Jewish cemetery in Rychnov nad Kněžnou

The Jewish cemetery in Rychnov nad Kněžnou ranks among the oldest and best-preserved Jewish burial grounds in the Podorlicko region of the Czech Republic. It sits on a slope in the northwestern part of town, along U židovského hřbitova street, roughly 600 meters west of the local chateau.

When was the cemetery established?

Sources give two possible founding dates, 1588 or 1616, a discrepancy that stems from gaps in surviving documentation from that era. Regardless of the exact year, the cemetery ranks among the oldest Jewish necropolises in Bohemia. The local Jewish community, first documented in 1604, used the site continuously until its congregation was destroyed during the Second World War.

How large is the cemetery and how many gravestones survive?

The grounds were expanded several times over the centuries, reaching their current size of 3,163 square meters. Around 400 to 500 gravestones have survived, the oldest dating to the late 17th century and the most recent from 1942. Among them are numerous valuable Baroque stelae of considerable artistic and historical worth.

Who is buried here?

The cemetery holds the graves of rabbis and founders of the local textile industry, which for decades served as the economic backbone of the town. Also buried here is the father of writer Karel Poláček, one of the best-known Czech-language authors of Jewish origin. The local Jewish population peaked in the mid-19th century at around 400 people before declining as Jews moved to larger towns — by 1930 the community numbered only 71.

What does the 1984 memorial plaque commemorate?

A memorial plaque installed in 1984 bears the names of Holocaust victims from Rychnov. The last known burial following Conservative Jewish tradition likely took place in 1938, shortly before the war that would destroy the town's Jewish community altogether.

How did the cemetery survive the postwar decades?

The site suffered serious devastation during and after the war, with neglect and acts of vandalism leaving their mark on many gravestones. That changed in the 2000s, when the cemetery underwent a thorough restoration, including the construction of a new surrounding wall. Today it is protected as a cultural heritage monument of the Czech Republic.

Frequently asked questions

Can visitors tour the cemetery? Yes, as a protected cultural monument it is open to visitors and forms an important stop on the Jewish heritage trail of the Podorlicko region.

What else is worth seeing nearby? Rychnov nad Kněžnou also preserves its historic synagogue, which together with the cemetery forms a complete complex of monuments to the town's former Jewish community.

What makes this cemetery stand out? Its large number of surviving Baroque gravestones and an unbroken history of use spanning more than 300 years make it one of the most significant Jewish cemeteries in the Hradec Králové region.