Grand Synagogue, Budapest

If there is one building in Budapest which represents the Jewish Community it is, without a doubt, the Grand Synagogue.  This is the largest synagogue in Europe and there is only one other in the world which is its equal in size, and that is located in New York. The Grand Synagogue seats 3,000 and has standing room for a similar number again.  The building itself is 70 meters long (230 feet) and 27 metres wide (86 feet). 

Permission to build the synagogue was issued in 1852.  Prominent architects were sought to design the building and the commission was granted to Ludwig Forster. The building itself is a mixture of Moorish and Byzantine, with Gothic elements.  The two towers with their dome shapes, echo features of the Baroque and Romanesque, although the external décor is predominately Moorish. 

During World War II, the German army used the Grand Synagogue as a detention camp.  It was restored between 1989 and 1996, but it did not forget its past.  In the middle of the yard, is a sculpture by Imre Varga, of a large metallic weeping willow.  Its delicate, thin, metallic leaves, bear the names of some of the many thousands of Hungarian Jews who died during the horrors of World War II.