There are 12,000 tombs, but probably close to 80,000 people are buried in the Jewish Cemetery (Starý zidovský hrbitov). The Jewish rite forbidding disinterment means that coffins have been buried on a dozen different levels. Both humble and illustrious Jews from the city's history are buried here, including Rabbi Loew (1512-1609), creator of the Golem that inspired Gustav Meyrink’s 1915 novel, and Mordechai Maisel (1528-1601), hero of the novel Night Under the Stone Bridge (1953) by Leo Perutz, financier for Rodolpho II.