Work on the new, EU-funded Orthodox Jewish Heritage Route in Eastern Hungary has been completed. Its new visitor centers and other new infrastructure are open, and there’s a multi-lingual web site in Hungarian and English (with Hebrew planned) to guide visitors.
“The project is organically linked to the goals of the recently established National Council for Religious Tourism,” András Heisler, president of MAZSIHISZ, the umbrella organization of Hungary’s Neolog Jewish communities, said at the ceremony this week in Sátoraljaújhely marking completion of the project.
The towns involved in the project have so far attracted orthodox pilgrims, but the investment could open up new perspectives for the wider community.
The 1.4 billion forint (around €4 million) project upgraded infrastructure in order to facilitate visits by religious pilgrims and others to the tombs of noted Hasidic rabbis and other orthodox Jewish heritage sites in five towns and cities in eastern Hungary — Miskolc, Sátoraljaújhely, Nagykálló, and Nyírtass in the northeast, and Makó, in the south.
Funded by the EU and supported by the Hungarian government, it was overseen by a consortium led by MAZSIHISZ, along with the municipal administration of Makó, and two Hasidic foundations that deal with cemeteries and pilgrimage sites: Hácár Hákodes Tass Foundation (Nyírtass), and the Chevra Kadisha of Yetev Lev Satmar Congregation (Sátoraljaújhely).
The project was formally announced at Hanukkah in December 2018, and on-site work began in 2019.
We wrote about it, extensively describing the general project, in July 2020.
We also reported on the rededication of the synagogue in Mako in August 2020 in the context of the project, after a six-month renovation process that included a new visitor center in an adjacent building.
“The aim of the project is to create touristic attractions extending beyond settlement borders, ensuring that Jewish cultural and historical heritage is preserved and presented in a comprehensible way,” the Route’s web site states.
Locations of the project preserve the cultural and spiritual heritage of the Hungarian Jewry. By developing the infrastructure of currently visited religious touristic sites, a broader target group can be reached, and seasonal fluctuation of the number of tourists can be reduced.
Moreover, it stresses, the route is aimed to help the local economy as well as aid visitors, with the improvement of accommodation and other infrastructure enabling the possibility to expand the tourist season: “events are conducted on a high standard of quality, more overnight stays are generated, and jobs are created for local residents.”
Watch a video aboutnthe project:
Within the framework of the project:
In Miskolc — among other things, a visitor center equipped with modern exhibition equipment was built.
In Sátoraljaújhely, where thousands visit the tomb of the Tzaddik Moses Teitelbaum every year — a pilgrimage accommodation and prayer rooms was built. (According to MAZSHISZ, the pilgrimage accommodation is currently being used by refugees from Ukraine).
In Nyírtass, home of the Tosh hasidic dynasty — a new pilgrimage center with accommodation, a conference center, a mikvah, a kosher dining room and a school, was built.
In Nagykálló, home to Rabbi Isaac Taub, founder of the Kaliv Hasidic dynasty, who died in 1821 and is buried there — a pilgrimage house with an exhibition space equipped with modern exhibition technology and an information desk was created.
In Makó, where hundreds of pilgrims gather each year to pay their respects to Rabbi Moses Vorhand (1860 – 1944) on the anniversary of his death — in addition to the restoration of the synagogue and creation of the visitors’ center, a 1.3 km road leading to the Jewish cemetery where Rabbi Vorhand is buried was built.
The Route is one of several EU-funded Jewish heritage tourism and preservation projects that have been carried out in Hungary in recent years.
As we wrote in 2017, another EU funded project called “Footsteps of Wonder Rabbis” already functions as a tourism hub in northeastern Hungary, serving religious pilgrims and mainstream tourists alike. This project has its headquarters in the synagogue complex in Mád, which includes a museum and a guest house, and mainly focuses on Jewish heritage routes in the Tokaj wine-making region.
In 2013, thanks to a €1.41-million transnational grant from the EU’s European Regional Development Fund(ERDF), the historic Pásti street synagogue in Debrecen and the Zion synagogue across the border in Oradea, Romania, were restored with the aim of promoting religious tourism itineraries and cultural educational programs.
In June 2018, the three-year, €1.8 million Rediscover Jewish heritage tourism project started. It included nine mid-sized cities in eight countries of the EU’s Danube Region, with the municipality of Szeged, Hungary — which has a marvellous synagogue, Jewish cemetery and other Jewish heritage, as well as an active Jewish community — the lead partner.
Read the MAZSIHISZ article about completion of the project
Web site of the new Jewish Heritage Route in Eastern Hungary
Read our 2020 article about the project
Read our August 2020 article about the dedication of the Mako synagogue
1 comment on “Hungary Update: the new Orthodox Jewish Heritage Tourism Route in Eastern Hungary is completed”
For some reason the interesting Jewish sites in western Hungary have not been included, maybe they will do a separate route for the west.