Jewish settlement plans in Bohemia from the first half of the 18th century

Abstract. Only few maps or plans from the first half of 18th century showing towns and villages in detail have survived up to present days. So the file of 98 plans and sketches of Jewish settlement in Bohemia is really unique treasure. This file has been scattered in several Czech and Moravian archives. Researchers of the National Archives and the Research Institute of Geodesy, Topography and Cartography managed to collect those maps, analyze, interpret and digitalized them. Maps itself are very different due to they were created by various authors with varying cartographic knowledge and experience. File represents a unique collection of plans that have been prepared in the course of one year (1727) as the result of the imperial translocation rescripts. Nowhere else similar set of plans depicting the Jewish population in the villages and cities has exist. The importance of file is also supported by the fact that plans of small villages and/or towns of marginal importance were captured, while plans of larger cities are missing.

The uniqueness of this file is underlined by the fact that file fulfils all criteria fixed by the Czech UNESCO Commission for inclusion in the Registry of Memory of the World. In the year 2019 the National Archives will issue monographs presenting whole set of plans and sketches of Jewish settlement named "Landscape and urban planning on the handwritten plans from 18th century.