Subotica Synagogue
Суботичка синагога
Interesting facts
- Komor and Jakab first drew the design for a competition to build a synagogue in Szeged; it placed second and was adapted for Subotica instead.
- The domed shell is astonishingly thin, only about 3 to 5 centimetres of concrete over its steel frame.
- Outside the dome rises to about 40 metres, but inside the vault is 23 metres high, with an outer diameter of 12.6 metres.
- The ceramic-studded interior was meant to recall the Tabernacle, the portable tent sanctuary of the Israelites in the wilderness.
- When it opened, the synagogue could seat about 1,600 worshippers beneath its dome.
- A memorial at the synagogue commemorates some 4,000 Jews of Subotica who were killed in the Second World War.
- Regular services ended in 1976, and the building then stood largely unused for decades.
- The World Monuments Fund placed the synagogue on its watch list of endangered heritage four times from 1996 onwards.
- The Hungarian government contributed nearly 3 million euros, mainly for restoring the interior in 2016–2017.
Why it is worth it
Subotica, in the far north of Serbia's Vojvodina, was at the turn of the twentieth century the third-largest city of the Kingdom of Hungary, and it grew rich enough to build in the newest style of its day. Its Jewish community, some three thousand strong, commissioned a synagogue from the architects Marcell Komor and Dezső Jakab. Begun in 1901 and finished in 1902–1903, the synagogue is now counted as the only surviving place of Jewish worship in the Hungarian Art Nouveau style — the Szecesszió, which blended folk ornament with modern building.
Outside, the building bursts with colour. Glazed ceramic from the Zsolnay works in Pécs, famous for its iridescent finishes, covers roofs and trims, and stylised hearts, tulips, roses and palmettes run across the walls — the motifs of Hungarian peasant embroidery, translated into terracotta and glaze. The plan is not the usual long basilica but a single, tent-like central space under a dome some 40 metres high, a remarkably thin shell carried on a modern steel frame, with pillars dressed in plaster and wreathed in relief palm leaves.
Inside, the floral language continues on painted walls and in the stained glass, which came from the Budapest workshop of Miksa Róth, with further windows by Sándor Nagy. Peacock feathers, lilies and tulips glow in the side apses and under the dome. The building was declared a heritage site of exceptional importance in 1990, and after a long restoration it returned to public life in 2018 as a cultural venue that still hosts Jewish services on occasion.
Getting there
The synagogue stands in the centre of Subotica, about 400 metres from the main square. The nearest airport is Osijek Airport (OSI) in Croatia, about 97 km away; within Serbia the nearest is Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport (BEG), about 150 km away. Since October 2025 the Soko high-speed trains have linked Belgrade with Subotica via Novi Sad in about an hour and twenty minutes.
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
The Subotica Synagogue, officially the Jakab and Komor Square Synagogue, is a former Neolog Jewish congregation and synagogue, located in Subotica, Serbia. It is the second largest synagogue building in Europe after the Dohány Street Synagogue in Budapest.
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