The octagonal hall
An eight-sided space under a central dome with ornament on every surface — an Andalusian effect familiar to an Arab eye.
The Rumbach Street Synagogue is smaller than the nearby Dohány and far less known, but many find its interior the more beautiful of the two. It was built between 1869 and 1872 to a design by the Austrian architect Otto Wagner — later one of Europe's most important Art Nouveau architects — and this was early work, done when he was thirty. The style is Moorish Revival as at Dohány, but the execution differs: a façade of coloured brick in fine geometric patterning between two octagonal towers, and inside an octagonal space beneath a central dome, its every surface covered in red, blue and gold ornament. The effect is closer to an Andalusian interior than to anything European — and strikingly familiar to an Arab eye. It was built for the "status quo" conservative current among Budapest's Jews, while Dohány served the reform current and Kazinczy the Orthodox — so the three synagogues together explain the divisions of 19th-century Hungarian Jewry better than any display panel could. The building stood derelict for decades after the war and reopened after a full restoration completed in 2021 — so what you see today is clean and bright in a way that may surprise anyone who has seen older photographs.
An eight-sided space under a central dome with ornament on every surface — an Andalusian effect familiar to an Arab eye.
Designed at thirty, before he became one of Europe's leading Art Nouveau architects — the seed of his style is visible here.
Coloured brick in fine geometric patterning between two octagonal towers — worth studying from the street before you go in.
Because Budapest's Jews split in the 19th century into three currents: reform (Dohány), status quo conservative (Rumbach) and Orthodox (Kazinczy). Each built its own synagogue minutes from the others — and the three together map that division.
Dohány for the largest and best known, with the museum, cemetery and Tree of Life — a fuller and heavier experience. Rumbach for the finer interior, the quiet and the lower price. For photographers and architecture lovers: Rumbach.
Head covering is required for men, with caps at the door, and modest dress is expected. The building is now used for events and concerts as well as visits, so an event may be under way — check before going.
Start at Dohány (largest and heaviest), then Rumbach three minutes away, then Kazinczy. Three hours covers all of them, and it is the clearest way to understand the history of Budapest Jewry in one place.
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On the history of Budapest Jewry and its three currents — it explains why the quarter holds three adjacent synagogues.
Rumbach Sebestyén utca 11, District VII, Pest 1075