Dohány Street Synagogue

Synagogue in Budapest, Hungary

Key facts

Affiliation: Neolog Judaism
Rite: Nusach Ashkenaz
Ecclesiastical or organisational status: Synagogue
Status: Active
Location: Dohány Street , Erzsébetváros (VIIth district), Budapest
Country: Hungary
Architects: Ludwig Förster (exterior) Frigyes Feszl (interior design)
Type: Synagogue architecture
Style: Moorish Revival Romantic Historicist
Groundbreaking: 1854 ( 1854 )
Direction of fa ade: South-west by south
Capacity: 2,964 seats

Article

The Dohány Street Synagogue ([ˈdoɦaːɲ] DOE-hawng; Hungarian: Dohány utcai zsinagóga; Hebrew: בית הכנסת הגדול של בודפשט, romanized: Bet ha-Knesset ha-Gadol shel Budapesht), also known as the Great Synagogue (Hungarian: Nagy zsinagóga) or Tabakgasse Synagogue (Yiddish: Tabak-Shul), is a Neolog Jewish congregation and synagogue, located on Dohány Street in Erzsébetváros (VIIth district) of Budapest, Hungary. It is the largest synagogue in Europe, seating 3,000 people, and is a centre of Neolog Judaism. The congregation worships in the Ashkenazi rite.

The synagogue was built between 1854 and 1859 in the Moorish Revival and Romantic Historicist styles, with the decoration based chiefly on Islamic models from North Africa and medieval Spain (the Alhambra). The synagogue's Viennese architect, Ludwig Förster, believed that no distinctively Jewish architecture could be identified, and thus chose "architectural forms that have been used by oriental ethnic groups that are related to the Israelite people, and in particular the Arabs". The interior design is partly by Frigyes Feszl.