Rumbach utcai zsinagóga

The Rumbach utcai zsinagóga stands in Hungary, a synagogue Otto Wagner designed and completed in 1872. Its façade announces itself in stripes of yellow and red, crowned by small towers that recall minarets. Byzantine and Moorish elements run through the building in red, blue and gold. Wagner drew it for a community balancing tradition with the spirit of modern times, and the boldness still shows.

Inside, your gaze climbs at once to the central dome, nearly thirty metres above the floor, and the hall opens beneath it. Before the Torah ark, the original mosaic floor lies in place again, reassembled from tiles kept safe over decades. It went back together like a puzzle, tile by tile.

In 1941 the authorities turned the building into an internment camp, and by 1944 it stood inside the surrounding ghetto. Ritual life faded after the 1950s, and decay set in. A thorough, state-funded restoration brought the rooms back to life, and the doors opened again as a community space. Concerts, theatre, talks and exhibitions now fill the halls, and prayer carries on beside them. One innovation from the restoration sits at the centre: the bima, the reading platform, lowers at the push of a button. Large events move in, and the heritage gives up nothing.