Dohány Street Synagogue

The Dohány Street Synagogue located in the old Jewish Ghetto, is the largest in Europe and a Neolog (an early Reform movement from 1825) Congregation seating 3,000 people and the largest place of worship constructed before he 20th Century was built from 1854-1859 in the Moorish Revival & Neo-Romantic styles, with the decoration based chiefly on Islamic models from North Africa and Spain.

The complex consists of the Great Synagogue, the Heroes' Temple, a graveyard, a memorial, and a Jewish Museum (built on the site where Theodor Herzl’s house).Our Synagogue in NYC (Central) was inspired by this original design, albeit Central is more detailed and beautiful, but we may be biased (https://centralsynagogue.org/about-us/our-histo…).

During the war it was bombed by the Hungarian pro-Nazi Arrow Cross Party in 1939 and used as a base for German Radio and as a stable during WWII. During the communist era it was again a Synagogue but the population was much smaller and restored between 1991-1998. This synagogue is very different from other synagogues in Budapest as it is the only one to a have 5,000 pipe organ and a cemetery.

Our guide provided some background and perspective on the Orthodox and Reform Communities today and their challenges for Rabbinical support. There is still a very strong Orthodox community but sadly not a Reform one to support the Dohany (which is why it is mostly a beautiful museum and representation of past times that has to charge admission in order to support itself).Leggi altro