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

The Synagogue in Rumbach Sebestyén utca

■ Interior of the synagogue in Rumbach Sebestyén utca before the reconstruction from the late ig8os.

plan is the fact that it consists of two self-contained units not connected to each other in any organic way. All that can be seen from the street is the singletract deep apartment, community and school building smoothly blending in with the rest of the apartment blocks of the street. Joining this with one side of its octagonal shape is the synagogue space.

The only externally visible reference to the sacral function of the building is the pair of minarets rising on either side of the middle projection. In the narrow Rumbach utca the Orientalising faqade can only be seen from a limited view from below. Both the horizontal and the vertical axes are accentuated. Emphasising the vertical element is the portal of the ground floor with its central arcades. Above this is an order of arches with arabesque-ornamented parapets connecting two floors. The horizontal axis is underscored by bands of red brick running the length of the street-side faqade and by a cornice with stalactite decoration.

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