(JHE) — A new web site features detailed digital models and interactive virtual tours of a diverse group of synagogues in Hungary — from a gothic medieval synagogue in Sopron dating from the 14th century, to the grandiose New Synagogue in Szeged, dedicated in 1903 and the masterpiece of prolific synagogue architect Lipot Baumhorn.
The web site — tudastar.mazsihisz.hu — is a project of MAZSIHISZ, the main Hungarian Jewish umbrella organization, and marks an expansion of its digital resources and online presence.
Accessible in both Hungarian and English, the web site posts interactive virtual walks through five synagogues: the older of the two medieval synagogues in Sopron, the orthodox synagogue in Mako, the Heroes Synagogue in Budapest, the New Synagogue in Szeged, and the Neolog synagogue in Nagykanizsa.
Four more synagogues are due to be added by the end of January — the orthodox and neolog synagogues in Miskolc, and those in Komárom and Bonyhád.
The initiative is the latest in a growing number of virtual tours and digital walks through synagogues, Jewish quarters, and other Jewish heritage sites — even cemeteries — launched in recent years, and especially since the beginning of the pandemic.
The Hungarian 3D tours, for example, are similar to the virtual tours of Polish synagogues (and other sites) launched in October by the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland (FODZ).
They enable users to enter the buildings from the outside and virtually tour the interior, “moving around” with a click of a button. Users can also click information points to learn specifics about the buildings’ history and architecture.
The Hungarian synagogues chosen for the virtual exploration (including the four to be added by the end of January) demonstrate different historical periods, different architectural styles, different state of repair, and different current use.
They include synagogues that are used as museums or tourist attractions, such as that in Sopron; synagogues in use for worship, such as those in Komarom and Miskolc, and synagogues that are neglected and in disrepair, such as those in Bonyhad and Nagykanizsa.
The Virtual Synagogues web page is part of a broader digital portal by MAZSIHISZ that is already online but still in the final stages of development. This will link the virtual synagogues with a Fundraising Portal where users can support Jewish social action projects, and a “Knowledge Base” that will aggregate links, mainly on the topic of Hungarian Jewish history and the Holocaust.
The aim was “to pay tribute in the digital space to all those who have left an irreplaceable void, while also showing what has survived and what it represents today in its own community,” organizers said.
“Above all, we want to support education in schools,” Jozsef Horvath, vice president of MAZSIHISZ and president of the Jewish social action Cödoko Foundation, told the Jewish publication Szombat. “In order to facilitate the work of teachers, we are offering educational websites, museum pedagogical publications and research databases developed primarily by the Hungarian Jewish Museum and Archives (Milev), and we will later expand this to include links to other organizations. Our goal is to integrate the materials of the knowledge base into the materials of history, art history, geography, aesthetics, ethics and theology.”
The project was funded by the Cödoko Foundation, MAZSIHISZ, the Hungarian state, and the World Jewish Congress.
Access the Virtual Synagogue Walks home page