Bálint Balassa Museum

The MNM Balassa Bálint Museum is located in Esztergom, a museum institution classified as a territorial museum of the National Museum.

History of the museum

The museum’s main building is located on Mindszenty Square, where its exhibition opened in 2014. The museum’s other building with workshops and storages is located on Pázmány Péter Street. The single‑storey building erected in the 18th century served as the county house until 1830. The people of Esztergom still refer to it as the old county house. A stone collection is located in the courtyard of both buildings.

The core of the museum’s permanent collection was formed by the antiquities and medal collection registered from 1860 of the former Esztergom Saint Benedict Order High School, and the collections of antiquities of the distinguished historian Bishop Knauz Nándor and other collectors (Rényi Rezső, Némethy Lajos, Brenner Ferenc, Einczinger Ferenc, Reviczky Elemér, etc.).

Benedictine director Ferenczy Jákó founded the local “Museum Society” in 1875. In 1891–92 Benedictine teacher Récsey Viktor and Bishop Knauz Nándor already carried out significant excavations in the Esztergom area. Récsey uncovered the remains of the medieval Saint Lawrence Church of the royal town, Knauz uncovered the remains of a medieval castle on “Palota Hill” at the city’s border and, nearby, the remains of an Árpád‑age church.

In 1894 the Esztergom Regional Archaeological and Historical Society was established, whose purpose was:

“To discover and collect prehistoric, ancient and medieval antiquities in Esztergom and its surroundings (in the counties of Esztergom, Bars and Hont) through donation, purchase, exchange and excavation, and to regularly exhibit them for public and scientific purposes in the antiquities collection to be founded at the society’s headquarters. The historical research is primarily aimed at the preparation and writing of a monograph of Esztergom county and city.”

In 1895–96, Lajos Némethy, parish priest of Víziváros and historian, led an excavation on the Szentkirályi lands at the edge of the city, where the remains of the three-aisled, two-towered basilica of the Esztergom‑Szentkirályi Crusaders, founded by King Géza II in the mid‑12th century, were uncovered.

The rapidly growing collection was moved in 1898 from the Benedictine gymnasium to the building of the Main Cathedral Library (Bibliotheca) – as the Museum of the Esztergom‑Region Archaeological and Historical Society – for public exhibition. In 1900 the collection comprised 617 items, about 1,500 objects. These were mainly archaeological, local‑history, ethnographic, applied‑art, numismatic and natural‑science objects. The museum remained in the Main Cathedral Library until 1913. Afterwards it operated in various buildings for twenty years, and then – because the Society could not adequately finance the museum’s upkeep – offered its collection to the diocese; in 1934 it moved back to the Bibliotheca building, where it stayed until 1989.

In the large hall on the upper floor of the Main Parish Church Library (8.5×35 meters) – since the 1920s the permanent exhibition arranged by the museum director, Benedictine monk Albin Balogh, presented a collection particularly significant in its archaeological material, which was indicated by the institution’s new name as well: Esztergom Archaeological Museum. After the Second World War the collection was nationalized. In 1949 it received the name Bálint Balassa Museum. In 1952 the Christian Museum, which remained in church ownership, was also placed under its administration. In 1968 the museum received the “Old County Hall” of the Water Town. In the one‑storey Baroque building erected on medieval foundations the museum’s most important material, the archaeological collection, the restoration workshops and the exhibitions were housed. Between 1987 and 1989 the one‑storey Art Nouveau house in the main square of the Water Town was also converted for museum use, and the museum’s other collections and offices finally moved there, taking up their present location in 1990 (5 Mindszenty Square).

The current collecting area of the Bálint Balassa Museum covers the eastern third of Komárom-Esztergom County – that is, the part of the historic Esztergom County lying south of the Danube. In addition to its permanent local history exhibition, it also hosts temporary exhibitions by contemporary artists.

Collecting area and core activities: collection, processing and presentation of archaeological, ethnographic, local historical, literary historical, visual, industrial and photographic, numismatic, and natural science material from the city of Esztergom and its region, as well as fulfillment of regional tasks derived from the responsibilities assigned to the county organization as a whole.

In 2006 the museum and its exhibition venues were transferred from the municipal government of Komárom-Esztergom County to the Municipality of the City of Esztergom, and then in 2012 they became state-maintained. On 1 January 2013 they were merged into the Hungarian National Museum.

The exhibition venues operating under the museum’s management

The main building, with offices, storages, and the library of 24 434 volumes, is located at 5 Mindszenty Square.

The “old county house” on Pázmány Péter Street is the museum’s temporary exhibition venue, archaeological storage, photo and restoration workshop

Babits Mihály Memorial House: Babits memorial exhibition

Pilisszentlélek: Slovak folk house