House of Music Hungary

The Magyar Zene Haza opened in Varosliget in 2022 to a design by the Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto, and the building is the reason most people come: a thin undulating roof perforated by around a hundred holes that let trees grow through it, floating over glass walls so that the boundary between park and interior almost disappears, with the underside of the canopy finished in gold leaf. Inside are a concert hall, an open ground floor and a permanent underground exhibition on the history of European and Hungarian music, using headphones that change what you hear as you move through the space, along with a dome room projecting sound and image in the round. The park around it has been rebuilt at the same time.

What you actually see

• The perforated floating roof - a hundred openings with trees growing through.
• The gold-leaf canopy underside - the finish seen from below.
• The underground sound exhibition - headphones that change as you move.
• The dome room - immersive sound and projection in the round.

When to go

Year round. Two to three hours for the exhibition, longer with a concert. Book ahead: capacity is limited and slots sell out, particularly at weekends.

Honest expectations

Timed entry sells out days ahead in season. The exhibition is audio-led and needs time and quiet; rushing it wastes the ticket. The building attracts architecture crowds photographing the roof. Concert tickets are separate and often expensive.

Nearby

The Museum of Ethnography is in the same park; Heroes Square is at its edge.