Old Jewish cemetery in Hostouň

The Old Jewish Cemetery in Hostouň is a small, forest-hidden burial ground on the western edge of the village of Hostouň in the Kladno District of the Czech Republic. Quiet and largely unmarked, it preserves the memory of one of the older rural Jewish communities in Central Bohemia, tracing back to the 18th century.

Where did the Jewish community in Hostouň come from?

Jewish settlement in the Hostouň area most likely dates back to the first half of the 16th century. The local Jewish community was never confined to the village itself — it also served Jews from around two dozen surrounding villages, for whom Hostouň functioned as a shared religious and administrative center. This pattern was common among rural Jewish communities in Bohemia, where a single congregation often served scattered families across a wide area.

When was the cemetery established and used?

The cemetery was founded in the first half of the 18th century and remained in use until 1848, when a newer Jewish cemetery was established in Hostouň to take over as the community's primary burial site. The oldest surviving gravestone dates from 1786, which places the cemetery's documented active period roughly in the second half of the 18th century through the first half of the 19th.

What survives at the site today?

Around fifty gravestones remain, some still standing in their original positions, others toppled or damaged over the centuries. The stones are made of marble, granite, and sandstone — some flat and finely smoothed with simple inscriptions, others carved with relief decoration. Most inscriptions are in Hebrew, though German text also appears on a number of stones, reflecting the bilingual character of Jewish life in the region during the 18th and 19th centuries.

The cemetery sits on flat, wooded ground on a hillside near water, away from any marked tourist routes. There is no information sign, wall, fence, or gate — visitors can walk in directly from the public road, which gives the place a raw, largely forgotten atmosphere compared to more curated heritage sites.

Who maintains the cemetery?

The site is owned and maintained by the Jewish Community of Prague. In 1991, following decades of neglect during the postwar period, local Jewish groups carried out cleanup work — clearing overgrown vegetation and repairing sections of the boundary wall — helping preserve the cemetery in a state where many inscriptions remain legible today.

Frequently asked questions

Is the cemetery open to the public? Yes — there is no gate or perimeter wall, and the site can be entered directly from the public road. However, since there is no signage, it is worth confirming the exact location beforehand.

How many gravestones have survived? Roughly fifty tombstones remain on site, the oldest dated 1786.

Why is it called the "Old" cemetery? Because Hostouň also has a newer Jewish cemetery, established after this 18th-century site closed in 1848 — the "old" and "new" labels distinguish the two burial grounds.

Is it worth visiting with children? It is a quiet, reflective historical site rather than a tourist attraction, better suited to older children with an interest in history than as a typical family outing.