Great Synagogue

The Dohany Synagogue is the largest in Europe and the second largest in the world.

It's more church-like than other synogogues, as the Hungarian Jews wanted to fit in. They even have an organ, which is unusual as playing instruments on Shabbat is typically considered work. They carefully placed it outside the church (technically) and then had a gentile play it.

Also unusually, there is a graveyard in the courtyard. These are the sites of mass graves from the Nazi occupation.

Theodor Herzl donated the land.

The Holocaust memorial is haunting, beautiful, and meaningful. It's a weeping willow with the names of the dead engraved on the leaves. Turn it upside down...and it's a menorah, symbolizing the world having been turned upside down. In the empty space of the centerpiece you see the tablets of the 10 commandments, to show that moral foundations were forgotten.

Our guide was informative and engaging, and had the driest sense of humor I've ever heard. His grandfather survived the occupation by hiding in the house of a Swedish diplomat on the Danube.Read more