Romana Nejdlová – Rabbinical Street with the Old New Synagogue and Jewish Town Hall Before the Sanitation of Prague's Ghetto

Rabbinical Street Before Sanitation – Jewish Prague

An oil painting on cardboard by Romana Nejdlová transports the viewer to the heart of Prague's Josefov at a time when the ghetto still breathed with its centuries-old life. Before us stretches Rabbinical Street with the Old New Synagogue and the Jewish Town Hall with its distinctive tower crowned with a clock – silent witnesses to history that have survived the ages. The warm ochre and golden coloring of the houses, red roofs, and transparent blue sky create the atmosphere of a quiet afternoon in the 19th century, when ordinary ghetto inhabitants walked through the streets.

The artist captures the scene with poetic detachment – small figures of pedestrians lend the composition vitality and human dimension, while the architecture tells the story of a place that was largely demolished at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries during the so-called sanitation. Thus, the painting is not merely a work of art, but also a precious reminder of a lost world. The oil painting measuring 20 × 28 cm (with frame 30 × 38.5 cm) is set in a massive dark wooden frame, which further emphasizes its historical character.