, and was completed in 1568. It originally served not only as a house of worship but also as a meeting place for the Jewish council and the seat of the Rabbinic Court.

As you stand outside, first notice the synagogue’s relationship to the Jewish Town Hall next door. The two buildings once formed an important civic and religious center for Prague’s Jewish community. The Town Hall is the more immediately recognizable landmark, especially because of its famous clocks, including the Hebrew clock whose hands move counterclockwise. The High Synagogue, by contrast, is quieter and more reserved.

If you can enter the building, head upward to the main prayer hall. This is the key feature of the synagogue and the reason for the word “High” in its name. Once inside, look up: the ribbed vaulted ceiling is one of the most important surviving original elements. Its eight-pointed star motif is especially striking and offers a glimpse of the building’s Renaissance character, even though the synagogue was later damaged and restored after the Great Fire of 1689.

Also worth noticing inside are the Torah scrolls and richly embroidered mantles, which can be seen by those attending services or granted access. These ritual objects represent the continuity of Jewish worship in a space that has survived fire, political upheaval, Nazi occupation, and Communist rule.

During much of the 20th century, the High Synagogue was no longer used primarily for worship. Under the Jewish Museum, it functioned as an exhibition space displaying Torah textiles, ceremonial silverwork, and rare Hebrew manuscripts. After the Velvet Revolution, a bookshop specializing in Holocaust literature and Jewish studies opened on the premises. Since 1997, however, the synagogue has once again been consecrated for religious use.

Although the High Synagogue is not generally open to casual visitors, its location, history, and surviving interior features make it an important stop for understanding how religious, legal, and communal life once overlapped in Jewish Prague.