The little Synagogue in Budapest

This emblematic building in Budapest was our last destination in this marvellous city, we went a little while before going to the airport and after spending the morning in the thermal baths.

Out of everything that we had seen in Budapest, it was the most disappointing. In fact, it should have been the first thing that we visited in the city so we didn't leave with a bad taste in our mouths. I would say it's a totally dispensable visit.

The building, on the outside, is a complete contrast to the other buildings that surround it, but it's not striking. The façade of the building contrasts with the different coloured bricks and the two towers that look like minarets from a Mosque, copying the style of the Synagogue's sister - the Great Synagogue of Budapest. It's taken inspiration from Islam and it's foundation is in an octagonal shape. The entrance fee is 3HUF, we had barely any time but we somehow had to spend the money that we had left, so we paid. It was fairly cheap but for what we had seen, it should have been free.

It's located on a narrow street in the Jewish district, on Rumbach Sebestyén street. At the end of the 19th century, the Jewish population in Hungary were concentrated in the urban centres, and the population had continued to rise, in such a way in Budapest that they built numerous synagogues. This one was built in a Romantic-Moorish style between 1869-1872. The architect was the Viennese Otto Wagner (one of the secessionist Viennese figures of architecture). It remained closed during the Second World War and reopened its doors in 2006.

We went in and we found it empty and under reconstruction works, the only thing that you could actually go and see was the first chapel that was located just as you pass through the entrance. They were showing a kind of exhibition of the reconstruction of the Synagogue after the destruction of the first Synagogue which had been destroyed by the Germans and images of the Jewish neighbourhood in Budapest. A mini exhibition with barely 20 photos hanging from pegs in a square and under each photo there was a green plastic chair which you would find outside a café which didn't make any sense at all.

Two altars had been erected in the chapel, they were white with the star of David, we took a photo on one of them so we could at least take home a small memory of the 3HUF that we had spent for nothing... It was completely dirty, there was no one else visiting it, nor anyone working there apart from the guy sitting in the ticket booth who was quite dry and unfriendly, I must say.

Hebrew inscriptions were written all over the interior but we didn't know how to decipher them. Windows and circular and rectangular stained glass windows had invaded the Synagogue. The wall, which had been recovered with bits of red and blue wall paper gave a sensation of neglect, and the dome, which was a considerable height, was risen thanks to the golden columns that formed circular arches all over the interior.

In every corner there were pieces of wall which I suppose used to make up part of what had been the old Synagogue. We didn't see any other doors leading to any other chapels or rooms so we supposed that was it.

I think that whilst it's under reconstruction, they should close it to the public until it's in a condition that's worth seeing and isn't a rip off to people, which is what I think they did to us.

Here was the problem... me and my friends were convinced that this we were visiting the Great Synagogue of Budapest, the one that appears in all the tourist guides and is the biggest in Europe and the second biggest in the world... Of course, when we came across such a building, we said to ourselves "we can't believe that this is the biggest in Europe when the church in my town is bigger! "

But, to my surprise... when we returned to Brussels, I set myself to work over this Synagogue and the photos that I found on Google images didn't have anything that we had seen. In fact, my first thought was that we had got confused and ended up visiting something else, and it turned out that we had visited the Synagogue on Rumbach Street which was the "small Synagogue". All the reviews said the same thing about its interior being deteriorated despite its nice façade.

What a mistake to make... we got confused between the two Synagogues. However, it didn't bother me too much because I'd like to go back to Budapest in Summer to see the other half of the city since we got caught at a bad time even though we saw it when it was all pretty in the snow. I will go back to visit everything that I didn't get to see on my first trip and in a more calm way since a day and a half doesn't give you the opportunity to take advantage of the city.