History
The Jewish Town Hall was built in the late 16th century thanks to Mordecai Maisel, the wealthiest man in the Prague ghetto and trusted financier of Emperor Rudolf II. The building was designed and constructed by the Italian architect Pankratius Roder, who at the same time designed the neighbouring High Synagogue. Both buildings were conceived as a single interconnected complex: the synagogue served as the prayer hall for the town councillors, who originally entered it directly from the first floor of the Town Hall. Together with the meat market and the Old New Synagogue, the Town Hall formed the natural administrative and spiritual centre of the ghetto.
In 1567 a devastating fire swept through the ghetto and the Town Hall was apparently damaged. In 1577 the Jewish community purchased the neighbouring house and incorporated it into the rebuilt town building. The great fire of 1689, which struck the whole city, also caused damage to both buildings; they were subsequently repaired by the architect Pavel Ignác Bayer. Even the decree of Empress Maria Theresa of 1744, which expelled the Jews from Prague, did not spare the building: as the ghetto's inhabitants departed, they took with them everything they could carry, including windows and doors, and the building fell into ruin. After the Jews returned between 1748 and 1749, another fire broke out in 1754. From the subsequent extensive reconstruction of 1763 to 1765 emerged the Town Hall in its present Rococo form, as captured in the celebrated Langweil Model of Prague.
Architecture
The present appearance of the Town Hall is the result of a reconstruction carried out to designs by Josef Schlesinger between 1763 and 1765. The two-storey building with a mansard roof stands on the corner of Maiselova Street. The main façade has two bays with paired pilasters and a dormer, upon which sit the famous clock with Hebrew numerals. Since Hebrew is read from right to left, the hands of this clock move in the opposite direction to an ordinary clock — that is, anticlockwise. The Town Hall tower is crowned by a gallery with an elaborate Rococo railing and a dome with a lantern, at whose apex gleams the Star of David. In 1908, architect Matěj Blecha extended the building with a southern Neo-Baroque addition, which remains adjoined to the historic part to this day.
During the Second World War, the Nazis established a Council of Jewish Elders in the Town Hall, charged with registering and administering the deportation of Jews from Bohemia and Moravia. Today the building serves as the headquarters of the Jewish Community of Prague.
Practical Information
The Jewish Town Hall is not open to the general public. It serves as the headquarters of the Jewish Community of Prague, and group visits are exceptionally possible only for licensed guides, and only by prior arrangement with the Jewish Community. The building is located at Maiselova 18, Prague 1. It can be viewed from the outside on a walk through Josefov; the tower with the Hebrew clock is clearly visible from Maiselova Street.