Museums and Galleries

In 1802, Count Ferenc Széchényi offered his rich collection to the nation to establish the Hungarian National Museum. That is why, Hungary respects this year as the foundation of the Hungarian National Museum. Those days, the collection comprised 11884 prints, 1156 manuscripts, 142 books, maps and copperplates. The collection first was placed in the Pauline monastery in Pest. The Diet of 1807 nationalized the institute and called upon the nation to donate to the new Museum.

The Hungarian National Gallery is the largest public collection documenting and presenting the rise and development of the fine arts in Hungary. 

The Budapest Museum of Applied Arts, one of the oldest of its kind, dates from 1872. It is not just the exhibits but also the architectural splendours of the museum that make it such a pleasure to visit. The three-story building, which first opened its doors in 1896, was designed in Hungarian Art Nouveau style by Ödön Lechner. In contrast to his later work on the Postal Savings Bank, here Lechner has returned to past, mainly Oriental forms and merged them with elements from Hungarian folk-art to produce a new style.

The visible ruins of the Aquincum Civil Town represent the excavated one third of the central settlement. The structure of the Aquincum Civil Town was greatly influenced by both the area's natural geography and its previous architectural history. The limes road running from north to south was a typical element in the town's layout since its very beginnings. The aquaeductus built along its western side was a similarly characteristic feature.