Szegő Dóra - Szegő György: Synagogues - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2004)
The Kazinczy utca Synagogue
■ Kazinczy utca. the gallery hallway The cast-iron, bronze and glass gate is set in the main front decorated with a coffered-geometric pattern. To the gate leads a flight of steps extended into a street-bay forming the obligatory frontal space of temple by the bulks of the two wings projecting terrace-like out of the mass of the building. The stone frame of the three-sectioned gate—round arched in the middle, square-topped on the sides—extends into the base course. The high banded-marble facing is an important component of the subtly mediaeval atmosphere. The main front is an almost completely unadorned surface of clinker covering. Its plane is broken by two rows of windows and a few separate apertures. The lower row consists of upright windows and reliefs in the middle representing the tablets of the law with floral patterns. The strips between the individual windows are also carved and the sculptural decoration is continued with two trees of life set in the brick surface. The upper row is made up of five apertures topped with round arches and set between columns ending in conjoined capitals lengthened in the Moorish style. Above these and in line with the axis of the gate and the stone tablets is a small rosette divided by another star of David. The brick facade is topped with a two- tier stone frieze reminiscent of Mesopotamian architecture. 64
