Rumbach St Synagogue
Great Dohány St Synagogue
Dohany St Synagogue was damaged by aerial raids during the Nazi Occupation, especially during the Siege of Budapest. Thankfully during the Communist era the damaged structure could be used again as a synagogue for Jewish survivors.
The Rumbach St Synagogue was also special, this one being designed by famous architect Otto Wagner. Completed between 1869-72, the towering Moorish structure with 2 minaret-type towers enclosed a symmetrical facade. Once housing a vibrant congregation, the Rumbach St Synagogue is only 300 ms from Dohány St Synagogue. Rumbach Synagogue, named for the street on which it stands in Budapest’s historical old town of Pest, formerly the Jewish-majority 7th district. It predated the trendy cafes and bars that sprung up in recent years.
In 1941 the synagogue became a deportation point for 20,000 Jews, refugees who fled southward after the Nazi invasion of Poland, as well as Jews living in Hungary for decades without proper papers. The deportees were taken to Southern Poland and massacred in Kameniec-Podolsk by the SS. Later Hitler occupied Hungary and the Fascist Arrow Cross seized power in Mar 1944. The new government resumed the deportation of Hungarian citizens on trains to the extermination camps. Note that the Hungarian Nazis were feared in the extreme.
Eventually the building’s roof rotted through and birds moved into the sanctuary. In 1979 the roof totally collapsed and the colourfully painted wall panels were almost completely faded. There was a big fear that it would collapse, or that the government then would raze it to the ground.
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In June 2021 dozens of members of the Hungarian Jewish community danced around Budapest’s busy Karoly boulevard, accompanied by instruments playing joyful music. Their destination, Rumbach Synagogue, was located down a quiet side street not far from Great Dohany St shule. And though the jubilant procession marking the Rumbach’s rededication started in Dohany Synagogue’s garden, event organisers moved around 7th district.
Inside the richly renovated synagogue, congregants admired the ornate, hand-painted red, blue and gold panels adorning the sanctuary walls as boys carried the Torah scroll to the restored Ark. Nearly two storeys tall, it nevertheless reaches under halfway to the magnificent domed ceiling. Giant gold columns support Eastern-style arches lit by stained glass windows 10’ in diameter. In the centre of the synagogue hall, a golden circle hid a hydraulic-driven elevating cantor’s dias, mixing the old with the new. The sprawling compound behind the decadent patterned brick facade envelops either side of the enormous sanctuary.
The Rumbach’s grand reopening was the result of years of negotiations, patience, and an $11.2 million grant from the Hungarian state. The event was attended by Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony, Israeli Ambassador to Hungary Yakov Hadas-Handelsman, Hungarian Minister of Families Katalin Novak, and World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder, who met and thanked Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban afterwards.
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In 1941 the synagogue became a deportation point for 20,000 Jews, refugees who fled southward after the Nazi invasion of Poland, as well as Jews living in Hungary for decades without proper papers. The deportees were taken to Southern Poland and massacred in Kameniec-Podolsk by the SS. Later Hitler occupied Hungary and the Fascist Arrow Cross seized power in Mar 1944. The new government resumed the deportation of Hungarian citizens on trains to the extermination camps. Note that the Hungarian Nazis were feared in the extreme.
Eventually the building’s roof rotted through and birds moved into the sanctuary. In 1979 the roof totally collapsed and the colourfully painted wall panels were almost completely faded. There was a big fear that it would collapse, or that the government then would raze it to the ground.
Cantor Immanuel Zucker, reopening ceremony, June 2021.
No pews put in yet.
The abandoned synagogue sat decaying in the city’s heart for 60+ years. After changing hands often, the building was returned to the Jewish community by the Hungarian government in 2006. Since 2014, its renovation has proceeded irregularly as the community dealt with logistics, funding and finally the pandemic. Thankfully the 8-sided Moorish Revival synagogue has since been restored. The octagonal, balconied, domed synagogue intricately patterned and coloured a la Islamic structures is very beautiful.
In June 2021 dozens of members of the Hungarian Jewish community danced around Budapest’s busy Karoly boulevard, accompanied by instruments playing joyful music. Their destination, Rumbach Synagogue, was located down a quiet side street not far from Great Dohany St shule. And though the jubilant procession marking the Rumbach’s rededication started in Dohany Synagogue’s garden, event organisers moved around 7th district.
Inside the richly renovated synagogue, congregants admired the ornate, hand-painted red, blue and gold panels adorning the sanctuary walls as boys carried the Torah scroll to the restored Ark. Nearly two storeys tall, it nevertheless reaches under halfway to the magnificent domed ceiling. Giant gold columns support Eastern-style arches lit by stained glass windows 10’ in diameter. In the centre of the synagogue hall, a golden circle hid a hydraulic-driven elevating cantor’s dias, mixing the old with the new. The sprawling compound behind the decadent patterned brick facade envelops either side of the enormous sanctuary.
The Rumbach’s grand reopening was the result of years of negotiations, patience, and an $11.2 million grant from the Hungarian state. The event was attended by Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony, Israeli Ambassador to Hungary Yakov Hadas-Handelsman, Hungarian Minister of Families Katalin Novak, and World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder, who met and thanked Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban afterwards.
Interior of the dome
Government funding was conditional on the space being used by everyone as a non-denominational cultural centre during weekdays for the next five years. In addition to its religious function, the newly renovated Rumbach emerged as a multiple cultural centre welcoming all faiths living in the city, plus visitors to Budapest. The old rabbi and rabbinical assistant’s quarters are now a kosher café, paying respect to the city’s history of coffee culture.
The non-profit hub on the upper floor provide office space to c20 Jewish and non-Jewish organisations, charities, youth groups and the country’s only professional Jewish theatre company. They’ll also host music, theatre and art exhibitions, and is equipped with lighting, sound, a staging area and dressing rooms. A multi-media exhibition space on the third floor shows the history and current life of Hungarian Jewry, and uses the notable media family, the Pulitzers, as an example of Jewish integration and contribution to Hungarian society.
The non-profit hub on the upper floor provide office space to c20 Jewish and non-Jewish organisations, charities, youth groups and the country’s only professional Jewish theatre company. They’ll also host music, theatre and art exhibitions, and is equipped with lighting, sound, a staging area and dressing rooms. A multi-media exhibition space on the third floor shows the history and current life of Hungarian Jewry, and uses the notable media family, the Pulitzers, as an example of Jewish integration and contribution to Hungarian society.