Olšany Cemetery and Vinohrady Cemetery in Prague
If you're drawn to the special ambiance of cemeteries adorned with ancient graves, you simply must visit the Olšany Cemetery and Vinohrady Cemetery in Prague. There are a group of several cemeteries that are in close vicinity and create an oasis of peace and memories near the city centre, at the border of Vinohrady and Žižkov.
The first burials took place there at the end of the 17th century and today there are about two million people buried there. The seemingly endless rows of well-kept graves of various forms and sizes are interspersed with old and forgotten tombs covered with carpets of creeping plants. There are also a lot of interesting structures that you can admire – memorials, chapels, halls of farewell, and columbaria, or even a small Orthodox temple. The most prominent people who rest in peace there are Václav Havel (the Vinohrady Cemetery) or Jan Palach (at Olšany Cemetery).
New Jewish Cemetery in Prague
The New Jewish Cemetery in the east part of the area is the largest Jewish cemetery in the Czech Republic, both in terms of the area and the number of gravestones. It is also a place where a number of leading Czech personalities now rest: people important in politics, culture, science and industry. The graves of writers Franz Kafka and Arnošt Lustig are probably the most sought-after places in the New Jewish Cemetery.
The Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague
The Old Jewish Cemetery in the centre of Prague is a monument of global importance. It was founded in the first half of the 15th century and together with the Old New Synagogue it is one of the most important preserved monuments in Prague’s Jewish Quarter. There are about 40,000 people buried at the cemetery that was used for more than 300 years. It is assumed that there are several layers of graves there. The most important person buried at the Old Jewish Cemetery is Rabbi Jehuda Liwa ben Becalel, called Rabbi Löw, a religious scholar and teacher.
Vyšehrad Cemetery – the Cemetery of Czech Luminaries
Vyšehrad on the right bank of the Vltava River is one of the oldest inhabited places in Prague and there are many legends that tell of this area. Therefore, there is a cemetery where you will find the great Czech luminaires – writers, composers, actors, artists, as well as athletes and politicians. Such as composers Bedřich Smetana and Antonín Dvořák, writer Karel Čapek, the author of timeless plays including RUR, painter Mikoláš Aleš, whose paintings can be admired in the foyer of the National Theatre, or Božena Němcová, whose most famous book, Grandmother (Babička), has been translated into 31 languages.
Malostranský Cemetery in Prague
The cemetery, which is definitely worth mentioning, can be found in the Prague district of Smíchov. It was founded in the 17th century at the time of plague epidemics. The appeal of this cemetery lies in the high quality of the local statues, gravestones and sculptures. Many important personalities are buried there, such as the Czech Baroque architects, father and sons, the Dientzenhofers, or romantic artist Antonín Mánes.
The Střílky Baroque Cemetery
The unique baroque cemetery from the mid-18th century can be found in Střílky in Moravia, east of Brno. It is unique thanks to its uniform style of architecture. The baroque decorations include statues of angels, allegories of virtues, good deeds and sins. The experts consider the cemetery to be the jewel of baroque funeral art, which has no parallel near or far.
The Boskovice Jewish Cemetery
The Jewish Cemetery in the Moravian town of Boskovice, which is north of Brno, is one of the largest ones in the country. There are about 2,500 gravestones; the oldest one dates back to 1670. The most significant ones are the Mikulov-type baroque gravestones decorated with rustic-like ornamental elements. Since WWII, there is no longer a Jewish community living in Boskovice, but their cemetery is a place that is worth a visit.
Jewish Cemetery in Třebíč
The cemetery, once part of the Jewish ghetto in Třebíč in Vysočina, is freely open to the public and has a palpable history. Many generations of Třebíč Jews are buried here, and the styles of the beautiful tombstones range from Renaissance to more modern headstones from the 1930s. It is one of the largest and best-preserved Jewish cemeteries in Czechia and about 20 years ago, as part of the Jewish Quarter, together with the St. Procopius Basilica, was listed as a UNESCO Heritage Site. It lies on the northern slope of Hrádek hill, at the end of a winding wagon road leading from the Jewish Quarter. Definitely worth a visit, and not only in autumn!
Cemetery by the Church of the Virgin Mary in Broumov
You should definitely pay a visit to the cemetery by the oldest wooden church to have been preserved in the whole of Czechia, the Church of the Virgin Mary in Broumov in East Bohemia. It’s there that you can truly appreciate the respect our ancestors showed for their loved ones. Some of the tombstones date back 500 years and make for an unforgettable atmosphere around this wooden Gothic church. And on the way to the cemetery, we recommend calling in at the Benedictine Monastery to see its amazing library, as well as the refectory with its unique copy of the Shroud of Turin.
