Dohány Street Synagogue
— — the largest synagogue in Europe, and what it remembers.
Not only on a wall.
“The great Moorish Revival synagogue on Dohány Street, in the old Jewish quarter of Pest. Two onion-domed towers face the street; inside, a hall seats around three thousand under three tiers of arches. Behind it lies the memorial garden, where a weeping willow of steel carries the names of those lost in the 1944-45 ghetto. A working synagogue, a memorial, a witness. — from the studio
Dohány Street Synagogue, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
The Dohány Street Synagogue sits in the seventh district of Budapest, Erzsébetváros, in what was historically the city's Jewish quarter. Completed in 1859 to a design by the Viennese architect Ludwig Förster, it is the largest synagogue in Europe and one of the largest in the world, with seating for around 3,000. The building serves the Neolog Jewish community and remains in active use. The complex also includes the Heroes' Temple, the Jewish Museum, and the Holocaust memorial garden.
Förster's design is a Moorish Revival in red and yellow brick, with two octagonal towers crowned by gilded onion domes rising 43 metres above the street. The plan borrows from basilica architecture, with three aisles, two upper galleries, and a rose window over the entrance. Inside, an organ sits above the ark — unusual in a synagogue, reflecting the Neolog tradition that emerged in 19th-century Hungary. Composers including Franz Liszt and Camille Saint-Saëns are recorded as having played the original instrument.
Behind the synagogue, the Raoul Wallenberg Memorial Garden marks the mass graves of those who died in the Budapest ghetto during the winter of 1944-45. At its centre stands the Tree of Life, a weeping willow of steel by sculptor Imre Varga, each metal leaf inscribed with the name of a victim. The garden honours Wallenberg and other diplomats who issued protective passes to thousands of Hungarian Jews. The studio reads the place as a working sanctuary and a quiet ledger held side by side.