Dohány Street Synagogue

Jews were banned from the city in the 18th century so they established a Jewish quarter just outside the old city boundary. Remains of the old Pest city walls run on the opposite side of the road.

The Jews built their main synagogue in a residential area. Theodore Herzl, founder of modern Zionism was born in one of the buildings. This stunning temple was constructed between 1844-59 according to Ludwig Förster's plans. The second largest synagogue (the largest stands in New York) in the world can take in 3,000 people. Its Byzantine-Moorish style will fascinate you and remind you of monuments in the Middle-East. Two onion-shaped domes sit on the twin towers at 43 m height. The towers symbolize the two columns of Solomon's Temple.

The spacious interior has equally rich decorations. A single-span cast iron supports the 12-m wide nave. The seats on the ground-floor are for men, while the upper gallery has seats for women. Surprisingly the synagogue has an organ, though this instrument is used in Christian churches. The temple's acoustic make it a popular venue for concerts.

Budapest great synagogue has witnessed tragic events in WW II. The Germans established a ghetto for the Jews in 1944 that served as a gathering place for deportation. Many people found refugee in the Dohány utca synagogue but thousands died during the bleak winter of 1944/45. Their bodies are buried in the courtyard.

In the cobbled Raoul Wallenberg (Swedish diplomat who saved many Jews during WW II) park stands the Holocaust Memorial by Imre Varga. It was erected in 1989 above the mass graves in the honour and memory of Hungarian Jewish martyrs. On each leave of the metal weeping willow tree you can read a name of a martyr. You can also see a piece of brick from the original ghetto wall in the garden.
Behind the main building stands the Heroes' Temple that was built in 1929-31 to commmemorate the Jews who died in the First World War.

A restoration of the Budapest Great Synagogue was finished not long ago, funded partly by a foundation set up by Tony Curtis who has Hungarian roots.

The adjacent Jewish Museum (on the left of the synagogue) has a Holocaust memorial room and displays about the Jewish culture. The museum has the same opening hours than the synagogue.