Budapest – the Jewish quarter

Posted on January 20, 2014 by Ginger

From the Opera we headed east and walked through the Jewish quarter. Though at one point there was (sadly) a ghetto with walls, today’s walkers would not know when they are in the Jewish quarter unless they looked closely. Take this building, for instance…

Looks just like yet any other ornamented Budapest building, right? With typically charming details? Such as this creature atop the roof at the corner…

And these figures flanking the balcony…

But wait… Do you see the Jewish stars worked into the column capital holding up the balcony? And look at this fellow! I’d bet my beard he’s an orthodox rabbi!

One of the interesting things about architecture in Budapest in general, and the Dohany Street synagogue in particular is the Islamic influence often visible–the “Moorish Byzantine” style. Here we see it in the main facade with its minaret-like towers and the eight-pointed star over the doorway.

Before we go inside, perhaps a word about the Jews of Hungary and in particular, Budapest. Over the centuries, there were ups and downs in the repression of the Jewish people and restrictions in where they were allowed to live. Both Buda and Pest were for a long time off limits to Jews, whose main community was in the Obuda (Old Buda) area. But in the 19th century, these restrictions were lifted, and Jews were given equal rights with all other people.

Before World War II, over 200,000 Jews lived in Budapest. This population swelled with the influx of refugees just before and in the early part of the war. Even though Hungary was allied with Germany, it did not enforce anti-Jewish legislation until German Nazi occupation of Hungary in March 1944. Many thousands of Jews were transported to concentration camps or forced into slave labor. A ghetto was established. Thousands were then taken from the ghetto and shot, and their bodies dumped into the river.

When the Soviets liberated Budapest in March, 1945, fewer than 100,000 Jews remained in the ghetto.

The Jewish population of Hungary, which was over 440,000 in 1930, and 165,000 in 1945, has today shrunk to fewer than 50,000 people.

The Dohany Street synagogue is one of the few still in use. Seating some 6,000 people, it is the largest synagogue in Europe and the third largest in the world. It was built from 1854-59, during the heyday of the Hungarian enlightenment, and served a branch of Judaism that reflected this enlightened attitude. And look at the beautiful interior!

In the courtyard of the synagogue is a solemn and shady garden where over 2,000 Jews who died in the ghetto in the winter of 1944-45 are buried.

Behind the synagogue is the Raoul Wallenberg Memorial Park, which contains the “Memorial of the Hungarian Jewish Martyrs,” commemorating the more than 400,000 Hungarian Jews who died in the concentration camps. The memorial is a tremendously moving metal weeping willow tree whose every metal leaf contains the name of a person who died.

Prague — the old Jewish cemetery

Posted on November 9, 2013 by Ginger

The cemetery in the Jewish quarter of Prague has been a burial ground for members of the Jewish community since ancient times. The oldest known grave is from 1439, but many believe that it has been a burial ground for much longer than that. Over 12,000 gravestones are visible. At least 40,000 people are buried here, and some people estimate that as many as 200,000 may be buried here in total.

The cemetery was in use until 1890. It fell into disrepair by the middle of the twentieth century.

Late in the century, it was placed under the auspices of the Jewish Museum of Prague, which has been restoring it.

Many revered members of Prague’s Jewish community were buried here. Perhaps the most widely known nowadays, due to his appearance in a number of popular, even bestselling, works of fiction, is the legendary Rabbi Judah Loew (c. 1510-1609), a great mystic and scholar of the Kabbalah and also the storied creator of the Golem.

You may be wondering at how close together these headstones appear. There’s no way a body could be buried in between them–not even if they buried them upright (which they did not).

This is not an optical trick of the camera. The headstones are incredibly close together.

This is because the limited physical area of the cemetery was inadequate to store the bodies of the number of people who died over the centuries. And so it was necessary to bring in earth from outside and to layer the bodies with the requisite amount of soil between each one.

As the layers grew, the older headstones were preserved and moved up alongside the newer ones. There are at least ten layers of bodies in the limited space of the cemetery–and maybe twelve or more.

Between the intensity and ages of use, and the disrepair only now being corrected, the place has a surrealistic quality, as if Death itself rests here in the evenings, after the tourists have gone home.

Prague — the Jewish quarter

Posted on November 8, 2013 by Ginger

After these various and lovely churches, it seems time to turn to the synagogues of Prague. A visit to the Jewish Quarter is in order.

As everywhere in the historical center of Prague, the streets are charming.

But there is a bit of a twist–Jewish themes appear here and there in the building adornment.

Here, the ladies gracing the entryway are modestly attired, and they’re wearing hats, in stark contrast to the nudes and near-nudes elsewhere in the city. Also, look closely at this detail. Is that a pile of *coins* by the Star of David?

And of course, inevitably, some of the retail establishments also take advantage of their location. Here we have (in translation) the “Restaurant at the Old Synagogue.” It’s quite pretty, actually.

The Jewish community, though located in and associated with Prague, had its own government. The town hall has a clock tower–of course–and also an additional clock with Hebrew letters that runs–you guessed it–counterclockwise.

The Old New Synagogue was built in 1270. And yes, there was an Old Synagogue, but it was demolished in the nineteenth century. I was unable to determine which, if any, of the other synagogues might be the *New* New Synagogue.

The Spanish Synagogue, built in 1868, did not house a Spanish or Sefardic congregation, but the name refers to the Moorish style of architecture, as ornate on the inside as on the outside.

The Maisel Synagogue, built in 1590, was named after the mayor of the Jewish town, Mordechai Maisel, who funded its construction. Damaged by fire, it was completely rebuilt (preserving only the floor plan) at the end of the nineteenth century.

Originally built in 1535, after the second world war the Pinkas synagogue was turned into a memorial for the eighty thousand Jews of Moravia and Bohemia (parts of the Czech Republic) who were murdered by the Nazis. Its walls are covered with their names. So many, so many…

Appropriately, from this synagogue visitors can walk through the Jewish Cemetery (see the next post), coming out near the Ceremonial Hall (belonging to the Burial Society).

The Klausen Synagogue, the largest in the ghetto, now contains a permanent exhibition of Jewish traditions and customs.

Like Dan, you don’t have to be Jewish to be fascinated by the richness of this quarter. And like him, you don’t even have to like museums very much to be interested in the exhibits and the buildings. All these locations, as well as the Jewish Cemetery shown in the next post, may be visited with a single ticket purchased from the Jewish Museum of Prague, which is doing a wonderful job of preserving Prague’s Jewish heritage.

G. S. Kenney Author

Thousands of words, millions of words' worth of pictures

Tag Archives: Jewish quarter

Budapest – the Jewish quarter

Prague — the old Jewish cemetery

Prague — the Jewish quarter

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: