GREAT SYNAGOGUE (NAGY ZSINAGÓGA)

The second largest synagogue in the world (after the one in New York) was built between 1854 and 1859 according to the plans of Ludwig Förster, a Viennese architect. His rival, Frigyes Feszl, was responsible for the interior decoration. The neologous Jews of Budapest - relatively reform-minded - commissioned the church. It accommodates more than 3,000 worshippers, the men on the first floor, the women upstairs, on three floors, testifying to the importance of the pre-war Jewish community (it represented then nearly 25% of the Budapest population). In Moorish style, its main architect was inspired by the Spanish Alhambra as well as North Africa: its two exterior bulbs almost look like minarets! A truly avant-garde detail for Orthodox Jews: it includes an organ where Ferenc Liszt and Camille Saint-Saëns performed on the day of its opening. Its interior architecture recalls certain elements of Catholicism, such as a plan inspired by a basilica and rich decoration. In the courtyard, the Temple of the Heroes - a modest white building with a dome behind the synagogue - which was erected by László Vágó in 1931, houses the community's winter worship services. Also in the courtyard, the leaves of the metal willow tree fashioned by Hungarian artist Imre Varga in 1991 recall some of the names of the 600,000 thousand Hungarian Jewish deportees who perished in the Shoah.