Alte
rnate names: Hořice [Cz], Horschitz [Ger], Hořitz, Hořice v Podkrkonoší. 50°22' N, 15°38' E, 55 miles ENE of Praha (Prague). 1900 Jewish population: 201. Town is ocated about 25 km SE of Jicin and 25 km NW of the regional capital of Hradec Kralove. The city is famous for the the oldest stone sculpture school in Europe; The former synagogue is now used as a church of the Czechoslovak Hussite Church).
Jewish cemetery: hearse is in Heřmanův Městec Jewish cemetery.
website in Czech with photo: NEW CEMETERY: "The new cemetery is located 1 km SE of the square to svatogothardském hill in the immediate neighbor of the City Cemetery. Founded in 1897 and used until the beginning of WWWII, at present all that remains is the enclosing wall, a ceremonial hall built in 1900, serving the needs of the town cemetery and a gravestone without an epitaph. In the late 1960s, tombstones were all taken away and used for other purposes, the last belonging to Julia Kantor, deceased in 1923, disappeared after 1997. Part of the area at the main entrance in 1945 was used as a cemetery of Soviet soldiers. The underground part of the cemetery with the graves are maintained, but no tombstone is preserved. This area is continuously maintained by the town cemetery workers without financial reward." [Sep 2011]
website in Czech with photo: OLD CEMETERY: "The old cemetery located 300 meters N of the square between Škréta and Chekhov streets was founded in the second half of the 17th century (perhaps 1678) and extended several times, most recently in 1878, when it reached 3683 m2. On its surface are around 1000 visible gravestones from 1679 to the 19th century (the last burial took place in 1902), including a number of valuable Baroque richly decorated tombs. Reportedly buried here are soldiers from the Napoleonic wars. 1776 mortuary was converted into a garage. Cemetery House No. 359, originally with significant portal with an inscription cartouche, was adapted for residential use. Most of the cemetery from the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries was impenetrable with overgrown vegetation and shrubs. The vegetation was removed from 2001 - 2004. Currently ongoing maintenance cemetery is necessary to continue because in the younger part of the cemetery are dozens of fallen gravestones from the 19th century. Righting the stones was to be completed in 2009. The next stage will be necessary for restoration of historic tombstones in particular, from the 18th century, whose epitaphs are damaged, or worse, extincti. These will require an additional cost of several hundred thousand crowns." [Sep 2011]