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

The Synagogue in Bethlen tér

of the synagogue preserves the original, Historicist character of the Neo-Renaissance building. The columns outside the Lombardian-looking gate carry a tympanum topped with the dual stone tablets. Above the gate is the much-liked Biblical quotation from Psalms: "This is the gate to the Lord, into which the righteous shall enter."

The nave-and-aisles interior is framed on three sides by a women’s gallery accessible by way of staircases from the courtyard. The construction of the Ark along the gold-and-white decorated Eastern wall is similar to the entrance gateway—the twin pillars support a canopy with a tympanum above the cube of the Ark. The tablets are guarded by lions. The design of the Torah-cabinet itself suggests the style of Baumhorn’s own. The geometric Art Nouveau brackets topping the twin pillars and the traceried frames of the apertures of the gallery above the Ark suggest the style of the Museum of Applied Arts designed by Ödön Lechner. (After graduating from the Technische Hochshule in Vienna, Baumhorn continued his studies in the Pest studio of Gyula Pártos and Lechner. In the last years he spent here, Baumhorn worked on the designs of the Museum of Applied Arts under Lechner.)

Above the Ark on the Eastern wall is a rosette with the Star of David. Before the Ark stands the mizrah-side rostrum with its traceried banister and two menorahs. The Oriental, traceried forms of the double capitals of the Eastern wall and the gallery are repeated on the railing and on the four candelabra of the bimah in the centre of the interior. The same motif appears on the stuccos of the ceiling in the nave. The side-walls are articulated by twin-windows. After World War 11, several windows were fitted with stained-glass panes featuring scenes from the Bible, bought with funds raised by the congregation. The spatial organisation of the interior is a variation of the nave-and-aisles layout characterising Baumhorn's former Nyíregyháza, Pest, and Csáky utca synagogues.

Curiously enough, it was here that the two competing trends of Ignác Alpár's historicism (seen here on Vilmos Freund's Bethlen tér building) and the Hungarian national style of the Lechner school (whose followers included Baumhorn) were united. According to the judgment of posterity, Lipót Baumhorn was not among the foremost representatives of the Lechner school (unlike Lajta, Medgyaszay, Komor or Jakab). What earned his fame as one of the greatest, though, is the fact that as the designer of some forty temples and other buildings of worship that were actually built, Baumhorn devoted his entire career to the construction of synagogues. He was a representative of both the Hungarian and the Jewish Oriental style. As he stated in the 27 August 1927 issue of the periodical £gyeníőóég (Equality): ”... 1 have always tried to realise the ideas of utility and modernity. [...] I could not help remaining loyal to the great historical styles. To

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