The mayor Dr. Aleksander Jevšek hosted Dr. Kornél Almássy, the director of the Hungarian Museum of Architecture and Monument Protection Documentation Center, as well as Dr. Ágnes Ivett Oszkó, the curator of the exhibition. After viewing the display together, our delegation visited the Pomurje Museum, with the director of the institution Metka Fujs presenting its permanent exhibition. Also with us was Mateja Huber, who as the museum curator had made supplemental displays presenting the history of the local Jewish population for the Baumhorn travelling exhibition. Boris Hajdinjak, the director of the Maribor Jewish Cultural Center, escorted the group to the site of the Murska Sobota synagogue that was demolished in 1954, where there is now a house with a memorial column indicating the former site of the building. Finally, we had the chance to visit the Expano interactive, contemporary exhibit space on the outskirts of the city, which is operated by the Institute of Culture, Tourism and Sport in Murska Sobota. Its director Brigita Perhavec welcomed our delegation, and we were accompanied throughout by the employees of the institute Snežana S. Slekovec and Daniel Ulčar, who also played a coordinating role in the preparation of the Baumhorn exhibition. The HMA MPDC photographer Gábor F. Tóth took pictures of the exhibit and the meeting.
The Slovenian stop of the exhibition series presenting the career of the Synagogue architect Lipót Baumhorn was organized within the framework of the Interreg – Rediscover Program and through the support of the European Union for the 160th anniversary of Baumhorn’s birth. In addition to the institutions that participated in the meeting and collaborated on the preparation of the exhibition, it is also important to mention the Jewish Community of Szeged, which contributed to the creation of the event through the provision of ritual objects and curatorial assistance. The career of the synagogue design architect stands at the center of the exhibit. Those interested can learn about nearly all of his life’s work, including the Murska Sobota synagogue that was consecrated in 1908 as well as the famous New Synagogue of Szeged. A three-dimensional reconstruction of the Murska Sobota synagogue was also made for the exhibition thanks to the efforts of the Viennese architectural student Anna Neuhauser. Through these displays, we were able to marvel at what the synagogue must have been like in its original splendor.
Through an agreement with the cooperating partners, the exhibition will be open to visitors again in Murska Sobota in September of 2021 in connection with the Jewish Heritage Days.
Architecture of Devotion – the Synagogues of Lipót Baumhorn in Szeged and Murska Sobota
Murska Sobota, Slovenska Street
26 April – 9 June 2021
Curator: Dr. Ágnes Ivett Oszkó
Curatorial Assistant: Dr. Dóra Pataricza
Photo: Gábor F. Tóth
