Szegő Dóra - Szegő György: Synagogues - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2004)

The Great Synagogue in Dohány utca

■ The Holocaust memorial of the Emanuel Foundation with the victims' names (Imre Varga)

three semicircular windows. The open windbreak of the vestibule leads into the temple. The entryway is flanked by a menorah on either side. An emphatic element of the interior is a coloured window with the star of David in the centre of the dome. Surrounding it in the pendentives are the ornamental gilt stalactite vaults characterising Islamic architecture. The green marble Ark, topped with the tablets of the law, is placed, curiously but in accordance with traditional orientation, on the longitudinal wall of the rectangular interior. Opposite the Ark and covering the entire wall-surface above the entrance are Biblical quotations arranged to form, in the innovative pattern-poetry style of Bauhaus typography, a star of David—thus fulfilling a visual as well as a liturgical function. Written in gold on a black field around the band beneath the dome is another Hebrew inscription referring to the martyrs. The organ and gallery of the Eastern wall are separated from the rest of the interior by a railing decorated with geometric patterns and stars of David. The patterns of the railing are repeated on the window. With no separate women's gallery, the female mem33