Since the opening of the Holocaust Memorial Center (2004), the synagogue has served as a venue for cultural events, conferences and temporary exhibitions.

The synagogue building was designed by Lipót Baumhorn (1860–1932) in an eclectic style. At the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth century, he was the architect with the most synagogue designes in Europe. In 1909, Géza Belatini Braun, the owner of the nearby liqueur factory donated the plot on the corner of Páva and Tűzoltó streets to the Jewish community. He offered the property to the Pest Israelite Congregation as a building site for a synagogue, which would serve as a place of prayer for the Congregation of Ferencváros. Public donations were used to fund the construction of the synagogue. However, constructions began only in 1923 and the inauguration was on January 6, 1924.

The temple remained in use until 1944; between 1944–45, it was used as an internment camp, and from 1945 onward, services were occasionally held in the building again. The parts of the building that are no longer standing today, housed a kosher kitchen and a senior citizens’ club. After 1990, the Hashomer Hacair and Kidma Jewish youth organizations were given a place in the main building, beneath the women’s gallery. By this time, the synagogue building was already in a very dilapidated condition.

In 1999, the Federation of Jewish Communities in Hungary (MAZSIHISZ) offered the building to the Holocaust Documentation Center and Memorial Collection Public Foundation. The restoration of the historic building started in 2003.

Based on a photo from the 1930s, 800 square meters of decorative painting, 760 linear meters of metal gilding, and approximately 1,000 linear meters of plaster stucco were reconstructed. The walls were structurally reinforced, and the building was equipped with modern insulation. On the ground floor, glass chairs bearing names represent the members of the Jewish community who were killed.

“The overwhelming majority of the victims of the Holocaust were our fellow citizens of the Jewish faith. Therefore, an empty Synagogue, a void, a space with lost sacrality can be an authentic, universal and national venue of remembrance.”

Architect István Mányi