29 tales of legends associated with several well-known sites of old Prague

For more than eight centuries, the Jews of Prague lived in the Prague ghetto. During that time, Jewish Prague had always been a place of much mystery to outsiders, even to the closest Christian neighbors. Uncover the secrets of this long forgotten world. Learn about how the famous Old-New Synagogue received its name; about the four words that saved the Prague Jews in the Middle Ages; about Rabbi Loew and his Golem who could be brought to life by inserting a magic card into his mouth; about the Candelabra of Jerusalem finding its way to Prague; about hard-working Maisel and his inheritance; about how the faith of Pinkas was tried; about learned Rabbi Rashi's grave; and about much more.

Written in the early 1890s, before Czech independence and in an age of patriotic upsurge and romanticism, these thirty-four tales quite naturally reflect a glorification of the Czech past. While the details of the legends are necessarily archaic, peopled by kings and noblemen, ghosts and magic, the themes are universal. Now at the dawn of a new era of Czech independence, they provide a fascinating new perspective to the contemporary situation.

Prague is at the core of everything both wonderful and terrible in Western history, but few people truly understand this city's unique culture. In Prague in Black and Gold, Peter Demetz strips away sentimentalities and distortions and shows how Czechs, Germans, Italians, and Jews have lived and worked together for over a thousand years.

Prague is the most haunted of places. It is a city where magic and mystery can be found at every turn. The thirty-nine supernatural legends in this book, all but one associated with notable tourist attractions, are more than fascinating stories set in Prague. They also capture the city's images and imagination better than any guidebook or history book. This is not a collection of folktales, but only of supernatural legends for which Prague is unsurpassed. The writing is original, and the setting of each tale is described in detail to allow even an armchair traveler a magical tour of this captivating city. The stories also serve as the framework for providing an overview of Czech history and culture as we celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the First Czechoslovak Republic.