The Dohány Street Synagogue is the largest synagogue in Europe and one of the most consequential Jewish buildings ever constructed. Built in 1859 to a Moorish Revival design by Viennese architect Ludwig Förster, it was conceived as a public statement: a building that would house Budapest’s growing Jewish community and signal Jewish presence in a rapidly modernising Habsburg city.
Within decades it became the spiritual home of Hungarian Neolog Judaism, the birthplace next door of modern political Zionism, and the centre of a community that would face annihilation during the Holocaust. The synagogue survived the 1944-45 Budapest Ghetto, when it stood at the heart of the wartime ghetto and sheltered up to 70,000 Jewish residents. After decades of decay under communism, it was restored across the 1990s in a partnership funded by the Hungarian government, Estée Lauder Companies, and Hungarian-American actor Tony Curtis (born Bernard Schwartz to Hungarian Jewish parents).
This is the full story of how the synagogue came to be, who designed it, what happened to it across the twentieth century, and why a stainless-steel weeping willow now stands in its rear courtyard.
At a Glance
Four short tabs cover the synagogue’s history at a glance: a chronological timeline, the key facts and figures, the architects who built it, and the symbolism behind its Moorish design.
Timeline
- 1854
Foundation stone laid
Construction begins on Dohány utca. Ludwig Förster, a Viennese architect, wins the design commission from the Pest Jewish community via a competition.
- 1859
Synagogue inaugurated
The synagogue opens with a 5,000-pipe organ and seating for nearly 3,000 worshippers, the largest in Europe.
- 1860
Theodor Herzl is born next door
The future founder of political Zionism is born on the plot now occupied by the Hungarian Jewish Museum.
- 1869
Neolog and Orthodox split
The Hungarian Jewish community formally splits between Neolog (Reform-influenced) and Orthodox factions. The Dohány becomes the flagship Neolog synagogue.
- 1931
Heroes’ Temple added
A 250-seat side chapel is built behind the main synagogue to commemorate the more than 10,000 Hungarian Jews who died fighting for Austria-Hungary in WWI.
- 1939
Arrow Cross arson attack
The synagogue is damaged by an arson attack carried out by the far-right Arrow Cross movement in February. The community repairs the damage but the political climate worsens rapidly.
- 1944 to 1945
Budapest Ghetto
The synagogue is used as a German Radio HQ and stable. The surrounding ghetto, established in November 1944, holds approximately 70,000 Jews. Around 8,000 to 10,000 die from starvation, disease, and Arrow Cross violence.
- 18 Jan 1945
Ghetto liberated
The Soviet Red Army liberates the ghetto. Survivors emerge to find the synagogue heavily damaged and the community devastated.
- 1949 to 1989
Communist suppression
Public Jewish life is suppressed and the synagogue receives minimal repairs. The building deteriorates badly across four decades.
- 1991 to 1998
Major restoration
Funded by the Hungarian government, Estée Lauder Companies, and Tony Curtis’s Emanuel Foundation. The Memorial Park and Tree of Life are added in the rear courtyard.
- 1996
New mechanical organ
A 63-voice mechanical organ replaces the original pipe organ. The original 1859 case is preserved as part of the architectural fabric.
- Today
Active synagogue and visitor compound
The synagogue is the working centre of Budapest’s Neolog Jewish community and one of the city’s most-visited single attractions.
Key Facts
- Built
- 1854 to 1859
- Architects
- Förster (shell), Feszl (interior)
- Style
- Moorish Revival, Romantic Historicist
- Capacity
- ~3,000 seats (largest in Europe)
- Dimensions
- 75 m long, 27 m wide, towers 43.6 m
- Organ
- Original 5,000 pipes (1859); now 63 voices (1996)
- Memorial
- Tree of Life by Imre Varga (1990s)
- Status
- Active Neolog synagogue
The Architects
Ludwig Förster (1797 to 1863), a Viennese architect, won the commission via a competition held by the Pest Jewish community in 1854. Förster also designed the Tempelgasse Synagogue in Vienna and was an early advocate of Moorish Revival architecture for European Jewish buildings. He saw the style as a way to express a Jewish architectural identity rooted in pre-European Mediterranean traditions rather than copying European Christian church forms.
The interior fittings, gilding, and decorative scheme were designed by Hungarian architect Frigyes Feszl, who added Romantic Historicist detailing to Förster’s structural shell. Feszl’s contribution gives the interior its warm red, gold, and indigo palette and the Byzantine geometric patterns that anchor the space as Hungarian rather than purely Viennese.
The 1990s restoration was a remarkable cross-border effort. Funding came from the Hungarian government, Estée Lauder Companies (whose founder Estée Lauder was the daughter of Hungarian Jewish immigrants), and the Emanuel Foundation, established by Hungarian-American actor Tony Curtis (born Bernard Schwartz in 1925 to parents who emigrated from Hungary in 1921). Curtis founded the foundation specifically to rebuild the synagogue, which he visited in 1979 and resolved to save. Imre Varga, the leading Hungarian sculptor of the second half of the twentieth century, designed the Tree of Life Holocaust memorial in the Memorial Park behind the synagogue.
Symbolism
The choice of Moorish Revival was deliberate and ideologically loaded. Förster argued that European Jews had no single architectural canon of their own, and that a building rooted in the pre-European Mediterranean origins of Jewish identity (Spain, North Africa, the Levant) would feel more authentic than copying Christian church forms. The twin octagonal towers, the horseshoe arches, and the polychrome brickwork all draw directly from the Alhambra in Granada and the Great Mosque of Córdoba.
The unconventional placement of the Bimah (reading platform) in front of the Ark, rather than in the centre of the hall as in Orthodox practice, reflected the Reform-influenced Neolog tradition that the Pest community had begun to adopt. The Dohány was, from the start, a flagship Neolog synagogue: assimilationist, modernising, and architecturally distinct from the Orthodox tradition.
The 1859 organ was a deliberate choice (Orthodox synagogues typically forbid instrumental music in services); the building’s designers wanted the synagogue to host concerts as well as worship. Liszt and Saint-Saëns both performed on the original 5,000-pipe instrument, and the 1996 mechanical organ continues that tradition through the modern Budapest Jewish Summer Festival.
Key Historical Themes
Four threads run through the synagogue’s story that are worth pulling on if you want to understand what the building means today.
Moorish Revival as Jewish architectural identity
Förster’s design positioned the synagogue outside European Christian church architecture, asserting a Jewish identity rooted in medieval Iberia and the pre-European Mediterranean. The choice was both aesthetic and ideological. The result is one of the most distinctive synagogue exteriors in the world; it reads first as a Moorish palace and only second as a religious building.
Neolog Judaism and the unconventional Bimah
In Orthodox synagogues the Bimah (reading platform) typically sits in the centre of the hall. At the Dohány, in line with Neolog Jewish practice influenced by Reform European movements, the Bimah was placed in front of the Ark, closer to the layout of a church. Architecturally controversial at the time, it became a defining feature of Hungarian Neolog synagogue design.
The 1944-45 Budapest Ghetto
The synagogue stood at the heart of the wartime ghetto. The building was used as a German Radio HQ and a stable; the surrounding district held approximately 70,000 Jews crowded into a few city blocks. Around 8,000 to 10,000 died from starvation, disease, and Arrow Cross violence; the cemetery on the synagogue grounds, the only Jewish cemetery on synagogue grounds in Europe, exists because the dead could not be transported out for burial during the ghetto period.
Tony Curtis and the 1990s restoration
By the 1980s the synagogue was in such a state of disrepair that demolition was considered. The decision to restore rather than demolish was driven in part by Tony Curtis’s 1979 visit, which led to the founding of the Emanuel Foundation. The 1991 to 1998 restoration cost around $40 million and was funded by the Hungarian government, Estée Lauder Companies, and the Emanuel Foundation. The Memorial Park with Imre Varga’s Tree of Life dates from this period, transforming the site from a single synagogue into a multi-building memorial complex.
Did You Know? (5 interesting facts!)
Largest synagogue in Europe
With seating for nearly 3,000, the Dohány outsizes every other functioning synagogue on the continent. Globally, only the Belz Great Synagogue in Jerusalem is larger.
Liszt and Saint-Saëns played the original organ
Both composers gave concert recitals on the 1859 5,000-pipe organ in the 19th century, helping establish the synagogue’s reputation as a concert venue as well as a place of worship. The 1996 replacement organ continues that tradition through the Budapest Jewish Summer Festival.
Tony Curtis funded the restoration
The 1991 to 1998 restoration was funded by the Hungarian government, Estée Lauder Companies, and Hungarian-American actor Tony Curtis (born Bernard Schwartz to Hungarian Jewish parents). Curtis founded the Emanuel Foundation specifically for this project after visiting the synagogue in 1979.
Theodor Herzl was born next door
The Hungarian Jewish Museum stands on the exact plot where Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern political Zionism, was born in 1860. The plaque on the exterior wall is one of the few public markers of his birthplace anywhere in Hungary.
The cemetery exists because of the ghetto
Around 2,000 graves sit in the Jewish Cemetery behind the synagogue, almost all of them victims of the 1944-45 Budapest Ghetto. The cemetery exists because, during the ghetto period, the dead could not be transported out for burial. It is the only Jewish cemetery on synagogue grounds in Europe.
Visiting Today
Understanding the history transforms the visit. Instead of seeing a grand interior, you’ll recognise the Bimah’s deliberately Neolog placement, the Moorish Revival cross-references in the exterior, the 1996 organ in the original 1859 case, and the Tree of Life as both memorial and ledger.