A more than €2 million restoration of the interior of the elaborate art nouveau synagogue in Subotica, Serbia is set to begin soon, and the building, one of central Europe’s most splendid art nouveau monuments, is due to be reopened after full reconstruction at the end of 2017. The restoration of its four exterior facades was completed earlier this year, after four years of work.
(Thanks to Rudi Klein, the author of an award-winning book about the synagogue, for the recent photograph above).
A contract was signed on October 20th between Yumol Ltd., Subotica and the Hungarian National Council of Serbia for the restoration of the interior and the surroundings of the synagogue, including fencing, lighting and landscaping. The 275 million dinar (more than €2.2 million) restoration will begin in early November and is to be completed by December 31 2017. The Hungarian state has donated 700 million forint — €2 million — to the synagogue restoration.
Subotica (known in Hungarian as Szabadka) was part of Hungary at the time the synagogue, dedicated in 1902, was built, and 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.
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.
“The most important thing is that finally we know that the deadline for the full completion of the end of next year and it is now certain,” Robert Sabadoš, president of the Jewish communty in Serbia, was quoted by local media as saying. “I hope that everything will be as planned because most of Subotica believes that it is high time that we begin to use the synagogue for religious and cultural purposes.”
See a slide show about the history and architecture of the building
See an article about the interior restoration on Blic news site (in Serbian)
See an article about the interior restoration on the Vajma news site (in Hungarian)