For its Synagogue, Subotica’s Jewish Community chose the design that won second prize in the Szeged synagogue architectural competition, thus making Subotica a home to one of the “most beautiful synagogues in this part of Europe” – as Subotica’s citizens like to say. The Synagogue was built 1902, according to the project of Marcell Komor and Dezső Jakab.
In addition to its indisputable artistic and aesthetic value, it is exceptional because it is the only Synagogue in Europe which contains elements of the Hungarian Art Nouveau. Typical of this style, floral decoration in the form of a peacock feather, tulips, stylized roses or lilies are represented on the façade as well as in the interior, on stained glass windows and painted walls. The stained glass windows were made in Miksa Róth’s studio in Budapest and façade decoration and roof tiles in the Pécs Zsolnay ceramics factory. The interior, designed like a tent, evokes the Old Testament times, and the bright harmony of colors was meant to stir feelings of joy.
The Synagogue was able to receive up to 1600 people, 850 men on the ground floor and 550 women on the gallery. Valid testaments of its size are its dimensions: height of the interior space is 23 meters, and the diameter of the dome is 12.6 meters. The external height of the building is 40 meters.
After World War II, a small number of surviving Jews from Subotica could neither fill nor maintain the building. In 1976, the Synagogue became property of the city. At the end of the eighties, many theater performances were held in the Synagogue. After the completion of the reconstruction in 2018, the building became one of the most popular tourist sights in Subotica.
