THE GREAT SYNAGOGUE OF BUDAPEST

Rudolf Klein's lively and insightful history fills a long-standing need for a more detailed analysis of Budapest's Dohány Street Synagogue. Klein digs deep into the social, political and religious context of the building, universally recognized as a flagship European synagogue. He shows that the great synagogue is not just an archaic curiosity. It was a trend-setting building in its time. It is still awe inspiring today, modern and exciting in its use of exotic decoration and new technologies. Klein's clear text is supplemented by his excellent photographs that fully join word to image.

Prof. Samuel D. Gruber

International Survey of Jewish Monuments, Syracuse, N.Y.

This perceptive book restores the historical status of one of the nineteenth-century's pivotal architectural monuments, the Dohány Street Synagogue. It also answers a crying need to reconstruct the aim of its eminent Viennese architect, Ludwig Förster. Rudolf Klein does this admirably, bringing together and analyzing the scant material available as well as the contemporary reactions to the project and setting it within the historical and religious framework of the tradition of synagogue construction. Klein not only uncovers the meaning of the synagogue in the cultural discourse of the epoch; he also places it accurately in the open-ended history of modern architecture and the people involved in it.

Dr. Sergey Kratsov

The Center for Jewish Art, The hebrew University of Jerusalem

Text and photographs by: Rudolf Klein

Academic editors: Zsuzsa Toronyi, Michael Miller

Book design: Csongor Németh

English translation: Rudolf Klein

4800.- HUF