Districts of Budapest shown by maps in 1873<\/a><\/p>\n The 7th district, where the Weisz family lived, was then and continues to be both the smallest and one of the most densely populated districts of Budapest. The population of the district was 44,000 in 1870 and\u00a0 had reached 150,000 by 1914. Since the beginning of the 19th century this district has been the center of the Orthodox Jewish community.<\/p>\n And now we present some old photographs of places in the 7th district that could have been a part of the everyday lives of the Weisz family and little Erik.<\/p>\n One of our personal favorites is the following photograph by early photographer Gy\u00f6rgy Kl\u00f6sz, showing Alm\u00e1ssy Square. Csengery Street 1 is the corner house shown at the center of the photograph.<\/p>\n It would be easy to assume that this is the building where Erik Weisz was born in 1874. However, as our last post indicated, this building did not exist on Budapest city maps of 1874, nor on those of 1882!<\/p>\n By zooming on the photo you can read the name \u201eHruska J\u00e1nos\u201d. According to the Budapest city directory of 1894, Mr. Hruska had a grocery store at Csengery Street 1. We conclude therefore that this building was likely built sometime in the early 1890s.<\/p>\n Alm\u00e1ssy Square itself, which R\u00e1kos \u00e1rok (today Csengery) Street runs through, may have looked in this photograph very much the way it did in the mid-1870s. It is easy to imagine little Erik playing with his friends the same way that the children do in the Kl\u00f6sz photograph.<\/p>\n The following photograph shows one of the most important streets in the 7th district: Doh\u00e1ny Street. This photograph was taken sometime around 1870.<\/p>\n Doh\u00e1ny Street runs nearly the full length of the 7th district. The corner building on the center of the photograph is Doh\u00e1ny Street 9 (S\u00edp Street 1). This building \u2013 due to its essential location \u2013 housed various department stores for decades. Today one of the largest bookshops in Budapest is located on this corner. If you look carefully at the photograph, you can see that wagons are still running on the left side of the road!<\/p>\n As we mentioned earlier, the 7th district was historically the center of Orthodox Jewish religious life. An iconic building of the Hungarian Jewish community, the Doh\u00e1ny Street Synagogue, can be found on Doh\u00e1ny Street. Also known as The Great Synagogue<\/em> or Tabakgasse Synagogue<\/em>, it is the largest synagogue in Europe and one of the largest in the world, with a capacity of 3,000 people. The synagogue was built between 1854 and 1859 in the Moorish Revival style, with the decoration based chiefly on Islamic models from North Africa and medieval Spain (the Alhambra). Ludwig F\u00f6rster of Vienna was the architect. The consecration of the synagogue took place on 6 September 1859.<\/p>\n![\"Alm\u00e1ssy](\"http:\/\/www.houseofhoudinibudapest.com\/research_news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Alm\u00e1ssy-t\u00e9r.jpg\")
<\/a>Alm\u00e1ssy square, ca 1894.
\nFortepan \/ Budapest F\u0151v\u00e1ros Lev\u00e9lt\u00e1ra. Record number: HU.BFL.XV.19.d.1.07.042<\/em><\/p>\n![\"Doh\u00e1ny](\"http:\/\/www.houseofhoudinibudapest.com\/research_news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Doh\u00e1ny-utca.jpg\")
<\/a>Doh\u00e1ny street 9.<\/em><\/p>\n
![\"Zsinag\u00f3ga\"](\"http:\/\/www.houseofhoudinibudapest.com\/research_news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Zsinag\u00f3ga.jpg\")
<\/a>Doh\u00e1ny Street Synagogue, 1890<\/em><\/p>\n![\"Istv\u00e1n](\"http:\/\/www.houseofhoudinibudapest.com\/research_news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Istv\u00e1n-t\u00e9r_v.jpg\")
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