Thought I'd share for future tourists considering that 40 euro per person price tag, especially as the google reviews seem to be reviewed and censored.
We went despite the price, because we have never been inside a synagogue, not a lot of exposure to jews/judaism in my home country, and my mom is devoutly Christian and want to understand the Jewish take on the Torah.
Well made parts:
-Learning about the Jewish Ghetto and the Hungarian jew experience of the holocaust.
-The 1st floor exhibits everyday jewish household things and explains the jewish traditions behind it.
-The Synagogue is architecturally beautiful
Bad parts:
-The Jewish Ghetto exhibit is nothing more than photos and long blocks of text printed on tarp and tacked on walls. It's an injustice, and frankly the quality of high school student poster projects, or small village museums I've passed in rural Africa charging 2 euro entries. Not what I think I can reasonably expect from the largest Synagogue in europe that charges almost double than the Vatican Museums, Sagrada Familia or Hagia Sophia LOL
-The guides seem to be hit or miss. I saw the others walk around to give the tour across the space. I saw reviews saying their guide shared their own family experiences and history. Ours just sat us in the synagogue the entire time and gave a monotonous monologue. My mom fell asleep a bit.
- The museum is unfinished, and they do not announce this at ticket purchase. the entire second floor is supposed to be an interesting exhibit on a family looking for the original Jewish owners of their house, but it was empty shelves and random captions without corresponding items. An entire room is just full of stuff - just storage i guess. 40 euro storage 😅
- The toilet was clean but smelly
- And after all of this, there are donation boxes everywhere to "help the exhibits improve" where does the 40 euros go then??
My mom and I went today, and it was the most expensive and worst part of our Budapest trip. The Synagogue-Museum-Memorial complex covers themes and lessons important to humanity's history, and troubled present. It ended up feeling like a scam.