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

The Lajos utca Synagogue

Due to the poor soil conditions of the plot located on the Danube bank at the time, the walls of the second Óbuda synagogue cracked within fifty years and the building was partially demolished in 1817. Although the by-then prosperous Jewry of Óbuda invited the prestigious Mihály Pollack to submit plans for a new synagogue, András Landherr was eventually commissioned to build his Neo-Classicist synagogue. The third synagogue was then raised on an asymmetrical ground plan making use of the sturdier bits of the old structure whose walls were bolstered with additional rooms on the West and the North sides. Excavations carried out in 1947 uncovered ancient Roman ruins beneath the main walls. With its 13.20 metre height and 21.00 by 34.00 metre ground- space, the building has impressive external proportions. The interior decoration is the work of stucco-maker János Maurer, while the carpentry-work was done by Ferenc X. Goldringer. The 650-seat synagogue was consecrated in 1821. The spaciousness of the Neo-Classicist hall is evocative of the Renaissance synagogue built by the first enlightened Portuguese Jews in Amsterdam.

■ "The church of the Israelites ín Ó-Buda."

Marginal picture from the Buda section of Károly Vasquez’s map

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