Exit Gate Old Jewish Cemetery, Prague, Czech Republic Stock Photography

Pictured is a wrought iron Exit Gate from the Old Jewish Cemetery, Prague, Czech Republic. The right side abuts the Klausen Synagogue, nowadays the largest synagogue in the former Prague Jewish ghetto. The Old Jewish Cemetery is a Jewish cemetery is one of the largest of its kind in Europe and one of the most important Jewish historical monuments in Prague. There are upwards of 12,000 headstones in the cemetery, though it is speculated that as many as 100,000 individuals are buried beneath them, stacked 12 deep in some places. Jewish custom forbid the removal of old graves, so the dead were simply piled on top of one another for centuries. New dirt was even trucked in to create more earth for burials.