The Dohany Street Synagogue is the second largest synagogue in the world, and largest in Europe. It also stands as a testament to the evils done in the 1940s and to the resilience of the Jewish people.
There was quite a long line for admission, so at first we walked around the outside and looked into the memorial garden. Built in the 1850s, ironically in the Moorish Revival style. Theodor Herzl was born in the house next door (no longer there).
Dohany Street is also the border of the Jewish ghetto from the 1930s-40s, and from the back garden, you can get a glimpse of a building that still remains.
Carol decided she wanted to go in (just to look around -- we didn't have time for a tour). Torie tried to dissuade her, but the line moved fast and we had no time crunch once inside. There was a person crunch -- there were massive numbers of people touring the site.
For a while, we were just stuck -- could not move. But, after a bit we made it through the crowds into the synagogue itself. I had to wear a paper yarmulke, which confused me at first (I'm not Jewish), and other people did not have them on. Carol rightly convinced me to wear it as a sign of respect, and so I did.
The Jewish cemetery and the memorial garden (dedicated to Raoul Wallenberg) are without question quite moving.
It's hard to wrap up a blog post when you have no words. Between the memorials and the shoe memorial, it's a stark reminder of a time when the world went mad.
The detail of the building is quite remarkable.
The Memorial of the Hungarian Jewish
Martyrs is a moving metal weeping willow.
This is high up on a building across
the street from the synagogue.
One of the two towers.
The cemetery holds around 2,000 dead
from the Nazis in World War II.
A pulpit in the synagogue. I'm not
sure I've ever realized that those
would also be found in synagogues!
From the weeping willow.
A close-up of the willow.
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