After years of false starts and failed attempts, the long-dilapidated 19th-century synagogue in Kőszeg in western Hungary has been reopened to the public after an extensive two-year renovation.

After a complete renovation, the building will offer cultural and scientific programs, and thanks to its excellent acoustics, will also be used for musical events.

In western Hungary Jewish cultural life flourished during the Austro-Hungarian Empire, to which the synagogue in Kőszeg bears impressive witness.

There is no longer a significant Jewish community in Kőszeg. The Peace Treaty of Trianon dealt a severe blow to the city’s economy, and the proportion of the Israeli population steadily declined ever since. During World War II, the Jewish population of Kőszeg was also segregated in a ghetto. In 1944, the prisoners were deported first to the Szombathely ghetto and then to Auschwitz. Most of them were immediately sent to the gas chambers, and only 16 of the Jews from Kőszeg survived the Holocaust.

https://hungarytoday.hu/koszeg-synagogue-regains-its-old-splendor/