Remuh Cemetery
Kraków Cemeteries
Founded in 1535, Remuh Cemetery (Stare Miasto district) is the oldest Jewish cemetery in Kraków and one of the oldest in Europe. The entrance is next to the Remuh Synagogue. The first gravestones were set up here in 1552. The cemetery was closed in 1800 for health reasons, though burials continued until the mid-19th century. In the Second World War it was turned into a dump and only a dozen or so gravestones survived, including that of Rabbi Moses Isserles. Fragments of gravestones found in 1959 were built into the cemetery wall, forming the so-called Wailing Wall. Please keep quiet and recollected.
History
The Remuh Cemetery, founded in 1535, is the oldest Jewish cemetery in Kraków and one of the oldest in Europe. The entrance is next to the Remuh Synagogue, at 40 Szeroka Street, and the site covers about 0.75 ha. The first matzevot (gravestones) were set up here in 1552; older gravestones in Poland are known only in Wrocław and Lublin. The Austrian authorities closed the cemetery in 1800 for health reasons, but burials continued until the mid-19th century. During the Second World War it was turned into a rubbish dump, and only 10-20 matzevot survived; one of them is the gravestone of Rabbi Moses Isserles. During excavations in 1959 several hundred matzevot were found, and fragments of them were built into a wall, creating the so-called Wailing Wall. Those buried here include Moses Isserles, who died in 1572, the Kabbalist Nathan Spira, Rabbi Joel Sirkes and Samuel bar Meshullam, court physician to Sigismund the Old and Sigismund Augustus.
Did you know?
The square in front of the synagogue, on the Szeroka Street side, is thought to be the oldest part of the cemetery. It is surrounded by a low metal fence in the shape of menorahs, and on it stands a boulder with a plaque commemorating the 65,000 Jewish residents of Kraków and the surrounding area murdered by the Germans.