Old Jewish cemetery (Remuh) in Kraków (40 Szeroka Street)
The old cemetery in Kraków is situated near the Remuh synagogue. A gate in a stone wall leads to the cemetery from the synagogue yard. The Remuh cemetery, one of the oldest cemeteries in Europe, was established in 1533. The first tombstones date from 1552. In Poland, the only older tombstones are in Wrocław and Lublin. In 1800, the Austrian authorities ordered to close down the cemetery because all old downtown cemeteries in Kraków were liquidated at that time for health reasons. Despite that fact, the dead were buried here occasionally until the mid-19th century. At the start of the 20th century, the Jewish kehilla started to renovate the abandoned and neglected cemetery. Unfortunately, the Jewish cemetery fell into utter ruin during World War II when it was transformed into garbage damp. Following the war, only over a dozen tombstones were left here including a matzeva of the rabbi Moshe Isserles, what the pious Jews considered as another evidence of the miraculous power of the rabbi and told stories about foiled attempts to devastate the tombstone.
There are two types of tombstones in the Remuh cemetery: trumpet-like (a four-side, trapezoidal shape, or resembling a lying roller) and in the form of freestanding slabs – matzevot. Among the renaissance and baroque tombstones, decorated with a rich symbolism dating back to the ancient times, the most important is the complex of tombstones, surrounded by an iron balustrade, which belongs to Moshe Isserles’s family. Pious Jews make pilgrimages to their graves from around the world. There are the tombstones of Miriam Bella (rabbi Mojżesz Isserles’s sister, died in 1617), of Israel ben Josef (founder of the Remuh synagogue, rabbi Moshe Isserles’s father, died in 1568) and, finally, the grave stele of the very Moshe (Moses) Isserles, known as Remuh (1525-1572). A decoration in the form of luxuriant tangles of vine and the symbol of the Crown of Science are placed on the upright tombstone of the rabbi. The tombstone of rabbi Remuh dates from the late 18th century; a tombstone from the 16th century, placed on the back of the front tombstone, has been preserved. A fragment of the inscription reads: “Great erudite, light of the West, the greatest geonim of the generation, our teacher, rabbi Moshe (Moses) , Shepherd and Rock of Israel. On 33 Omer, the honor was taken away from Israel. Moses was a shepherd of the flock of Israel, administering justice of God and His judgments over Israel, spreading knowledge among Israel. From Moses to Moses, no one could equal Moses among Israel”.
Moreover, the following people are among those who rest in the necropolis: Izaak Jakubowicz (founder of the Izaak Synagogue, died in 1653), Natan Spira (a noted cabalist, 1583-1633), Mordechaj Saba (a cabalist versed in Hebrew grammar, successor of Isserles at the position of a rector in the Kraków rabbinical academy, died in 1576), Joel Sirke, known as BaCH (an outstanding Talmudist, 1561-1640), Samuel bar Meszulam (a doctor of the Polish kings Zugmunt Stary and Zygmunt August, came to Kraków from Italy with the court of Bona Sforza, died in 1552).
In 1959, renovation works were conducted in the synagogue and archeological excavations were carried out in the Remuh cemetery. Hundreds of tombstones and their fragments were found under a layer of soil and debris. As a result, a few hundred tombstones – steles and sarcophagi – were again put upright, whereas the fragments of gravestones were built in the interior part of the wall, thus creating the so-called “Wailing Wall”. Thanks to these works, unique monuments of the Jewish sepulchral art were recovered. Many of them, although incomplete and in poor condition, have a great historical and artistic value.
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