{
  "id": "prague-golem-tradition",
  "title": "Prague’s Golem: tracing a legend through museum objects",
  "country": "Czech Republic",
  "category": "legende",
  "date": "1937-01-01",
  "date_label": "1937 museum-object anchor; 1 January is not a creation day or a date for a living golem",
  "location": "Prague — Jewish Museum reference",
  "lat": 50.09,
  "lng": 14.419,
  "summary": "The Golem of Prague has a documented artistic and literary life. Museum objects establish the history of the narrative, not the existence of an animated clay creature.",
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "G1",
      "title": "Jewish Museum in Prague — Golem collection object",
      "url": "https://collections.jewishmuseum.cz/index.php/Detail/Object/Show/object_id/204902",
      "language": "cs",
      "note": "Object catalogue; provenance evidence for a representation.",
      "kind": "Source record · see provenance note"
    },
    {
      "id": "G2",
      "title": "Jewish Museum in Prague — Golem publication",
      "url": "https://c.jewishmuseum.cz/files/Golem_PDF_tisk.pdf",
      "language": "cs",
      "note": "Museum publication including dated artistic representations.",
      "kind": "Source record · see provenance note"
    }
  ],
  "author": "Eklipsis",
  "content_languages": [
    "en"
  ],
  "path": "/investigations/prague-golem-tradition",
  "source_url": "https://collections.jewishmuseum.cz/index.php/Detail/Object/Show/object_id/204902",
  "location_source_url": "https://www.openstreetmap.org/?mlat=50.09&mlon=14.419#map=8/50.09/14.419",
  "location_precision": "region",
  "location_note": "Approximate orientation marker for the named place or institution; not a surveyed observation point, protected excavation coordinate or recommended access route.",
  "reviewed_on": "2026-09-30",
  "edition": 1,
  "truth_type": "unknown",
  "verdict": "This is a documented folklore case, explicitly presented as such. No biological or mechanical specimen is established by the cited collection. The worthwhile investigation concerns how the Golem’s roles and meanings change across dated retellings.",
  "sections": [
    {
      "title": "Documented account",
      "text": "The Jewish Museum in Prague preserves objects and publications relating to the Golem tradition. A museum publication identifies Bedřich Feigl’s 1937 drawing of the Golem as a water carrier. The collection provides material evidence for representation and reception: an artwork can be genuine while the creature it depicts belongs to a legend.",
      "refs": [
        "G1",
        "G2"
      ]
    },
    {
      "title": "Evidence and its limits",
      "text": "Do not assign the date of a drawing to a supposed sixteenth-century creation. The collection record authenticates an object and its attribution, not every event represented within it. Different literary versions should not be combined into one purported eyewitness testimony.",
      "refs": []
    },
    {
      "title": "Inspector’s assessment",
      "text": "This is a documented folklore case, explicitly presented as such. No biological or mechanical specimen is established by the cited collection. The worthwhile investigation concerns how the Golem’s roles and meanings change across dated retellings.",
      "refs": []
    },
    {
      "title": "A reproducible next investigation",
      "text": "Make a version register with author, language, publication date and narrative motif. Compare depictions of the Golem as protector, servant and uncontrolled creation. Keep museum-object metadata separate from the fictional time of the scene shown.",
      "refs": []
    }
  ],
  "timeline": [
    {
      "date": "Earlier literary tradition",
      "text": "The narrative circulates in versions requiring their own dating.",
      "refs": [
        "G1"
      ]
    },
    {
      "date": "1937",
      "text": "Feigl’s drawing provides a dated representation.",
      "refs": [
        "G1"
      ]
    },
    {
      "date": "Modern museum documentation",
      "text": "Collection and publication records preserve the narrative’s material history.",
      "refs": [
        "G1"
      ]
    },
    {
      "date": "30 September 2026",
      "text": "Eklipsis prepares this source-linked documentary synthesis. This is editorial review, not historical fieldwork.",
      "refs": []
    }
  ],
  "claims": [
    {
      "text": "The Golem of Prague has a documented artistic and literary life. Museum objects establish the history of the narrative, not the existence of an animated clay creature.",
      "status": "Documented subject; interpretations qualified in the dossier",
      "refs": [
        "G1"
      ]
    },
    {
      "text": "This is a documented folklore case, explicitly presented as such. No biological or mechanical specimen is established by the cited collection. The worthwhile investigation concerns how the Golem’s roles and meanings change across dated retellings.",
      "status": "Assessment with explicit limits",
      "refs": [
        "G1"
      ]
    },
    {
      "text": "The map point represents the exact location of every reported event.",
      "status": "Incorrect; orientation only",
      "refs": []
    }
  ],
  "hypotheses": [
    {
      "title": "Literary and artistic transmission",
      "status": "Documented explanatory framework",
      "support": "Dated representations establish a cultural tradition.",
      "limits": "They do not identify a single original telling.",
      "test": "Trace motifs through independently dated editions."
    },
    {
      "title": "A literal animated creature",
      "status": "Not established",
      "support": "The legend describes an animated figure.",
      "limits": "No authenticated specimen or contemporaneous physical test is supplied.",
      "test": "Require evidence independent of fictional depictions."
    }
  ],
  "tasks": [
    {
      "title": "Audit the source record",
      "body": "Retrieve the named records for Prague’s Golem: tracing a legend through museum objects. Record author, edition, page or section and access date. Treat a catalogue, mirror or translation of one document as the same evidence, not independent corroboration."
    },
    {
      "title": "Build the dated evidence ledger",
      "body": "Make a version register with author, language, publication date and narrative motif. Compare depictions of the Golem as protector, servant and uncontrolled creation. Keep museum-object metadata separate from the fictional time of the scene shown."
    },
    {
      "title": "Test the interpretation",
      "body": "Trace motifs through independently dated editions. Require evidence independent of fictional depictions. Record what would favour or weaken each explanation; leave unperformed work marked as proposed."
    }
  ]
}