Szegő Dóra - Szegő György: Synagogues - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2004)
The Hegedűs Gyula utca Synagogue
Art Nouveau style and the synagogue function, creating an overall effect evocative of Byzantine and Islamic mosaic art. Set in a niche sunk in the Eastern wall and topped with a round arch, the Ark wall was shaped to echo the external facade. Over it was another tympanum with a rounded-off top. The Ark was accentuated by pilasters supporting the large-scale triumphal arch above. The triumphal arch and the ornamentation arching above it on both sides bear a distinct resemblance to the Eastern wall of the Szeged synagogue. Among the floral motifs of the triumphal arch were the Hebrew inscriptions: "From daybreak to sunset,” "Serving God,” "Torah," "Good deeds," "Repent”. The inscriptions were divided by meticulously decorated "celestial fields". The synagogue sustained some damage during World War II. In 1980 it was acquired by the Honvéd Sports Club, which constructed an upstairs level into the inner space without regard to the value of the interior. Ever since, the interior has been used, in a most degrading manner, as a martial-arts training centre. The exterior still pays homage, in spite of its reconstruction, to the innovative spirit of a defunct community and the memory of an exceptionally prolific architect and synagogue-builder. The former hall of culture behind the building is still used as a prayer-room (55 Dózsa György út); on the other side of the plot at 26 Tüzér utca is the community matzo bakery. The Hegedűs Gyula utca Synagogue The Jewry of Újlipótváros (New Leopold Town) did not give up the idea of having a temple of their own even after plans for one in Lipótváros fell through. The outlook of the Jewish haut-bourgeoisie living around the Parliament buildings south of the Great Boulevard was optimistic, while that of the lower-middle- class Jewish population of the streets north of the Boulevard was realistic. They were only able to realise their plans for a temple in 1911 on a modest scale built to plans by Béla Vajda at 3 Csáky utca (today Hegedűs Gyula utca) in a five-axis, six-storey apartment house constructed in 1903. The proud and impressive style of the first wave of fin de siede synagogue-building in Hungary was now superseded by a more secluded, more domestic design, that of a temple built in the courtyard of a residential house. There were storerooms in the basement of the building, two driveways on the ground-floor and two shops overlooking the street. Eight- to ten-room apartments tenanted by members of the haut-bourgeoisie faced the street, while those of a petit-bourgeois background had their flats on the courtyard front. The slump that followed the boom of the 1900s bankrupted the businesses in the apartment block. Converting shops into apartments was out54
