Budapest’s Dohany Street Synagogue receives European heritage status

Budapest’s Dohány Street Synagogue, the largest in Europe, has been awarded European heritage status.

It is the first synagogue to receive this prestigious honour.

The synagogue marks the emancipation of Jews as Hungarian citizens during the mid-19th century, now celebrating its 150th anniversary.

Built in the 1850s’, the Dohány Street Synagogue is the largest synagogue in Europe and the second largest one in the world. Its surroundings include a museum and archives, a memorial for 10,000 Jewish Hungarian soldiers who lost their lives in the First World War, a garden used as a cemetery for the victims of the Holocaust, as well as the Wallenberg Memorial Park. The Dohány Street Synagogue Complex is a symbol of integration, remembrance and openness to dialogue.

The recognition of the European Heritage Label was initiated by Hungary, France and Spain in 2006 with the intention that Europeans should be more aware of and esteem their common – and many times different – historical and cultural heritages. The European Heritage Label recognizes the European heritage sites which are important in light of local communities, European identity and mutual European history. The prestigious title are given to sites that pose additional values beyond borders. So far 29 European sites had been recognized.

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