Szegő Dóra - Szegő György: Synagogues - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2004)
The Synagogue in Rumbach Sebestyén utca
Set marquetry-style in the red brick band are glazed tiles lending the facade an appearance of Oriental rugs. The tints as well as certain architectonic elements (the arcades and the cornice) bear a marked similarity with the Dohány utca synagogue and its sister-temples in Vienna. But a novelty compared to the Vienna- style use of bricks here is the employment of blue-glazed brickwork. This can be traced back to ancient Persian architecture, but prefigurations include mediaeval temples in Cairo or the blue-ceramic style of the Alhambra, too. Wagner made another allusion to the Oriental play of red-ochre-blue ornamentation by framing the upper row of windows in red-striped vaults in the style of the Great Mosque of Cordoba. The ground-floor level of the facade is dominated by the finely traceried, three- vaulted portal of the middle projection. "This is the gate to the Lord, into which the righteous shall enter.” The main gates are separated by the bases of the minarets from the symmetrically-arranged side doors on the right and left providing separate entry to women. The lobby with the iron railing on the street- side front is connected to the adjoining segment of the octagonal synagogue with a closed wind-break. The interior of the synagogue is articulated on seven sides by galleries. On the eighth, Eastern, side, a quadrangular space is added to the central area where the square, dome-topped Ark stands on the mizrah- side rostrum with an indented arch above its door. It harmonizes with the interior architecture of the synagogue. In the coffers of its iron dome were yellow glass stars of David. According to the recollections of those who saw them, the windows had been arranged in such a way that sunshine streaming in through them on sunny afternoons flooded the Ark with light. The mixed structure of wood and iron forms a double shell structure: the inner one is framed in eight narrow cast-iron pillars with Alhambra-style traceried arcades of cast-iron beams spanning the gaps between the pillars. On these pillars sits the octagon of the pyramidal roof, topping a ceiling with beams and lanterns. The pattern of painted coffers and beams is reminiscent of Oriental paper fans. Wagner's complex spatial organisation looks forward to Modernism, and the exposure of the roof structure is also an innovative gesture. The colours of the rich ornamentation covering walls, galleries and arcades are blue, red and gold. The star of David is the only Jewish symbol in evidence. Twenty-four Torah-scrolls were placed in the Ark at the temple’s consecration. The inscription on the deed of foundation sunk beneath the Ark was written in Hungarian as well as Hebrew, keeping with the peculiar position between Orthodoxy and Neology of the itatm quo believers. Two rabbis worked here, the first pair being Samuel Low and Lajos Eleázár Pollák. 40
