Bodrogközi Múzeumporta

The Bodrogközi Museum Gate is an open-air ethnographic museum in Cigánd handed over in 2015, which is an expanded institution of the Cigánd Village Museum founded in 2000. The heritage preservation centre considers the care of Bodrogköz folk traditions in both material and customary culture as its purpose. The project seeks to strengthen the attachment of the younger generations to these traditions. The museum complements the presentation of the exhibition and preserved materials with events, programmes and informal learning opportunities that ensure participants’ activity.

The museum is the region’s largest and most active ethnographic landscape museum, which presents the cultural, ethnographic and historical values of Cigánd and the Bodrogköz.

Location, access

It is located in the central inner area of Cigánd, along the town’s Main Street.

Arriving from Sárospatak, Kisvárda or Pácin, at the roundabout of the main roads crossing the northern tip of the town, about 700 metres towards the centre we can find it on the right side of Main Street. There is a parking lot and a bicycle storage built in front of the museum’s main entrance.

History

The predecessor of the Bodrogközi Museum Gate is the Cigánd Village Museum founded in 2000, whose collection has since significantly increased,

so with the activity of the Bodrogköz Landscape Museum Foundation they planned a major development of the existing Landscape House – Village Museum. With the cooperation of Cigánd and Királyhelmec, within the Hungarian‑Slovak cooperation programme won in an EU tender, the Bodrogköz Open‑air Museum began to be created from the summer of 2014.

The Slovak‑Hungarian cross‑border project titled “Dialogue of Museums” aims primarily to present the effects of Tisza regulation by developing interactive museum spaces and exhibitions, and by advancing the tools of modern museum pedagogy.

Thanks to the launched investment, a new "period‑accurate" museum building with a basement was constructed in Cigánd, a multi‑room open‑plan storage, the village museum's landscape house was renewed, the existing economic building was expanded, the dance barn was converted, a 7.5 metre high watchtower, as well as auxiliary buildings and a fence were built. Among the many developments created around the Museum Gate, the most significant element is the construction of the Sőregi house, which presents one of the country's most modern folk‑culture exhibitions, with interactive devices.

With the expansion of the Cigánd Village Museum's buildings and exhibition material, the largest and most complex program of this kind of museum complex in Bodrogköz was created. The new open‑air folk museum opened its doors on 20 August 2015 under the name Bodrogközi Museum Gate.

On 18 June 2021 the Museum Gate was enriched again with a new exhibition space and exhibition, when the Múlt‑kor House building was handed over. The investment, realized within the Széchenyi 2020 programme, presents the Hungarian rural life of the period 1945–1968 with modern illustrative tools. Most of the photographs and objects were donated to the Museum Gate by residents of Cigánd and Bodrogköz, as well as families descended from them. The exhibition aims to present objects that highlight the details of everyday life and celebrations, through which the historical process of these changes can be well followed.

On August 19, 2022, the temporary, visual exhibition titled "From the Loom to the Textile" opened in one of the oldest buildings of the Museum Gate, which bears the name Teacher's House. The exhibition, handed over before the official opening of the Cigánd 100 celebration series, and the museum‑educational activity present the entire process of textile making, and also make it known and testable for younger age groups. The building hosting the exhibition, besides the traditional exhibition and museum‑educational functions, also serves as a venue for lectures and mini‑conferences. The development was realized with the support of the National Cultural Fund Hungarian Genius programme.

On July 29, 2023, the Museum Gate served as the venue of the first Bodrogköz Hunting Festival and Hunting Exhibition.

Awards

In the Pulszky Society – Hungarian Museum Association competition “EXHIBITION OF THE YEAR 2015”, the Jury’s Special Prize was awarded to the Bodrogköz Museum Gate for the permanent exhibition of the Sőregi House, which in its professionally based display excellently and attractively applies the most modern tools. Creators: Á. Tóth József – content and visual design; Oláh Szabolcs, Szvoboda László, Uglyai‑Kovács Levente – audiovisual content production; Viga Gyula – professional concept, ethnographic content.

Award‑winning exhibition: video

In the Pulszky Society – Hungarian Museum Association competition “MUSEUM OF THE YEAR 2015”, the Jury’s Certificate of Recognition was awarded to the Bodrogköz Museum Gate, Cigánd, for its community role, exemplary long‑term development, and the spectacular, modern permanent exhibition presenting the whole Bodrogköz region.

In the Pulszky Society – Hungarian Museum Association competition “EXHIBITION OF THE YEAR 2021” the BIRALÓ TRUST received the certificate of merit for the Bodrogközi Museum Gate for its permanent exhibition titled House of the Past, in the category of permanent exhibitions with an acquisition cost exceeding 4 million forints. Creators: Á. Tóth József – content and visual design; Szvoboda László – audiovisual content production; Hajdú Ildikó and Viga Gyula – professional concept, ethnographic content.

On 4 June 2023 the institution received the special award of the National Collections Association for its large‑scale and visitor‑friendly development, enrichment of its collections, professional and interactive exhibitions, and knowledge‑transfer activities carried out with the involvement of local communities.

On 3 October 2025 it won the “REGIONAL HOUSE OF THE YEAR 2025” award founded by the Association of Open‑Air Museums and Folk Houses. The recognition was presented at the Association’s 22nd national conference in Kiskőrös.