A joint Ukrainian-Hungarian project will renovate the former Great Synagogue in Berehove/Beregszasz, Ukraine and restore the original 19th century exterior appearance. The project will dismantle the Soviet-era concrete shell built around the synagogue in 1969, when it was turned into a city culture center.
Ukrainian and Hungarian officials announced the project February 18 at an event in Berehove (known in Hungarian as Beregszász). The town is located in western Ukraine close to the border with Hungary and has a large Hungarian ethnic minority..
“The historic moment that only a few believed in has arrived, the removal of the concrete sarcophagus trapping the exquisite building will begin,” Hungarian Foreign Ministry’s state secretary Levente Magyar said.
Transcarpathian Regional State Administration head Viktor Mykita said paperwork and planning were already under way, and renovation work on the building, a landmark on the town’s central square, is planned to begin in 2023.
Funding for the reconstruction is provided by the Government of Hungary.
Magyar said the building should reopen at the end of 2024.
In addition to removing the concrete casing and refurbishing the original exterior, a modern new wing housing offices and public spaces will be built, connected to the former synagogue by a glass atrium. Interior work will include constructing a modern theatre.
The Great Synagogue was built in the late 19th century at one end of the central square. It was confiscated by the state in the 1950s.
The town’s small Orthodox Synagogue still functions as a house of worship and has undergone restoration, partly financed by the Hungarian Foreign Ministry.
The restoration project resembles as similar project in Varaždin, Croatia, where over the past two years the communist-era shell was removed and the original facade rebuilt.
Click here to watch a video presentation of the Beregszasz restoration plan
3 comments on “Ukraine: Joint Hungarian-Ukrainian project will remove Soviet-era concrete shell and renovate former Great Synagogue of Beregszász/Berehove”
Vising there just over 2 years ago on a family roots tour, we saw this old large former shul and the smaller one referenced in this article. The town of Beregszasz/Berehove is in the far western part of Ukraine, the opposite side of what is a relatively large country, quite distant from the parts of eastern Ukraine making headlines in the general press now. Beregszasz/Berehove is right beside the border with Hungary, as the article states. It’s most unlikely that the “Soviet Era” will return here. The Hungarians wouldn’t buy that. Victor Orban has his own interests here, in this former area of the old Astro-Hungarian Empire. For example, in addition to the shuls, Hungary supports a Hungarian language high school in this town.
It is NOT “The Ukraine.” It is simply “Ukraine.” The country is no longer considered a region, which is why the “the” should not be used.
If it is in the Ukraine, then the “Soviet Era” may well return before the projected completion date.