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

The Cserkesz utca Synagogue

■ The iynagogue in Cóerke&z utca

into the lobby. It is from here that the temple opens; its octagonal interior has a diameter of 22.15 metres. The Eastward-turning women’s gallery in the central interior is supported by cast iron pillars. The huge triumphal arch of the Eastern wall embraces an Ark decorated with Hungarian motifs. The Ark can be approached by way of the almemor steps. The rosette of the Eastern wall is framed by a couple of columns, which support the triumphal arch inlaid with a glass mosaic.

Inside, the Arch receives its shape from a pattern repeating the corbie gable of the exterior in the manner of a house within a house. The stone tablets on the gable is framed in a painted aureole. Beneath the tablet runs the inscription, "Ye shall not serve the Lord for wages."

The progressive attitudes of the Kőbánya community permitted the use of an organ beside the choir to enhance the liturgy. Assessing the temple's importance in Magyaronzági ziinagógák (Hungary’s Synagogues), Anikó Gazda points out that "of all the synagogues in Pest, this is the one that best expresses the social and historical change that transformed the thinking of Hungary's Jews. The materials used with the construction of the temple, the hard, rustic ashlar, the red57