Synagogue in Libeň (Libeňská synagoga)

A Jewish district was established in Libeň as early as in the 16th century. It greatly extended in the 1st half of the 18th century, when the Jews expelled from inside of Prague by Maria Theresa moved here. The ghetto with numerous Jewish populations even had their own cemetery near the Libeň Bridge, and its self-government building. Originally, a small synagogue from 1592 was used for the religious services. But it was threatened by frequent floods and demolished. The Jewish community purchased a building plot and laid a foundation stone to the new synagogue in 1846. The synagogue was completed and festively opened in 1858. It is a three-aisled building with a rectangular ground plan built in new-Romantic style. Peaceful development of the Jewish Libeň continued until the Nazi occupation, when it was closed and abolished in 1941, just like all other synagogues in our country. The Nazis stored here the confiscated Jewish property. During the communist regime, the old Jewish cemetery was destroyed, and so was the building of the rabbinate; only the synagogue was still used as a warehouse, only this time for the former S. K. Neumann Theatre (today the Pod Palmovkou Theatre). It was not returned to the Jewish religious community before the early 90s. After a reconstruction, it is now used for cultural events in the area of graphic arts, theatre and music.