The Hungarian National Museum

Count Ferenc Szechenyi handed his library and coin collection to the nation in 1802 and the museum grew out of that gift. Mihaly Pollack's building, finished in 1847, is the calmest piece of neoclassical architecture in Pest: eight Corinthian columns, a broad flight of steps and a domed rotunda inside. The permanent display works through Hungarian history room by room with furniture, costume, instruments, tiled stoves and armour, and its single most important object is the eleventh-century coronation mantle, embroidered silk, shown in a dim case of its own. A Roman lapidarium of carved stones fills the basement, and the late Roman silver of the Seuso treasure is displayed here too.

History

The museum traces its foundation to 1802, when Count Ferenc Széchényi set up the National Széchényi Library; a year later his wife gave a mineral collection, and the institution grew into a museum of history and natural history. The parliament of 1832-1834 voted half a million forints for a new building, to which the museum moved in 1846, and in 1848 the reading of Sándor Petőfi's 12 points and his poem Nemzeti dal on its front steps helped spark the revolution, making it a place of national importance (Wikipedia, Hungarian National Museum).

The main sights

• The coronation mantle - embroidered eleventh-century silk in its own dim room.
• The Seuso treasure - late Roman silver vessels, displayed together.
• The lapidarium - Roman carved stones and inscriptions in the basement.
• Pollack's rotunda - the domed neoclassical hall behind the portico.

When to go

Closed on Mondays and quietest first thing on a weekday morning. The garden in front, with its old trees and benches, is pleasant from April to October and is a decent place to sit before or after. Winter afternoons are a good time for the historical rooms, which get almost no daylight anyway. Temporary shows draw the real queues.

Before you go

The building outshines a good deal of the display. English labelling is present but thin, and long runs of the history rooms are cases of objects with little context, so it helps to know something already. Sections close for rehanging without much notice. It is a serious museum rather than an entertaining one, and children tend to run out of patience in the first hour.

Nearby

The Great Market Hall and the Kalvin Square end of the inner city are a few minutes' walk.

Key facts