SYNAGOGUE

The Subotica Synagogue, completed in October 1902, is the work of the associates of Lehner architects Deje Jakab (Jakab Dezsö, 1864-1932) and Marcela Chamber (Comor Marcell, 1868-1944), which the Subotica often engaged. The project of the Subotica Synagogue was made earlier (1900) on the occasion of the competition for the Jewish chapel in Szeged.
The conservative project Lipot Baumhorn (1860-1932), which designed the Rijeka (1902) and the Novi Sad (1903) synagogue, won the right to perform there. The Jakaba and the Chamber project was purchased for Subotica without a competition and with minor changes realized. “Apart from artistic, aesthetic and material values, the building is, in a constructive way, unique and very rare in our region. The dome construction of the dome is a real engineering and craftsman’s masterpiece, and the secondary construction of the interior dome and vaults of the construction of the structure with some kind of reinforced concrete ribs represents the true rarity in our parts, and due to the construction time (1902) avant-garde, and at the same time very a successful venture, “said Dr Oskar Hrabovski, during an examination on the 25th of October 1976 on the state of construction of the synagogue building.
In the ground plan the building is five-pillar, with the center of the main dome resting on an octagonal steel structure (eight columns of an iron skeleton cover a richly decorated plaster work). These pillars at the same time form the basis of its exceptional construction. In the upper zone, the columns are interconnected by steel horizontal beams height 80 cm, which are drowned in a massive circumferential octagonal brick wall (tambourine). By guiding the angular steel beams to the interior, from the square of the corrugated corners in which the steel columns are located, the correct osmougaon base for the peripheral wall of the tambourine has been created. Above the tambour of the tomb is a thin rabic membrane of a thickness of 8-10 cm, whose stiffness and bearing are provided by means of star-shaped ribs 50 cm high and eight at the top, with thirty-two ribs bent toward the base of the dome.Above the dome is a wooden construction of a tower, which protects the working dome from weather influences and at the same time emphasizes its position in the outer space. Four smaller towers above the corner corners of the synagogue establish a balance of mass, emphasizing the vertical of the four steps of the Synagogue. With this method of supporting the central dome on the pillars, the outer walls are relieved of loads, representing the walls of the membrane, mimicking the tent construction. Thus, the whole building is in perfect static balance.The outer walls are relieved of loads, representing the walls of the membrane, mimicking the tent construction. Thus, the whole building is in perfect static balance.The outer walls are relieved of loads, representing the walls of the membrane, mimicking the tent construction. Thus, the whole building is in perfect static balance.
The building is so designed to meet the needs of the liturgy to the smallest detail. There is a logical framework of function and form, which is not a characteristic of the construction of that time and style. The three main main decorated entrance as well as the southern and northern side entrances provide comfortable communication on the ground floor, while the special side entrances on all four sides allow communication with the gallery part where they are provided special places for women. With the main façade of the dome, they are connected by a fine arched bridging with reliefs in terracotta, binding organically with reliefs at the points. This decorative form of the Terracotta Synagogue is made in the form of relief friezes that follow the basic line of facades, roses or individual reliefs that form horizontal wreaths and arrays around the holes, stained glass or portal.The uniquely designed secondary plastics of high artistic quality was consistently implemented in a unique artistic conception and processing of a high relief. Each and every small piece of embossed plastic makes an exceptional artistic composition in relation to the facade and ornamentation made of other materials. Leaf forms in a corrugated series alternate with flowers and fruits, and are axially parallel. The motifs are characteristic of the Hungarian variant of secession-folk motifs derived from the basic forms of rose, flax, peacock feathers and leaves that are lowered as seeds of matured fruits.Leaf forms in a corrugated series alternate with flowers and fruits, and are axially parallel. The motifs are characteristic of the Hungarian variant of secession-folk motifs derived from the basic forms of rose, flax, peacock feathers and leaves that are lowered as seeds of matured fruits.Leaf forms in a corrugated series alternate with flowers and fruits, and are axially parallel. The motifs are characteristic of the Hungarian variant of secession-folk motifs derived from the basic forms of rose, flax, peacock feathers and leaves that are lowered as seeds of matured fruits.
This herbal ornamentation is characteristic for the interior of the synagogue, the decoration of decoration and plastic decoration (painted ornaments made of plaster), herbal motifs of stained glass, which rhythmically change with the symmetry of the object, intensely illuminating the interior space because they are placed one against the other, mirrored like in a mirror, and a wall with a rich gold-plated relief. The stained-glass windows were made in a workshop of the well-known stained-glass Mikhail Rota, and are accompanied by an object at all levels, the ground floor, the dome gallery and the dome theme filled with airy stained glass from the center of which the chandelier is lowered (which was restored and reconstructed in 1993) terracotta, and glazed pyrogranites of elements made in Zolnai (Zsolnay) factory in Pecs.
Elements of facade decoration on two side facades were re-created at the Žolnai factory in 1991 from pirogranites, as well as table 10 commands that were on the attack on all four sides of the building.
During the Second World War, many of the Subotica Jews were deported to concentration camps, and from five thousand Jews in Subotica before the war, only barely two hundred remained after the end of the war. This reduced Jewish community no longer had the means to care for the synagogue, and the building was handed over to the city in 1979.
In December 1980, the roofed structure of the central dome was erected by hydraulic presses to its original position, preventing its further curvature and collapse. Also, parts of the damaged wooden structure were replaced, part by part, and the replaced roof-top was covered with a glossy colored pigment, as well as a double cloth on the top of the sheet, replaced by copper in the same shape and ornaments.
Also, the dome was restored in the dome, as well as the stained-glass windows on the ground floor, only small stained glass in the gallery, and in the dome all stained glass, in the famous stained-glass workshop Stanišić from Sombor. Large circular stained glass windows are not even restored, and the stained-glass windows are damaged and restored as well.
The Subotica Synagogue was proclaimed a cultural monument in 1975, and since 1990 it has been a cultural monument of exceptional significance. By analyzing the materialized space that creates the synagogue with its rounded, dome walled wall, the impression of the inside of the tent comes in. The architect’s desire to create an ambient of an original tent for storing Torah rolls from a solid building material is in this case further motivated by the design of architecture with national characteristics, has reached the perfect expression in the subotica synagogue.