Jewish Budapest
Description:
The Jewish Quarter of Pest was located until World War II around the synagogue in Erzebetvaros. The synagogue itself, which is the largest in Europe, was built in 1859 by the Vienna architect Ludwig Förster, the author of the Vienna Synagogue. The two-storey building with three naves is designed for 3,000 worshippers - according to the number of seats. In 1931, a side building was added to the synagogue, made in the same style on the site of the house where the founder of Zionism Theodor Herzel lived. This building now houses a museum of Jewish culture. The first four rooms of the museum tell about the religious and secular life of Jews. Room five is mourning. The exhibition is dedicated to the victims of the Holocaust. During the war, in the building of the museum, the Nazis arranged a hostel for forced laborers.
At the time of the liberation of the ghetto, on January 18, 1945, about 3,000 unburied bodies lay in the streets. By necessity, 1,140 known by name and 1,170 unknown victims of fascism were buried in 24 common graves on the territory of the Synagogue, which is the only one in the world, in the courtyard of which there is a cemetery.
During the walking tour we will see the most significant sights of the history of the Hungarian Jew, passing through the streets of this quarter. Our walk will take 2.5 to 3 hours and does not include visits to the Synagogues, the entrance to which takes place on entrance tickets, and their opening time depends on the days of the week and Jewish holidays. If you wish, you can visit them individually or with my participation, taking into account the time of extension of the tour.