This year marks the 160th birthday of the prolific Hungarian synagogue architect Lipót Baumhorn (1860-19320).
In honor of Baumhorn’s 160th, we are posting here a pdf of the chapter about Baumhorn — “SYNAGOGUES SEEKING HEAVEN” — that appears in JHE director Ruth Ellen Gruber’s 1994 book “Upon the Doorposts of Thy House.”
It’s a chronicle of a journey of discovery — most likely the first appreciation of Baumhorn in English.
Ruth began seeking out him and his work more than 30 years ago, when he was all but forgotten — visiting his masterpiece, the New Synagogue in Szeged, and his last synagogue, that in Gyongyos, for the first time in 1989.
She and the photographer Edward Serotta (founder and director of centropa.org) found and literally uncovered Baumhorn’s long-abandoned grave in Budapest’s Kozma utca Jewish cemetery.
Much since she wrote this has changed.
Some of his synagogues and his grave have been restored, or virtually reconstructed, and he and his architectural work have become topics of research and study — people are now doing their PhDs on Baumhorn.
His synagogue Novi Sad, Serbia, has even been featured on a postage stamp.
Much has not changed, though — the Fabic Synagogue in Timisoara, Romania remains in derelict and seriously deteriorating condition.
we have posted about some of these developments, both positive and negative.