This is the primary site in Budapest to learn about Hungary’s history, from medieval days through the Soviet occupation after World War II, to modern times.
Make the Hungarian National Museum (Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum) the starting point to your Budapest visit to help put things in perspective before seeing many of the city’s historical sites.
The museum is a history museum specifically focused on Hungary’s cultural and political development. Examine the seven displays reviewing the country’s background from prehistory through modern times. The first two galleries are lapidaries housing more than 200 stone artifacts describing Roman and medieval, to early modern times.
The third gallery has the Coronation Mantle including crown jewels from the kings of Hungary. The mantle is a green and purple silk cloak. Notice the embroidery with nearly a pound (2.2 kilograms) of gold thread. It is nearly 1,000 years old and carefully preserved to last long into the future.
The fourth gallery ambitiously covers the time period from 400,000 B.C. to A.D. 804. Examine the artifacts describing physical and social development from Paleolithic flint through Copper, Bronze and Iron Ages. The Roman period shows the advances made in western Hungary while the eastern areas suffered from barbarianism. Then the Huns, Germans and Eurasian Avars left their influence.
In the fifth gallery, learn about notable contributions from Hungarian citizens to science, education and invention in the last hundred years.
The sixth gallery tells of events and culture leading up to the foundation of the Hungarian state in 895. Study this display to understand why the Hungarians were inspired to celebrate their Millennial. The seventh gallery describes modern and contemporary history through German and Russian occupation and the successful rebellion of 1956 to modern days.
The Hungarian National Museum has an admission fee and is open daily from Tuesday through Sunday. The museum is directly across the river from the Citadella. The Astoria and Kálvin tér underground stops are less than five minutes’ walk away from the museum.
