Szegő Dóra - Szegő György: Synagogues - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2004)
The Great Synagogue in Dohány utca
a technology already used in several European countries. The cast-iron structure was emblematic of the emergent capitalism of the period. The committee evaluating the plans had a debate about this issue, too. The Hungarian members were distrustful of the load-bearing capacity that this too-obscure material might have. To allay suspicions in Pest, Förster invited experts from Vienna, who declared his design safe. Förster shared the opinion of those who believed that the Oriental style of the Sanctuary and the Middle Eastern temples of later times would be suitable for the synagogue. As a radical exponent of the trend he went so far as proclaiming in one of his writings that "an Israelite church should strive, at least in its major characteristics, to conform with the hallowed ideal of all temples and churches, the Temple of Solomon.’’ He highlighted the facade made of different stones, the use of burnt bricks, the snaking, braid-like ornamentation and the raised semi-circular arcades as patterns derived from the then-known reconstructions of Solomon's Temple. He wanted the structural units to bear witness to the influence exerted by Solomon’s Sanctuary—the accentuated elements of the facade, the two onion-dome-topped towers allude to the two bronze pillars of the Jerusalem Temple, Jachin and Boaz. Förster made the proportions of the interior also conform to the Biblical description of the Sanctuary. Although the two towers rising far above the three- and four-storey buildings of contemporary Pest and thus proclaiming the temple from afar are supposed—according to Forster's words—to evoke the figures of the Biblical princes Jachin and Boaz, what they resemble more obviously are the contours of Christian churches. With this they reinforce the ideal of Jewish equality and fraternity as emblems belonging to the system of reform symbols. The dual towers continue, in perspective, the two projections, which enclose between them the plane of the main entrance broken through by one huge rosette and five smaller ones above. Over the main entrance is an inscription quoting the words of Exodus, "And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.” The line is an apt summary of the new, Neologue, idea of a temple. Covered with terracotta bricks arranged in carpet patterns, the facade forms a horseshoe shape with the two wings flanking it. Once both side-wings projected all the way to the street and embraced on three sides the forecourt which lay outside the main entrance. At the time of construction, the side wings, flush with the street, were directly connected to the adjacent, two- and three floor Neo-Classicist residential buildings. The one on the left was where Tivadar Herzl, the visionary who first conceived of Israel as a state, was born. His birthplace was pulled down before the Jewish Museum was raised in 1932, and the side wing on the left was also pushed back. At the tips of the horse-shoe were 28
