Today's Jewish Quarter is a sad echo of its glory days in the 16th century, when those living here made up nearly a third of the capital. The 20th century was not so kind to Prague's Jews. But it still preserves some of the finest landmarks of a Jewish community that, at its peak, was the largest in Europe. From 1554 until 1612, Prague's Jewish Quarter was a thriving centre of Jewish mysticism, learning and art. The oldest synagogue in Europe is here, among six ancient synagogues, as is the Old Jewish Cemetery, the Quarter's Town Hall, and Kafka's birthplace. And so too, the legend says, are the remains the mystical defender of Prague's Jews, the Golem.The Jews have been in Prague for over 1,000 years, but as elsewhere in Europe, they suffered persecution and pogroms. They were a barely tolerated minority – penned into the narrow streets near the Vltava River – until the rule of Maximilian as Holy Roman Emperor in 1554. He appointed an influential Prague Jew, Mordecai Maisel, as his Minister of Finance and eased the restrictions on them.At this time, one of the most revered scholars of Judaism – Rabbi Loew, or the Maharal – lived in Prague. His writings and teachings still influence Jewish thought today. He is also the rabbi credited with making the magical Golem, from the Vltava's clay, in order to protect the city's Jews. Legend has it that the remains of the Golem are still here, in the Old New Synagogue. You probably won't be allowed into the attic to check, but you should definitely come and see this building anyway. It is that strangest of things – a Gothic synagogue – built in 1270, and one of the most elegant, as well as oldest, buildings in Prague.The Jewish Golden Age didn't last long – and by the time the Quarter was redeveloped, in the early 20th century, expulsions and pogroms had shrunk the community. When Hitler absorbed Czechoslovakia into his Reich, he took a perverse interest in Prague's Jewish Quarter. Even while the Holocaust was in its full throes, he gathered Jewish art and history, plundered from Czechoslovakia and Europe, here. It was to be a macabre museum to 'an extinct race'. He failed, and now the Jewish Museum is a proud recorder of the achievements of the city's Jewish Quarter.