Budapest 5: The Dohány Street Synagogue [Sky Watch Friday]

Our visit to the Vajdahunyad Castle [see last week's post] concluded the afternoon program, and we now had free time to explore on our own. We hitched a ride with our bus, which was returning to our hotel, but asked that we be dropped off at the Dohány Street Synagogue [the driver was kind enough to make an illegal stop for us].
Constructed between 1854 and 1859, the synagogue is in Byzantine (Moorish) Revival style. Thus, the twin onion-shaped domes contribute to its mosque-like appearance. The building suffered considerable damage in WWII and underwent extensive renovations in the 1990s.



The interior is laid out like a church basilica, having a main nave and two side aisles. Note also  the cupola [bottom image], which was unprecedented for a synagogue.




   In addition to the synagogue, several other buildings/areas belong to the complex; viz. a museum, the Raoul Wallenberg Memorial Park, and a cemetery. While it is not customary to have a cemetery next to a synagogue, this was a result of historical circumstances. Over two thousand of those who died in the ghetto from hunger and cold during the winter 1944-1945 are buried here.
The Park holds the Memorial of the Hungarian Jewish Martyrs — at least 400,000 Hungarian Jews were murdered by the Nazis. It resembles a weeping willow whose leaves bear inscriptions with the names of victims.

  
In a separate courtyard, I came across yet another memorial. It is a poignant sculpture, which made me think of the victims who were shot at the edge of the Danube. [see the Shoe Memorial from an earlier posting].