Ignaz Wechselmann

Ignaz Wechselmann (1828, Nikolai, Prussian Silesia – January 17, 1903, Budapest) was a Hungarian architect and philanthropist. Educated in Berlin, Wechselmann moved to Vienna where he became the friend and assistant of the architect Ludwig Förster. In 1856 he moved to Budapest, where he, as Förster's representative, superintended the building of the Dohány Street Synagogue. Most of the monumental buildings erected in the Hungarian capital between 1870 and 1890 were designed by him, his work including palaces, mills, factories, churches, and the famous Burg-Bazar. In 1886 he received the Order of the Iron Crown of the third class, and shortly afterward Francis Joseph I. elevated him to the Hungarian nobility. Failing eyesight compelled...