Zoltán Kodály Memorial Museum and Archives

Zoltán Kodály Memorial Museum and Archive (1062 Budapest, Kodály Square 1, entrance from Andrássy Road 89)

History

In the four‑room ground‑floor corner apartment of the house, composer Zoltán Kodály lived from 1924 until his death (1967). A bronze relief by Tamás Vígh on the wall of the house, facing the Square, commemorates this. His apartment was later turned into a museum. Some of the rooms have been preserved in Kodály’s period condition, for example the salon with a 19th‑century atmosphere, where Zoltán Kodály received his dearest guests and musicians arriving for rehearsals.

In Kodály’s reception room, Maria Basilides, Set Svanholm, János Ferencsik and Erzsi Török rehearsed, but also Yehudi Menuhin, Aram Khachaturian, József Szigeti, Pablo Casals, Leopold Stokowski appeared there. The innermost room was the study, with a carved desk and a huge library, a few folk instruments and a sound‑recording device recalling the folk‑song researcher Kodály. In the other two rooms the rich estate and a small exhibition titled “A Glimpse into the Workshop” can be seen.