Lack of space

With growing amount of inhabitants, shortage of new places to settle down became a reality in the Jewish Town. Borders of the ghetto could not be widened. It meant more people were struggled to live in the same area (as for the dimensions), which had hardly ever offered sufficiency of living space for their ancestors. Old houses in the Jewish Town were equipped with various extensions and annexes; every single space was used for construction of new houses. However, this did not solve the main problem – the place decreased whereas number of inhabitants there was increasing. This situation also caused some hygiene related problems which culminated in a decision to demolish in the 19th century some old houses and buildings to prevent a spread of various infections that might arose in those polluted areas.

The situation in the Jewish town did not changed even after an intervention of the emperor Josef II who equalized Jews with the rest of citizens. In the 19th century they were enabled to move, but instead of positive effects of this change the situation even worsened. The poorest Jews had to stay because they did not have enough money to move to better place. So this part of the city was declining again. In the year 1850, the Jewish Town became Josefov (according to the name of the emperor) and in the year 1855 the city council decided to demolish Josefov and the lower part of the Old Town to free a place for construction of new and modern buildings.