Hired a private guide to tour the Jewish quarter, and visited a couple of synagogues. The synagogues are equally sumptuously decorated like
others built in that epoque, even the guide feels a bit ashamed of the
unneccesary lavish decoration.
During 2nd world war. part of the area was turned into a ghetto to hold Jewish citizens before sending them off to Auschwistz.
All these happened eventhough the Jews had been trying very hard to blend into the society, speaking Hungarian, designing new synagogue that has a lot of Catholic Church layout, even an Organ, when music was not allowed in Jewish service. Still they were betrayed by fellow Hungarians and over half a million perished.
After the war, some of the grounds of collapsed houses were used to serve food and drinks, a cheap way to make a living. This then became trendy, renamed Ruin Bars, and are now popular drinking destinations for locals and tourists.
A few metro stops away is City Park, site of a small park in the good old days and huge waste land around. The city made an ambitious plan to redevelop the whole area incorporating a lot of trees and themed buildings, all with very eye catching designs.The first two finished just 2 years ago are Etnography Museum and House of Music.
Etnography Museum is in 2 parts rising like soaring wings, lots of public space inside to sit and relax after watching exhibitions. The large scale model of Budapest as in 1910 attracted a lot of attention.
The House of Music was designed by a Japanese architect, with tree of life as concept. A voluminous design with lots of lights and colours. There is a fantastic exhibition where visitors need to wear headphone, to listen to sound and accompanying visual effects to explore what we hear throughout the centuries.
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