Truth in Architecture

I wish I knew more about Architecture. Actually, I wish I just knew more in general, but let's start with the specifics. Architecture seems to me especially interesting as it combines elements of mathematics and aesthetics in the very precise implementation of advanced engineering and three-dimensional sculpture all with an inverse scale of practicality and beauty, with generic square office buildings on one end, and uselessly radical curvaceous art museums on the other.
Now I'm not suggesting that I actually want to become an architect, to understand the respective stress values of common and uncommon construction materials or the principles of urban planning or mass population ergonomics.
Yuck.
But I would like to look at a building of a particular design and understand one or two things about why it is the way that it is. I'm at a stage in my travels when it's becoming apparent that not only do I not have the answers to the questions that confront me, I don't even have the tools, the vocabulary, the language, in which to go about searching for the answers. This isn't a new situation, just a final realization that no matter how many museums I visit or how bright I might think I am, some things are just beyond my conceptual grasp, and no amount of raw thinking is going to change that. It's a bit depressing actually, I'd really rather believe that if I spent long enough, I could come up with the answer to anything, like how to understand the prevalent anti-German hatred I keep seeing, or the rationale behind lingering racism in a post-Holocaust Europe.

At least with Architecture I have a chance - my eyes still work. Gothic vs. Classical. Catholic vs Orthodox traditions. Old, New, Old trying to look New and New trying to look Old. Spires, domes, towers, buttresses, minarets and steeples. Gotcha. So I'm an amateur, and not much of one at that, but I like to think I have at least a handle on basic structures and forms. I can from memory or imagination draw several different examples of Churches, or maybe two or three types of Mosques, but what's really stumping me is annoyingly simple. Try this exercise with me. Close your eyes. Ok, Not yet smartass. Read to the end of the paragraph then close your eyes. Now I want you to picture a synagogue. In your head. From memory or imagination, I don't care, but if you've already got a tab open for Wikipedia I will kill you.

Now draw it. Yeah, you're not getting off the hook that easily. Draw whatever you want, the main worship room, the Torah Ark, the table, the building's facade, whatever.

How's that coming?

OK, maybe you're more clever than I, and if put to the test, sure, I could come up with something. I went many times to Temple B'Nai Israel with my friend Davey while growing up, but to be honest, I don't recall much about it that made it stand apart from any other 1970s era semi-New Age small office buildings (sorry Davey).

So what the hell does a synagogue look like? Well, you might think Eastern Europe would be a good place to find out, and you'd be somewhat correct.

While taking a walking tour of Subotica, Serbia, we passed a large run-down building of red and yellow brick with a distinct, glossy green and yellow tiled roof. It was incredible, but didn't have any of the markings I'd come to know to look for in a church, a mosque, a train station, a town square, an armoury, or any other building of public use. So I asked the tour guide, "Hey, what's this?"
He managed not to look at me like I was the stupidest person he'd ever met, and instead replied almost politely, "well, it's a synagogue, of course. see the 6-sided stars?"

And you know what, I had seen those, but in my brain Judiasm used a 6-sided star comprised of two equal inverted triangles (the Star of David). This was like an asterix (*) six points thrust acutely away from each other, and apparently it also had Jewish connotations.

But what else, oh tour guide master? What else marks this as a synagogue? "Nothing, that's Hungarian architecture, and this is the only synagogue in the world with that style of roof."

Great, progress. I just happened upon a synagogue that is unique, that's no help in understanding the basic forms.

So I went to Budapest, and cleverly booked a hostel just around the corner from the second largest synagogue in the world (first is in New York - sorry Jerusalem). the Dohany Synagogue (literally, "Great Synagogue") is truly a marvel wrapped inside a conundrum, or the other way around, to abuse a phrase. When I first walked past I was struck first by how cool it looked, and immediately thereafter by the fact that I had no reference point within which to place it. It's like when you taste something for the first time that has no similarity to anything else you've ever tasted before. Imagine eating shrimp after growing up on a diet of beef and potatoes. It's good, but your brain kicks into hyperdrive trying to categorize it. Sure, it's meaty, but also fishy, and a little sweet, but not, you know, sugar sweet, more like... fruit? No that's not right...

So there I stood, blessedly with my mouth closed, looking at this magnificent structure I couldn't categorize, and I thought, "OK, so This is what a synagogue looks like." And I started taking it all in. The bricks, the floor plan, the two black spheres on top of the towers with gold hebrew lettering around their equators, even the horseshoes-turned clover pattern on the windows. Surely it all had meaning in some ancient, Jewish connection to mysticism or practicality.

The experience demanded a return and a more thorough inspection, so my companion Marta and I kicked in for the full tour (go go gadget student discount), and I prepared for an education.

Well I got one all right. We're about 30 seconds into the tour when the guide essentially says, "Hey, notice all this bizarre architecture? Well I'm gonna tell you really interesting, useful stuff about it, but you should just know that it isn't actually Jewish in origin at all."

That's right, another red herring (is this the right phrase? I'm an Okie, so marine metaphors have always confused me). It wasn't an archetype of Jewish architecture, in fact it was brilliantly designed by a German Catholic to accommodate the religios needs of the local Jewish community while incorporating as many Christian and Muslim elements as possible to better assimilate the structure into the fabric of Budapest. Catholic pews, Orthodox pulpits, even a full pipe organ, to go along with the baroque chandeliers and Moorish floor tiles.

so where does this leave me? Well first, I must strongly recommend that you visit the Dohany Synagogue if ever you are in Budapest. It's freakin awesome, and I wish I could tell you that all synagogues were somehow similar to its brilliant and unique synthesis. But otherwise, essentially at a dead end. There are other synagogues in Budapest, and I walked past them, but they have practically nothing in common either.

From this I can draw all sorts of conclusions, about the necessity of minority Jewish cultures in Europe to blend in, but that doesn't hold water, for if it did Yiddish and other outward delineations would have been phased out as well. I can think and think, but I can't find the answer. maybe one of you knows the answer, maybe most of you think you know the answer. For me, the basic question of synagogue architecture is my unicorn. Maybe the answer isn't even out there at all, or maybe it's stalking behind me and poking me with its horn when I'm not looking. I don't know, but with the vast amount of things I just don't know, I very much doubt it will be the last unicorn I need to hunt down, and I would certainly feel a lot better if I could start with getting one or two of those frisky fellows mounted on the wall. Apologies to my Unicorn-Loving readers, but I do have family members engaged in taxidermy, and I think the prospect of mounting a one-point doe is something they'd be into.

So happy hunting to all of you on your various quests for knowledge, send in your comments on Jewish architecture or the futility of any great quest for understanding, and otherwise I'll look forward to seeing you all again soon enough wherever the Lamb takes me.

Weber

(Please note: I will be posting pictures soon. My hostel CPU doesn't like USB drives, but when I hit an internet cafe I'll get up several visuals to illustrate my points)