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

The Kazinczy utca Synagogue

ars exploring Jewish traditions together with motifs used by the Magyar conquerors of the Carpathian Basin provided the architects with similar patterns of Oriental origin. And yet this early Modernist synagogue building is characterised by a perfect unity of tradition and innovation as emphatic ornamentation alternates with large expanses of blank walls. The use of isolated patches of ornamentation alongside redbrick surfaces whose gritty substantiality dominates the surfaces is a feature aligning the building with the Lajta-style trend of modern Hungarian architecture (also marked by the school of commerce in Vas utca or the Abonyi utca Jewish secondary school). What we see appearing in Hungary just a few years after Adolf Loos made his famous dictum that "decoration is a sin” is a mature synthesis between the extreme position of the Vienna architect and the ornamental style of the Art Nouveau. Decoration which does not drown out everything highlights the structure of the building and its ornaments at the same time.

■ Kazinczy utca. the community entrance

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