Budapest Synagogue

The Dohany street Synagogue is the largest in Europe and the second largest (after New York) in the world. It was finished in 1859. It was built in neo-Moorish style with additional elements of the Byzantine, Romantic and Gothic styles. It even has an organ (inspired by Mendelssohn who was Jewish) which is most unusual in a Synagogue. It can hold 3000 people including the upper tiers where the women sit. In the garden is a striking “heart-wrenching” Holocaust Memorial designed by Imre Varga and erected in 1959. In the basement is a small museum with much detail of how the Jews were treated during WWII. About 600,000 Budapest Jews were sent to death camps like Aushwitz by the Hungarian Nazi party and later the Germans.