Passage to Eastern Europe: Budapest Jewish Quarter (8/25/2021)

Wednesday, August 25, 2021 (continued)
After checking in, we left the hotel to explore Pest, the part of Budapest on the eastern right bank of the Danube River.

Belügyminisztérium/Ministry of the Interior (1905,
by Zsigmond Quittner for the Hungarian Commerce Bank)

Kent admires the work of artist Ignác Roskovics
(2011, by Mihajlo Kolodko, with a similar
statue in Uzhhorod, Ukraine where Roskovics
also lived) who died in Budapest

Ignác Roskovics is painting the
Széchenyi Lánchíd/Széchenyi Chain Bridge

Replica of Danube Wind (1937,
by Pátzay Pál) (KSS)

Magyar Tengerészek Hősi Emlékműve/Hungarian
Seamen's Memorial (1993) with a copy of the
anchor of the ship Ungvár (blown up in 1941
by a Russian mine in the Black Sea)

Kiskirálylány-szobor/Little Princess Statue
(1990 enlarged copy of 1972 statuette
by László Marton) (KSS)

Vigadó Hangversenyterem/Vigado Concert Hall
(1859, by Frigyes Feszl in a mix of Romantic,
Moorish, and Byzantine styles)

Kutyás lány-szobor/Girl with her Dog Statue
(2007, by David Raffai)

Shakespeare-emlékmű/Shakespeare Monument
(2003, by József Finta, a replica of the 1959 statue by
Andor Meszaros, located in Ballarat City, Victoria, Australia)

Vörösmarty Mihály szobra/Mihály Vörösmarty Monument
(1980, by Eduard Telcs and Ede Kallós) of the Hungarian poet
who is surrounded by figures from various classes of society

Gerbeaud Kávéház/Café Gerbeaud (est 1858 by
 Henrik Kugler, building 1862, by József Hild in
Gründerzeit style, purchased by Émile Gerbeaud in 1892)
is a confectionary extraordinaire

Café Gerbeaud interior (1910, attributed to
Henrik Darilek in French Rococo style)

Macaron tree

Gerbeaud is known for its Macskanyelvet csokoládé/
Cat's tongue chocolates

Gerbeaud is also known for specialty cakes

Gerbeaud 160 torta/cake (developed in 2018, the
160th jubilee of Gerbeaud)

Onyx14 torta

Sós mogyoróbarackos torta/Salted peanuts
and apricot cake

Dobos torta

Royal csokoládé/chocolate torta (2010)

Oroszlános kút/Lion Fountain (1985, on the site of a well,
surrounds a 19C lamppost)

Erzsébet tér/Elizabeth Square with the Budapest Óriáskereke/
Ferris Wheel of Budapest aka Budapest Eye (2017)

Also in the square is the Michael Jackson emlékfa/
Michael Jackson Memorial Tree (since 2009)

Népdal szobor/Folk Song Statue (1928, by János Horvay)
with the inscription: "The weeping willow branch of
my little flute" (from a Sándor Petőfi song) (KSS)

"The Michael Jackson Memorial Window"

Rumbach zsinagóga/Rumbach Street
Synagogue (1869-1872, by Otto Wagner
in Moorish Revival style)

The Rumbach Street Synagogue served as
a deportation point for about 20,000 Jews
fleeing from as far as Poland as well as
from Hungary, who were executed
in Kamianets-Podilskyi in Ukraine

The Rumbach Street Synagogue will now be a cultural center hosting theatre, art and music exhibitions.

This building at Rumbach Street #10 is marked with a 
plaque stating the basement held one of the last functioning
water faucets, making it possible for 70,000 Hungarian Jews
to survive in this ghetto until liberated in 1945

Glückmann-bérház/Glückmann apartment
building at Rumbach Sebestyén u. 6
is designed by brothers Mikló and
Ernő Román in Art Nouveau style

A Rubik-kocka/Rubik's Cube mural
(2014, by Neopaint) is a tribute to the
puzzle created by Ernő Rubik (KSS)

Carl Lutz emlékmű/Carl Lutz Memorial
(1991, by Tamás Szabó) (KSS)

From 1942, Swiss Consul in Budapest, Carl Lutz, negotiated with the Nazis and the Hungarian government permission to issue special Swiss safe-conduct passes to British-controlled Palestine. He deliberately used his permission for 8,000 protective letters as applying to families rather than individuals, and thus saved the lives of tens of thousands of Jews. He also set up "safe-houses" in Budapest and declared them annexes of the Swiss legation. In 1965, Yad Vashem (Israel's memorial to the Holocaust) awarded Carl Lutz the title of "Righteous Among the Nations," for his life-saving deeds.

Kazinczy utcai Zsinagóga/Kazinczy Street
Synagogue (1912-1913, by Sándor Löffler
and Béla Löffler in Art Nouveau style)

It is very difficult taking photos of building in these narrow streets!

The rear of Dohány utcai Zsinagóga/Dohány Street Synagogue
and Hősök emléktemploma/Heroes Memorial Temple (1931,
by László Vágó and Ferenc Faragó) served as a memorial
to Hungarian Jews who gave their lives in World War I

A magyar zsidó vértanúk emlékműve/Monument to the
Hungarian Jewish Martyrs aka Tree of Life (2012, by
Imre Varga) to commemorate the 400,000 Jews killed
by the Nazis, including about 2,000 buried here

The Monument to the Hungarian Jewish Martyrs of World War II is located in the Raoul Wallenberg Holocaust Memorial Park (1998) behind the Dohány Street or Great Synagogue.

The cloister of the Heroes Memorial Temple,
 the s-called Hősök sírkertje/Tomb of Heroes,
is indeed a cemetery although in normal
circumstances a cemetery is not permitted on
the premises of a house of prayer, yet during
World War II, there was nowhere else to bury
the 2,000 dead of the Budapest ghetto

Names of the known victims are remembered

Dohány utcai Zsinagóga/Dohány Street
or Nagy Zinagóga/Great Synagogue
(1854-1859, Ludwig Förster in Moorish
Revival style) was built on the site on
which Theodor Herzl's house of birth stood

Theodor Herzl was an Austro-Hungarian Jewish journalist and political activist, who is considered the father of modern Zionism. He promoted Jewish immigration to Palestine in an effort to form a Jewish state.

Our optional shore excursion to the Dohány Street
Synagogue had long been cancelled due to the
scheduling of the Jewish Cultural Festival
for August 22-29, 2021

Sisi szobor/Sisi Statue (2018, by
 Mária R Törley) depicts Austro-Hungarian
Empress Elizabeth, aka Sisi, who is said to
have preferred living in Budapest, not Vienna

Mobile book stall (KSS)

Szent István Bazilika/St Stephen's Basilica (1850-1905,
by Miklós Ybl in Neo-Classical style) is exactly as tall
as the Hungarian Parliament building

Instead of Bolt, the Hungarians have Wolt food delivery

Tamiko rubs the belly of the Fat Policeman
(2008, by Illyés András) for luck, but then
she has to sanitize her hand! (KSS)

Dinner-on-our-own was slices of pizza; for takeout
the slice was placed on cardstock, covered with clear 
plastic, and placed in a waxed paper bag!

Next: Budapest Parliament.