The Dohány Street Synagogue: A Forerunner of its Age
The Dohány Street Synagogue was number one in several respects. It was the first purpose-built synagogue to belong to the Pest Jewish community. It was the largest Jewish place of worship built before the 20th century. Today it is still the largest synagogue in Europe
On December 15, 1850, the leaders of the Pest Jewish Community decided to build a representative cult synagogue on the Dohány street plot. This was the first synagogue in Hungary built on land owned by the Jewish community. Several architects were invited to run for the tender. Finally, after a long wrangling, Ludwig Förster, the architect of the synagogue in Tempelgasse in Vienna, was commissioned with the design.
Colored litograph of the Dohány Street Synagogue (1857 (?)) by Karl SchumannHungarian Jewish Museum and Archives
The construction started in 1854 and lasted for 5 years with some hiccups in the process. The above lithograph was made at the Ludwig Förster architectural studio, by Karl Schumann, deputy of Förster, presumably around 1857. Following settlement disputes between the architect and the Jewish community, Förster terminated the cooperation on November 15, 1857.
The synagogue was to represent the first distinctive manifestation of the Jewish community in Pest, which was growing in strength. As more freedom in society was gained the construction of an ornate synagogue was possible for the first time, thus provoking a quest for a new distinct style of architecture. The first synagogue that had its own architectural concept, which attempted to define the ‘synagogue style’ was built in the oriental style ‘suitable to the Jews’.
The architect, Förster invented this new, Orientalizing style, which was influenced by excavations in Mesopotamia and by ancient Moslim architecture. One of the outstanding elements are the the two tall, imposing domed shafts added to the facade separated by a dense stone cornice with 'Oriental' crenellations.
'Moorish style' is visible on the decorations: the 'eight-pointed star' pattern and the horizontal bands of yellow and red bricks.
Objects used for placing the keystone of the Dohány street synagogue (1859)Hungarian Jewish Museum and Archives
The Dohány Street Synagogue was inaugurated on September 6, 1859. Placing the keystone inside the Torah ark, with a silver trowel made specifically for this occasion, was the symbolic act of finishing the building. The community preserved this trowel and the keys of the synagogue in a special box, and deposited it in the museum collection of Jewish collective memory.
The first Shavuot service in the new synagogue of Dohany Street (1860)Hungarian Jewish Museum and Archives
The symbolic building of the Hungarian Jewish community also became a symbol of the split between Orthodox and Neolog Judaism. The congregation of the synagogue wished for emancipation and cultural assimilation, as well as the modernization of ceremonies and Jewish life. They broke with many traditions.
The services were accompanied by organ music and a choir.
The rabbis in ornate vestments delivered their sermons in Hungarian in vernacular rather than in Yiddish.
The interior of the Dohány Street Synagogue 1. (Around 1870) by Gévay BélaHungarian Jewish Museum and Archives
The reform was visible in the interior. The entire eastern wall was covered with the impressive structure of the Torah Ark, designed by the second architect of the synagogue, Frigyes Feszl, master of Hungarian Romantic style.
The 'bima', the Torah reading table – from where the preacher delivered his sermon – was moved from the center and placed in front of the Torah Ark. Weddings were performed indoors, in this space rather than under the sky.
The interior of the Dohány Street Synagogue 2. (Around 1870) by Gévay BélaHungarian Jewish Museum and Archives
At the same time, they kept strictly separating men and women and continued to pray in Hebrew, although many translations of prayer books have been published. The parts of the prayers that referred to the Holy Land were abandoned, as the nation-state that granted emancipation was already considered their true home.
Since its inauguration, the synagogue has become a setting for social and political events in Jewish public life and the symbolic site of the Hungarian Jewish community.
Tap to explore
The Dohány Street Synagogue today
The location of the synagogue is also important in the memory of the Jewish community of Pest: Theodor Herzl was born in the house next to the synagogue and later the Hungarian Jewish Museum was built there.
Tap to explore
Central Synagogue, Manhattan
Between the 1860s and the 1880s there was a veritable avalanche of Oriental sytle synagogue building in Europe and in the United States as well. The Dohány Street Synagogue was the source of influence when building the Central Synagogue in Manhattan, New York, which is almost its exact copy.
Kinga Szemere, Zsuzsanna Toronyi
