The first Jewish families settled in Szeged in the late 1700s. The well-known Jewish community of Szeged is the largest Jewish community in southern Hungary and one of the most important in Central Europe. It was founded in 1785 and reached its peak in the 1920s, with 7,000 members, making it the third largest Jewish community in Hungary. By the mid-19th century, Jews were granted civil rights in Hungary, after which the community flourished, although this was occasionally met with negative reactions.
The rapidly growing community demanded a larger and more representative synagogue to meet its needs, for which a design competition was announced in 1897.
The new Szeged Synagogue was built between 1900 and 1903. It is the second largest synagogue in Hungary (1,340 seats). The world-renowned chief rabbi of the community, Immanuel Löw, described the synagogue as follows in the year of its opening in 1903: “It is a beautiful example of modern synagogue architecture in every detail and as a whole.” Thanks to its dome-shaped structure with four towers, it rises above the surrounding buildings and holds a worthy place among the city’s religious buildings.
On May 19, 1903, Chief Rabbi Immanuel Löw inaugurated the new synagogue. Both the chief rabbi and the architect called the building a “Jewish temple.” Both considered Hungary their homeland. This alignment with Hungarian identity coincided with the 1895 decree proclaiming religious equality, which further strengthened their connection to Hungary. Baumhorn submitted his anonymous tender for the synagogue construction project under the pseudonym “God and Homeland,” which can be seen as a reference to his reformist ideology.
The concept of two homelands — the ancient one in Eretz-Israel and the current one in Hungary — is also visible in the garden planted around the synagogue, for which Löw selected plants common to the land of Israel and other plants from Hungary. The interior decoration of the synagogue also emphasized the idea of the new homeland: the inscription on the triumphal arch above the Torah ark [Aron Kodesh] was written in Hebrew and Hungarian: “Love your neighbor as yourself!” (This quote was the first synagogue wall painting written in Hungarian, and at that time it was rare to place inscriptions in the local language on synagogue walls.)
This is the second largest synagogue in Hungary (the largest being the Dohány Synagogue in Budapest), and many say it is the most beautiful not only in the country but in all of Europe. Baumhorn certainly succeeded in living up to his reputation. Surrounded by an unremarkable residential urban landscape, the New Synagogue looks as if it came straight from another world. In a way, it did. The world in which the New Synagogue was created no longer exists; it was destroyed by two world wars and the Holocaust.
Lipót Baumhorn is not a name that comes to mind for many architectural historians, although it should be.
A Hungarian Jew born in 1860, Baumhorn was the leading synagogue designer in the Kingdom of Hungary before World War I. He designed and oversaw the construction of no fewer than twenty-two synagogues, including the New Synagogue in Szeged. This is a rare combination of Art Nouveau and historicism styles, which can be classified under eclecticism. Moorish and Byzantine elements recall Middle Eastern influences, while Art Nouveau explores Hungarian folk motifs. The exceptional building constructed by Lipót Baumhorn became a landmark of the city and its era, embodying modernity with cast-iron columns and an iron framework.
The impressive style of the new synagogue demonstrates the permanence and strength of the Jewish population, which in Szeged was near the peak of its power when the synagogue’s construction was completed in 1903. The interior of the building, with a dome ceiling 48.5 meters high, draws on several historical styles, creating an overall Art Nouveau/Moorish Revival style. The ribbed wall above the organ has Gothic origins, and the columns supporting the galleries are Roman.
The interior of the large dome and all the stained glass windows of the building are the work of artist Miksa Róth.
The design of the Torah Ark refers to the Holy of Holies in Solomon’s Temple, as it uses sitim wood from the banks of the Nile, the wood used in the construction of Solomon’s Temple in 1 Kings. The hinges are shaped like hyssop, a plant used in ancient temple service.
Decades after the synagogue was built, the years for the Jews of Szeged were not so bad, but they were close to it. The peak of the city’s Jewish population was in 1920, numbering 6,958 people. Then the Jewish population of Szeged began to decline as more Jews, inspired by Zionism, moved to Palestine. When the Holocaust came to Szeged nearly a quarter-century later, there were 4,161 Jews living there. In 1944, the Germans occupied Hungary, herded the Jews of Szeged into a ghetto, and then deported them to death camps. Only about half survived the deportation. Nevertheless, the survival rate is still striking considering that three-quarters of Szeged’s Jews ended up in Auschwitz. The long-time synagogue leader, 90-year-old Rabbi Löw, was put on a train bound for Auschwitz but was secretly taken to Budapest. He later died in the Jewish ghetto there.
Only about half survived the deportation. Nevertheless, the survival rate is still striking considering that three-quarters of Szeged’s Jews ended up in Auschwitz. Even for those who survived, the world they knew would never be the same. Many emigrated to Israel. As for the New Synagogue, during the second half of the war it was used as a storage facility. Then it was abandoned. Only in the early 21st century did restoration work begin in earnest. In 1989, after repairs, the synagogue was reopened. Today, only a few hundred Jewish residents remain in Szeged. The synagogue is used occasionally for religious purposes and also serves as a center for events and a concert hall.
Sources:
https://synagogues-360.anumuseum.org.il/gallery/szeged-synagogue/
https://research.abo.fi/ws/portalfiles/portal/58049033/Judaism_as_Flowers_The_Materialized_Ideology_of_the_New_Synagogue_of_Szeged.pdf
