The Lipótváros Synagogue was a planned but never realized monumental
Jewish
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
synagogue
A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...
that was to be located on Ignác Nagy Street, in
Lipótváros
Lipótváros (, ) is a traditional neighbourhood in the city centre of Budapest, named after Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor, King Leopold II. It is one of the two neighbourhoods of Belváros-Lipótváros, District V, the other one being Inner Ci ...
,
Budapest
Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...
,
Hungary
Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
. It was planned to build the synagogue at the beginning of the 20th century and it would have had a capacity of 3,800 people. In the end, the building was not completed due to financial difficulties.
History
Background
As a result of emancipation, the Jews of Hungary were granted a high degree of freedom in the second half of the 19th century. The number of Jews began to increase significantly, and it also played an increasingly important role in the cultural life of Budapest. Although several synagogues were built in Budapest during the 19th century, including the large
Dohány Street Synagogue
The Dohány Street Synagogue ( ; ; ), also known as the Great Synagogue () or Tabakgasse Synagogue (), is a Neolog Judaism, Neolog Judaism, Jewish congregation and synagogue, located on Dohány utca, Dohány Street in Erzsébetváros (VIIth dis ...
, they could no longer perform the functions believed necessary in Budapest, and were not at all prominent, and most were surrounded by other buildings.
Lipótváros Jewry at that time was 12,000 people, the neighboring VI. and VII. and the district had 72,000 people. In 1893, the Jewish community of Pest made a request to the leadership of the capital:
:''“When the community wishes to fill a generally felt gap in its institutions of worship, it must be borne in mind that the church it is to build must not only be able to accommodate as many Jewish believers as possible on a permanent basis, but also to the capital and the capital. be a monumental building worthy of its dignity.”''
The capital of the church to be built designated the plot surrounded by Szalay, Szemere, Markó and Koháry (today Ignác Nagy) streets and gave it to the community free of charge.
Tender and plans
An invitation to tender was issued on 20 February 1898, with the proviso that:
* the building must be free standing
* it must be able to accommodate 3,600 people (compared to 2,964 seats in the Dohány Street Synagogue)
* the maximum cost of its preparation is HUF 1,000,000.
The tender call received 23 applications, which were judged in less than a month by a panel chaired by Zsigmond Kohner, president of the community, which also included renowned architects of the time. Plans were submitted by
Ernő Foerk
Ernő Foerk (3 February 1868, Temesvár – 26 January 1934, Budapest) was a Hungarian architect.
Life
Foerk originally began as a sculptor, but subsequently finished as a master builder. He studied at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, where h ...
and Ferenc Schömer, Zoltán Bálint and
Lajos Jámbor
Lajos "Louis" Jámbor (1 August 1884 – 11 June 1954) was a Hungarian-American post-impressionist painter, illustrator and background artist for animation. He is known for his illustrations for the book Little Women (1947 edition), and his symb ...
,
Béla Lajta
Béla Lajta (until 1907 Béla Leitersdorfer) (Óbuda, 23 January 1873 – Vienna, 12 October 1920) was a prominent Hungarian architect.
Career
Lajta finished his degree at the Budapest Technical University and worked briefly under Alajos Hau ...
, Albert Schikedanz and Fülöp Herzog,
Géza Márkus
Géza Márkus (Pest, 4 August 1871 – Budapest, 6 December 1912) was a Hungarian Jewish architect.
Life
He was the brother-in-law of conductor Dezső Márkus and newspaper writer Miksa Márkus. His first works show the influence of the mod ...
,
József Vágó
József Vágó (30 June 1906 – 26 August 1945) was a Hungarian football defender who played for Hungary in the 1934 FIFA World Cup.Emánu-Él Synagogue in New York, whilst even larger than the Dohány Street Synagogue, seated 2,500 people and is high. Foerk's plan estimated a capacity of 3,800, with a height of . The planned synagogue would have been lower than the nearby high
St. Stephen's Basilica
St. Stephen's Basilica ( ) is a Roman Catholic basilica in Budapest, Hungary. It is named in honour of Stephen, the first King of Hungary (c. 975–1038), whose right hand is housed in the reliquary.
Since the renaming of the primatial see, it ...
and the also high
Hungarian Parliament Building
The Hungarian Parliament Building ( , ), also known as the Parliament of Budapest after its location, is the seat of the National Assembly of Hungary, a notable landmark of Hungary, and a popular tourist destination in Budapest. It is situated o ...
' however, it would have been barely lower than the Rózsák tér church at , or the
Matthias Church
The Church of the Assumption of the Buda Castle (), more commonly known as the Matthias Church () and more rarely as the Coronation Church of Buda, is a Catholic church in Holy Trinity Square, Budapest, Hungary, in front of the Fisherman's Bastion ...
at , and would have been higher than the Bakács Square Church.
However, Foerk and Schömer's plans far exceeded the maximum construction costs with the planned dome alone estimated to cost HUF 6,000,000. Foerk and Schömer subsequently submitted new plans, but they did not reach the appropriate level of budgeted costs.
Cessation
After lengthy planning in 1907, the community dr. Fülöp Weinmann (1839–1911), a court councilor and a new president of the community, rejected further plans and replaced the Ignác Nagy Street plot with another plot next to the Dohány Street Synagogue, where the Temple of the Heroes was later built.