Museums

Our Offers: Herend Pporcelain Museum Hospital in the Rock House of Terror Hungarian National Gallery Hungarian Open Air Museum Memento Park Museum of Fine Arts Ópusztaszer National Heritage Park World Heritage Wine Museum

HEREND PORCELAIN MUSEUM

The Herend Porcelain Manufactory is the largest porcelain manufactory in the world specializing in luxury hand painted and gilded porcelain. Founded in 1826, it is based in the town of Herend near the city of Veszprém and Lake Balaton. The Minimanufactory is a miniature copy of the Manufactory, and this is where visitors can witness how heavy paste becomes light, fragile porcelain, how nimble fingers shape, decorate and paint the material that is becoming a living thing.  In the Porcelain Museum guest can admire the largest collection of Herend porcelain.

HOSPITAL IN THE ROCK

The Hospital in the Rock Nuclear Bunker Museum is situated beneath the Buda Castle in Budapest. The hospital had a crucial, historical role as an emergency institution during the Second World War and the 1956 revolution. It was upgraded to a nuclear bunker during the Cold War era and classified as top secret until 2002. Nowadays nearly 200 life-like wax figures, along with original furniture and medical equipment from the 1940s and 1950s, help you picture the scenes when this hidden facility treated wounded from the Siege of Budapest in January 1945 and Hungarian Uprising of 1956. The newest section introduces today’s military medicine through the rescue operations of special forces. The museum can be visited with guided tours only. It is not allowed to visit the museum under 6 years, and under 12 years it is not recommended.

HOUSE OF TERROR

House of Terror is located at Andrássy Avenue 60 in Budapest. The builing was once the headquarters for the Hungarian Secret Police and the Arrow Cross party during the two consecutive Communist and Fascist regimes that brutalized Hungary. Today it is a memorial to those who were imprisoned, tortured and killed by these regimes as well as a museum that exhibits the sad and dark history of Hungary over the course of more than four decades. Visitors can read testimonials and view photos of some of the victims, tour the basement prisons and learn about the country’s past and how many fought to eventually free themselves of this tyranny.

HUNGARIAN NATIONAL GALLERY

The Hungarian National Gallery in Buda Castle is the largest public collection in Hungary for documenting and presenting the emergence and evolution of fine arts in the country. Its permanent exhibitions provide a comprehensive survey of the history of Hungarian art, beginning with the foundation of the Kingdom of Hungary, and ranging from the earliest monuments to contemporary works. The museum’s Dome Terrace is a great place to enjoy the breathtaking views over the Pest side of the city and the river Danube. Dome can be visited with the permanent exhibition ticket from Thursday to Sunday during the opening hours depending on weather conditions.

HUNGARIAN OPEN AIR MUSEUM

The largest open-air museum in Hungary is located in Szentendre, just 25 kilometres north of Budapest where visitors can gain first-hand knowledge of the folk architecture, housing culture, farming and lifestyle of the Hungarian speaking areas. The open air ethnographic museum, also known as Skanzen covers 60 hectares. Its collection consists of 312 different buildings arranged in 8 regional units, in addition to 80,000 objects, 9,300 general items and 6,329 data items of historical value, as well as boasting 118,000 photos and 21,117 slides. Simply amazing. The skanzen train makes it much easier to get around this vast area. It runs every hours on the 2.2 kilometres long road and has five stops.

MEMENTO PARK

Situated a few kilometres to the south of Budapest, Memento Park offers visitors a glimpse of the urban-visual culture of Socialist Hungary through a huge collection of original statues and monuments that once dotted the streets of the Hungarian capital. The symbolic pieces of art displayed here, including allegorical monuments to the Hungarian-Soviet Friendship, as well as statues of Lenin, Marx, Béla Kun, and the Liberation Army Soldier are stark reminders of the tyrannous regime. Besides taking selfies with the giant statues, you can also learn about the 1956 revolution and the fall of communism in 1989, and even sit behind the wheel of a classic Trabant.

MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS

What the Prado is in Madrid, the Louvre in Paris, the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, the National Gallery in London, the Museum of Fine Arts is in Budapest. The periodic and permanent exhibitions of the museum are both world famous. Its building neighbors Budapest’s largest park, the zoo and Széchenyi Thermal Bath, and borders Heroes’ Square which is a world heritage site. In contrast to the above listed large galleries, the private collection of the wealthy Hungarian noble family Esterházy provides the basis for the fine art collection at the Museum of Fine Arts and not imperial or royal estates. The paintings, drawings and engravings in this collection were purchased by the Hungarian state in 1870. The exhibition material has been significantly expanded since and is now considered the largest collection in Central Europe. The exhibited artists include Leonardo, Raffaello, Titian, Dürer, El Greco, Velázquez, Rubens, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Tiepolo, Goya, Manet, Monet, Toulouse-Lautrec, Renoir and Cézanne.

ÓPUSZTASZER NATIONAL HERITAGE PARK

The 136-acre theme park less then 2-hours south of Budapest invites you to explore the history of Hungary as well as the culture and life-style of people living on the Southern Great Plain. The Heritage Park marks one of the most sacred and important historical sites in Hungary, Ópusztaszer, where in the year 896 the modern nation of Hungary was born. If you would like to experience these more than 1100 years old historic moments, be sure to visit the most important building of the Heritage Park, the Rotunda. It is here that the most interesting painting of Hungary is held. The painting, entitled the Arrival of the Hungarians, is, to this day, the largest Hungarian painting, with a length of 120 meters and a height of 15 meters. The painting of Árpád Feszty is very special because, when stretched out in a circular space, it provides a three-dimensional view of the conquest: the moment when the Magyar tribes, led by Árpád, enter the Carpathian Basin at Verecke Pass. The Nomadic park introduces visitors to authentic yurts (the circular felt tents in which the nomadic Magyars lived in Asia) and the secrets of archery.

WORLD HERITAGE WINE MUSEUM

The World Heritage Wine Museum is located in Tokaj, about a 2.5-hour drive from Budapest. The building houses an exhibition hall and a museum for the European world heritage wine regions, presenting their history, culture and wines. An old deserted and ruinous beer house has been converted into a museum, where you can explore the only world heritage wine region of Hungary, as well as the specialties of Austrian, French, German, Italian, Portugal and Swiss wine regions. Modern technology makes the exhibitions interactive, more interesting and enjoyable.