Hungarian National Museum
Hungarian National Museum
Address: 14-16 Múzeum krt.,
Budapest
Telephone: (36-1) 1382-122
Fax: (36-1) 1177-806
Opening hours:
From 30 November to 15 March: 10am - 5pm
From 16 March to 1 November: 10am - 6pm
Closed on Mondays!
Permanent exhibitions:
- The Hungarian Holy Crown and the hungarian coronation jewels
- The history of the peoples of Hungary from the prehistoric
ages
until the arrival in Transylvania (896 A.D.)
- The history of the peoples of Hungary from 896 until 1848.
The Hungaryan National Museum is the most significant, and one of
the oldest collection of Hungary. As the first museum of Hungary,
it was founded by a highly educated peer, count Ferenc
Széchenyi, in 1802, who offered his manuscript, map, numismatic and
print collection to form a core material for a national museum to
be built. The bill passed in 1808 which ordered the construction of
the Hungarian National Museum (and library) which was designed and
built by Mihály Polláck, one of Hungary's most well-known architects
of his time, between 1837-1847. The monumental building of
neoclassical design was opened in 1847, as the fourth largest
museum in Europe. Major donations and purchases played important
roles to grow its collection including large donations by the
Kubinyi, Pyrker, Marczibányi families and the most outstanding
purchase from the Jankovich family.
Embraced by trees and bushes, the most impressive part of the
two-story building is its portico in the middle. Eight corinthian
columns support a frieze with an ornamental cornice and a large
pediment on the top. The pediment hosts a high relief which was
made after the miniature sculpture of Raffaello Monti of Milan,
Italy. In the centre, the allegoric figure of Pannonia (name of
Hungary in the ancient Roman Empire) sits with the Hungarian coat
of arms on her shield, surrounded by Science and Art on her
both sides, as group figures of three members.
In 1848, only one year after it was opened, the National
Museum witnessed epochal moments of the Hungarian history. On March
15. 1848, Sándor Petôfi , a foremost patriotic poet of his country,
stood up on the left-pillar of the stairway of the National Museum
and recited to the crowd his fiery poet called "National Song" which
he finished only hours earlier.This poem appealed to the nation to
launch a revolution to liberate Hungary from the Habsburg oppression.
Between 1870 and 1902, the Upper House of the Hungarian
government held its session in the National Museum which continued
to extend its collection to the area of archaeology, fine and
applied arts. Later in the 19th century, large collections were
separated from the museum to form new specialized museums of the
country, such as the Museums of Fine Arts, Applied Arts, Natural
Science, and National Culture.
The main exhibitions of the National Museum today focus on the
history of Hungary as geography and ethnography, from the
palaeolithic era to present. With its five major divisions
(archaeology, middle ages, new era, numismatics, historic
paintings), two permanent exhibitions, and an archaeological
library with over 100,000 volumes, the National Museum is one of
the richest museums in Middle Europe. It is the home of the
Hungarian Holy Crown and the coronation jewels, and its two permanent
exhibitions cover the history of the peoples of Hungary from the
prehistoric ages until the arrival in Transylvania (896 A.D.),
and from 896 until 1848.
Look at the official WWW site of the
National Museum in hungarian.
Budapest@inf.bme.hu