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Mád Synagogue, situated on top of a hill overlooking the majestic vineyards of the Tokaj Hegyalja region, is one of the oldest standing synagogues in Hungary. Built in 1795, the Baroque building sits between a Catholic Church and a Reformed Church, evidence of these sizable communities’ peaceful coexistence in this period. (...)

Mád Synagogue, situated on top of a hill overlooking the majestic vineyards of the Tokaj Hegyalja region, is one of the oldest standing synagogues in Hungary. Built in 1795, the Baroque building sits between a Catholic Church and a Reformed Church, evidence of these sizable communities’ peaceful coexistence in this period. The Jewish population of Mád began to flourish with the arrival of Polish and Ukrainian Jews in the 1720s. They established rich Orthodox and Chassidic traditions and produced and transported kosher wine from nearby vineyards.

Mád synagogue has a finely decorated interior with Polish-Lithuanian influences and a remarkable bima, a platform from where the Torah is read aloud, with four columns that support the nine-sectioned vaulted space. Religious ceremonies and services took place in the synagogue until Jewish residents of the region were deported during the Holocaust, leaving the temple abandoned. The building became the property of the State Treasury Directorate in 1949.