Obj. ID: 50063  Document of Honor, Bratislava (Pressburg, Pozsony), 1912

To the main object: Postcard with the Orthodox Synagogue in Bratislava, Slovakia

In the summer of 1912, the Jewish Community of Bratislava awarded an honorary degree to Lázár Gestetner, who had been the community's president for forty years. 

The certificate is a large sheet of parchment, folded in half, with richly illustrated text in Hebrew on one half and Hungarian on the other.  On the Hungarian side is a street front view of the Bratislava Orthodox synagogue, with olive branches, rolled-up letters, an inkwell and a pen next to the text. On the right, with Hebrew text, is the interior of the synagogue (view of the Torah ark and the eastern wall), with vineyard art next to the text. Among the grape vines are ceremonial objects: a Torah crown, a goblet with a lid, two other goblets, and a Kohanim hand-washing bowl and pitcher. These objects are not fictitious, but are indeed objects of the Bratislava community, and were photographed by József Grünsfeld and published in the 1913 Bratislava issue of the magazine 'Múlt és Jövő (Past and Future). The objects can thus be identified:[See Miracle in the Museum].