Jewish cemetery in Kosova Hora

The Jewish cemetery in Kosova Hora is one of the best-preserved sites of its kind in central Bohemia, situated in the southern part of the Kosova Hora municipality in the Příbram district, right beside the I/18 road to Sedlčany. The site is protected as a cultural monument of the Czech Republic.

When was the cemetery founded?

Tradition dates the founding of the cemetery to around 1580, making it one of the older Jewish burial grounds in the region. As the Jewish population of the town grew, the grounds were expanded several times, with the last enlargement taking place in 1907. Burials continued here until World War II.

How large is the site and how many gravestones remain?

The cemetery covers an area of 3,468 square meters and contains roughly 500 preserved gravestones. The oldest date from the Baroque period, followed by Classical-style monuments, and the most recent examples are modern in form — together offering a cross-section of several centuries of Jewish funerary art. Among the graves is also a tumba-type tomb, a form less commonly found in Jewish cemeteries in the wider region.

What else survives on the grounds?

Besides the gravestones, the site retains an entrance gate, a Classical-style ceremonial hall used before burials, and the gravedigger's house. These structures once formed part of the infrastructure maintained by the Jewish religious community of Kosova Hora.

What was the history of the Jewish community in Kosova Hora?

Jewish presence in the town — also known by its German name, Amschelberg — dates back to the 18th century, when 37 Jewish families lived in 23 houses there. The community continued to grow over the following decades, reaching about 400 people by the mid-19th century, more than a third of the town's entire population. This marked the peak of the local Jewish community, which was tied to a synagogue built in 1741 on the site of an earlier wooden synagogue that had burned down.

From that point, the number of Jewish residents steadily declined. By the late 19th century only a few dozen remained, and in 1894 the local Jewish religious community was formally merged with the community in nearby Sedlčany, about three kilometers away. The cemetery, however, remained in active use for burials right up until the outbreak of World War II, even though the independent religious community in Kosova Hora had ceased to exist decades earlier.

Where exactly is Dohnalova Lhota?

Dohnalova Lhota is one of eight constituent parts of the Kosova Hora municipality, with a population of 64 according to the 2021 census. While administratively associated with the whole of Kosova Hora, the Jewish cemetery itself lies in the municipality's southern section along the road to Sedlčany — an accessible stop for travelers passing through this part of central Bohemia who want to connect the area's Jewish history with the surrounding Sedlčansko landscape.

Frequently asked questions

Can the cemetery be visited? As a protected cultural monument, the cemetery is visible from outside and forms part of the trail of Jewish heritage sites in the Sedlčansko region; visitors should check current access arrangements typical of smaller Jewish cemeteries in the Czech Republic before planning a visit.

Has the synagogue in Kosova Hora survived? Yes, the 1741 synagogue building is part of the town's Jewish heritage complex, alongside the cemetery itself.

Why did the Jewish community in Kosova Hora stop existing as an independent body? As the number of Jewish residents fell sharply toward the end of the 19th century, the local religious community was merged in 1894 with the larger community in Sedlčany.