LatinosUSA

Hi everyone, its Robbie Cheadle here today with the May post in my Street and Public Art on LatinosUSA – English Edition.

This post focuses on The Dohány Street Synagogue in Budapest which features Moorish Revival style architecture with onion shaped gilded domes and the Tree of Life sculpture.

Background

The Dohány Street Synagogue also known as the Great Synagogue, is found in in Erzsébetváros, the 7th district of Budapest, Hungary.

An incredibly beautiful building, it was built between 1854 and 1859 in the Moorish Revival style with onion shaped gilded domes. The whole building is decorated with eight-pointed stars as can be seen in the picture below.

Above the main entrance gate of the Dohany synagogue the inscription in Hebrew: “And let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them.”

The Dohány Street Synagogue complex consists of the Great Synagogue, the Heroes’ Temple, the graveyard, the Memorial and the Jewish Museum and constituted the border of the Budapest Ghetto.

Some interesting facts about the Dohány Street Synagogue

1. The Dohány Street Synagogue is the largest synagogue in Europe and the second largest in the world. It seats up to 3 000 people.
2. Above the front gate, there is a rose-window, which is the church’s main source of light. The windows on each side of this resemble the two tables on which Moses has written the Ten Commandments.
3. the Dohány Street Synagogue keeps Torah scrolls in the ark of the synagogue in accordance with the Jewish custom. A lot of these are from synagogues that were destroyed during the Holocaust.
4. The Dohány Street Synagogue differs from other synagogues in the fact that it has pipe organs and a cemetery. It is not customary to have a cemetery next to a synagogue, but this one was established as a direct result of the approximately 8 000 to 10 000 people who died in the adjacent Budapest Ghetto. Two thousand of the people who did in the ghetto are buried in this cemetery.
5. During the Sabbath, no work and no fire are allowed, which means that using electricity and operating heating systems is forbidden. As a result, the caretaker of the Dohány Street Synagogue cannot be Jewish. In addition, a Jew cannot play the organ on the Sabbath and music cannot be played inside the synagogue on this day. This problem was solved by separating the organ and the choir from the ‘sacred’ sections, so that the music comes from “outside”.

Tree of life

Behind the Great Synagogue is the Holocaust Memorial Park which includes the Tree of life memorial which commemorates the lives of the 5 000 Holocaust victims who are buried in the vicinity of the park.  It takes the form of a metal willow tree which is the symbol of mourning for Hungarian Jews. The names of victims are inscribed on its leaves.

About Robbie Cheadle

South African author, photographer, and artist, Robbie Cheadle, has written and illustrated seventeen children’s books, illustrated a further three children’s books, written and illustrated four poetry books and written and illustrated one celebration of cake and fondant art book with recipes. Her work has also appeared in poetry and short story anthologies.

Robbie also has two novels and a collection of short stories published under the name of Roberta Eaton Cheadle and has horror, paranormal, and fantasy short stories featured in several anthologies under this name.

You can find Robbie Cheadle’s artwork, fondant and cake artwork, and all her books on her website here: https://www.robbiecheadle.co.za/

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