Kevin & Karyn's Hungarian Adventure 2012: House of Terror/ Dohany Synagogue/ Basilica Concert

10/20/2012

Mid week Kevin's sister, Mary & Austin joined us for a tour in Hungary and then to Prague for a family history tour. Of course we toured around Gyor and then headed Budapest as a must see city. Kevin contacted another Fulbright Scholar assigned in Budapest as a History Instructor to join them with a guided tour of Buda Castle and the surrounding historical sites.

House of Terror - Budapest

Chain Monument to the Iron Curtain

Ryan, Carmen and I headed to the House of Terror with Peter Ihasz (Frankie's son who is in college in Budapest). Peter was an excellent tour guide throughout the exhibit, providing additional tidbits not included on the printed material. The House of Terror is a Museum on Andrassy St. in Budapest, the former Headquarters of both the Nazi & Communist Party. The museum follows the history of Dual Occupation of Hungary by the Nazi's and then the Communists before acquiring freedom in 1989.

http://www.terrorhaza.hu/en/index_2.html

Peter Ihasz, Ryan & Carmen

We were also able to walk to the Dohany Street Synagogue - the Largest Synagogue in Central Europe and the 2nd largest in the world. http://www.greatsynagogue.hu/gallery_syn.html

We arrived after closing but the architecture of the building is amazing and we were able to see into the courtyard as well as behind the building where the Weeping Willow Memorial http://www.greatsynagogue.hu/gallery_wall.html is on exhibit. It is dedicated to those who were victims of the Holocaust in Hungary. Each leaf is etched with the name of a person from the Holocaust.

Here are just a few pictures of our visit.

Dohany Synagogue - Budapest

Window - Dohany Synagogue

Weeping Willow Memorial - Budapest

Memorial to those who Died in the Holocaust in Hungary

We finished the day with a concert at the St. Stephan's Basilica featuring Ryan's Saxophone teacher, Erzsebet Seleljo in a duet with the pipe organ. It was amazing to hear the music of Vivaldi in the incredible acoustics of the Basilica. The church is named after the 1st King of Hungary, Stephan, and is the third largest church in present day Hungary. Beautiful, amazing and photos do not do justice to the incredible detail in every aspect of the church Baroque interior.

http://bazilika.biz/