Židovská zahrada, Archaeological site and former Jewish cemetery in New Town, Prague, Czech Republic

Židovská zahrada is the site of Prague's first documented Jewish cemetery, in Nové Město between Spálená, Purkyňova, Jungmannova and Lazarská streets. Nothing of the burial ground stands above ground: the area is built over and paved, cut lengthwise by Vladislavova street, and marked only by a memorial shaped like medieval macevot at the corner of Vladislavova and Purkyňova.

The cemetery was probably laid out in the early 13th century outside the Old Town walls, and a 1255 privilege of King Ottokar II Přemysl threatened death to anyone who devastated it. King Wenceslaus IV confirmed its use in perpetuity in 1410, but in 1478 King Vladislaus II closed it in favour of the Old Town cemetery and the street Vladislavova was laid over it.

The site lies beneath Vladislavova Street and surrounding buildings, named in Hebrew as Gan jehudi and in Latin as Hortus Judaeorum. A memorial shaped like medieval Jewish macevot, unveiled in late September 2016 at the corner of Vladislavova and Purkyňova, recounts the place in Czech, English and Hebrew and notes that the scholar Rashi is said to be buried here.

The site lies in Prague's New Town, bounded by Spálená, Purkyňova, Jungmannova and Lazarská streets, with Vladislavova street cutting across it. Nothing of the cemetery stands above ground: the area is built over and paved, so look for the memorial shaped like medieval macevot at the corner of Vladislavova and Purkyňova. The graves left in place lie beneath a concrete sarcophagus.

A memorial shaped like medieval Jewish macevot was unveiled in late September 2016 at the corner of Vladislavova and Purkyňova streets, with text in Czech, English and Hebrew. It states that, according to testimony recorded in the book Seder ha-dorot, the scholar Rashi is also buried here.