The Hungarian government has allocated further funding toward the restoration of the art nouveau synagogue in Subotica, Serbia, which is nearing completion.
According to a decision published this week in the Official Gazette, the government has allocated an additional 106 million forints (€338,000) toward the restoration. Some 49 million forints has been budgeted for this year and another 57 million forints for 2018.
The new funding adds to more than 700 million forints (around €2.5 million) already granted by the Hungarian state.
Subotica (known in Hungarian as Szabadka) was part of Hungary at the time the synagogue, dedicated in 1902, was built. It was designed by the Budapest-based architects Dezső Jakab and Marcell Komor, who also designed the town hall and other buildings. Fitful renovation of the building has been going on since the mid-1970s but only gained momentum in recent years.
Over the past dozen years, the synagogue has been a priority project of the World Monuments Fund and its Jewish Heritage Program, with funding from several donors. The WMF had put the synagogue on its “Watch List” of endangered historic buildings back in 1996, and again in 2000-2001, and Europa Nostra put it on its Seven Most Endangered List in 2014.
We have reported regularly on the renovation work.
The restoration of the interior of the building began about a year ago, after the completion of the renovation of the exterior.
The synagogue remains the property of the municipality of Subotica, but, according to local media, under an agreement signed last year, it will be managed by the city, the local Jewish community and the Hungarian National Council of Serbia.
Click for the English language MTI report about the grant
Click to access an online exhibition about the synagogue by the WMF
Click to see some of our previous articles about the synagogue