Budapest History Museum

The Budapest History Museum is one of the most significant museums in Budapest, collecting documents and material relics of the capital's history. It is a municipal institution, but according to its official classification it is a national museum. Its headquarters in Budapest is located at 1, Szent György Square No. 2.

Historical overview

The departments of the Budapest History Museum operate at various locations in the capital. The formation of the (Roman) archaeological, medieval and modern (urban history and fine arts) collection groups began roughly at the same time, in the last quarter of the 19th century, but in the early years they developed independently of each other.

Roman period collections

In Aquincum, systematic excavation of Roman-era remains began in 1887. To display the continuously emerging rich material, in 1894 the Aquincum Museum opened in a new building erected on the site of the former Roman municipal city. This was the capital's first museum founded on its own initiative. Its director was appointed the leader of the excavations, Bálint Kuzsinszky, who directed the museum's work until 1937.

Modern collections

The idea of founding urban history museums was first proposed by Flóris Rómer in the 1860s. After an engineer and art collector living in Hungary, Enea Lanfranconi, donated his collection of Budapest city views to the capital, the city council in 1887

a resolution was adopted for the establishment of a capital city museum. Although part of the material of the existing collections had already been presented at the 1885 national exhibition (in City Park), and also at the 1896 millennial exhibition, the Capital City Museum was founded only twenty years after the first resolution, in 1907. In the exhibition building in City Park (on the present-day Olaf Palme promenade) the permanent exhibition opened; its photographs can be seen in the Kiscelli Museum. In addition to pictures and objects of urban‑historical relevance, works of fine art also entered the museum’s collection.

Archaeology and the Capital City Museum were merged in 1899 (later name: Royal Capital Museum), and the director of the institution was appointed as Bálint Kuzsinszky. In the years following its establishment the urban‑historical department’s material (photographs, prints, maps, plans, industrial‑historical and cultural artefacts) expanded rapidly. In 1935, by will, the Kiscelli Schmidt Castle became the property of the capital city, and from the following year the City Park collections were transferred there. This material forms the basis of the modern urban‑historical collections of the Kiscelli Museum.

In 1928 the capital purchased the Károlyi Palace building, where, from the existing artworks and newly acquired collections, the City Art Gallery opened in 1933. In the early 1950s, however, the Gallery was truncated: the historically related objects were transferred to the city history department, part of the fine arts material was handed over to the National Gallery belonging to the Museum of Fine Arts, and then from there to the Hungarian National Gallery founded in 1957. The remaining fine arts material was placed in the Kiscelli Museum building: initially called the City Fine Arts Collection and belonging to the New Age Department, it became an independent fine arts department in 1973, and in 1989 it again took the name City Art Gallery.

Medieval collections

The regular collection of medieval relics also began in 1887, but the independent medieval department was formed only in 1922. During the excavations of the Buda Castle, Matthias Church, the Crown Guard barracks, and the Dominican monks' St. Nicholas Church, valuable medieval finds, sculpture and architectural fragments were uncovered. These and pieces already placed in the large corner tower of Fisherman's Bastion formed the basis of the medieval collection. In 1932 a permanent exhibition called the Medieval Stone Archive opened at Fisherman's Bastion, which remained open to visitors even during the war. In 1945 the Stone Archive was attached to the medieval department and the complete relocation of the medieval material to the former Buda City Hall building on Trinity Square began, which was shortly thereafter named the Castle Museum. This department and the administration were moved in 1967 to the restored Buda Castle, where a permanent exhibition also presented the uncovered remains of the medieval castle palace. At that time the whole institution began to be called the Budapest History Museum.

The present institution

The centre of the Budapest History Museum is in the “E” building of Buda Castle, while its departments and professional institutions are located at various points in the capital.

Aquincum Museum (III. Szentendrei út 139 and Záhony u. 3) Department of Ancient History, Department of Prehistoric and Migration Period.

Castle Museum (I. Szent György tér 2, Buda Castle “E” building) Medieval Department.

Kiscelli Museum (III. Kiscelli u. 108) Modern Department, City Art Gallery.

Budapest Gallery (New Budapest Gallery – Bálna, Varga Imre Collection)

Further important parts of the institution include, among others:

The specialized library, also operating at three locations, but unified.

The Archaeological Archive has two sections: the archaeological collection (from prehistory to 1686) and the collection of documents concerning the institution's history.

Exhibition venues operating at several points in the capital.