Dohány Street Synagogue

The Dohány Street Synagogue, also known as the Great Synagogue, is the largest synagogue in Europe and one of the largest in the world, and it is the heart of the old Jewish Quarter in District VII. Designed by the Viennese architect Ludwig Förster and consecrated on 6 September 1859, it has twin onion-domed towers 44 metres high, a facade of red and yellow brick, and an interior that blends Byzantine, Moorish and Romantic influences, with galleries, a great organ and seats for nearly 3,000 worshippers, divided between men and women. It is still an active synagogue, a centre of the Neolog tradition that was distinctive to Hungarian Jewry. The complex tells a story that is both glorious and tragic. Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism, was born in a house on this site. During the winter of 1944 and 1945, the synagogue stood within the walls of the Budapest ghetto, and thousands of people who died there are buried in the courtyard cemetery, an extraordinary sight in a synagogue garden. Behind the synagogue, the Raoul Wallenberg Memorial Park is named after the Swedish diplomat who saved tens of thousands of Budapest Jews, and holds the Tree of Life, a weeping willow made of metal, each of its leaves engraved with the name of a victim. The Heroes' Temple, built to commemorate Jewish soldiers who died in the First World War, and the Hungarian Jewish Museum, with ritual objects and a Holocaust exhibition, complete the complex. In 2026, an adult ticket costs around 14,500 HUF, with reduced rates for students and children and a family ticket, and it includes a 45-minute guided tour in one of several languages, which runs frequently through the day.

Plan the day carefully. The complex is closed every Saturday and on Jewish holidays, and it closes early on Fridays. From November to the end of December 2026, it opens from mid-morning to late afternoon from Sunday to Thursday and closes in the early afternoon on Fridays, with the last entry and ticket sales an hour before closing. It is also closed on 24 and 25 December 2026. Book ahead in summer, when groups fill the morning tours, and allow time for the security check at the entrance; large backpacks are not allowed. Dress modestly, with shoulders and knees covered, and men must cover their heads; a kippah is provided at the entrance if you do not have a hat.

Working the visit: join the guided tour, included in the ticket, as soon as you enter; it explains the architecture, the Neolog tradition and the history of the ghetto, and then lets you explore the museum, the cemetery and the memorial park at your own pace. Allow ninety minutes to two hours in total. The Rumbach Street Synagogue, a beautifully restored Moorish-style synagogue a few minutes away, is on a separate ticket and opens only on Sundays through 2026. The Kozma Street Jewish Cemetery, on the outskirts, is a separate site.

Beyond the synagogue, the Jewish Quarter is one of the liveliest districts in Budapest, with kosher restaurants, bakeries, street art, the courtyards of Gozsdu Udvar and the ruin bars that grew up in its abandoned buildings. Walk the streets around Kazinczy, Dob and Király to see the neighbourhood's layers: the Orthodox synagogue on Kazinczy Street, memorial plaques, and the wall fragment of the wartime ghetto. Pair the synagogue with a walking tour of the quarter, or with the Shoes on the Danube Bank memorial and the House of Terror for a deeper day on the twentieth century.