Museums Of Budapest

The weather is quite cold in January in this part of the world. Many of the great parks that make Budapest such an attraction are closed or just plain miserable to visit, and a stroll along the Danube is not as much fun in a coat with a cold wind and total darkness at 4 pm. However, this season has much to offer as well-indoors. Budapest is a city filled to the brim with museums, and all sorts of museums as well (there is a separate museum of transportation and of public transportation, there are like 3 museums of haunting and witchcraft, several geographical and geological ones, and much, much more). Here are 5 of the most important ones, but the list really is endless, and is well worth looking into what options are available.

Castle Museum

The Castle museum is in reality the amalgamation of 3 different museums: the Castle museum which is a medieval and early modern collection of some of the rarest and most important historical works of Hungary, the Kiscelli museum (which is a collection of local fine arts and historical documents and artefacts), and the Aquincum museum of Roman artefacts and rare finds from antiquity. The museum is absolutely enormous, and is filled with rooms and displays, so going there will take a couple of hours at the very least. Luckily the museum is located in the Castle, where you can eat and see other things and then come back for the rest of the exhibits.

 

National Art Gallery

Also located in the Buda Castle within spitting distance of the Castle museum is the National Art Gallery, and in one of the most exquisite buildings as well. It has a large green dome and is the biggest collection of fine arts in Hungary. There are mainly Baroque and Renaissance pieces from mainly Hungarian artists, but there are a lot of really rare ones from some of the bigger names as well. The art is not limited to paintings and sketches either, as many sculptures and tapestries are also housed in this building.

House Of Terror

A lot less fun but much more interesting and shocking, the House Of Terror deals with parts of Hungarian history that most of us would be very happy to forget. It deals with our age of ideology, and of the terror regimes of first the Nazis and their Hungarian allies, and then the Red occupation. This is a very educational journey, albeit quite a grim one, but it is a must for young adults and any and all history buffs out there. The rooms and exhibits are extremely well made and are displayed in a wonderful manner, making this one of the best museums to visit.

Museum Of Fine Arts

Located on Hero Square are two of the best and largest museums in Hungary. One of them is the Museum Of Fine Arts. This is the most important Museum in Hungary, with many pictures and sculptures and historical artefacts of artistic value in its many ancient walls. The Louvre of Budapest, basically. Across the square is the Museum Of Modern Art, which houses only modern art, and which sometimes has mixed mediums and projections as well, and has very large exhibits going on all the time. A very exciting place.

Museum Of Ethnography

Hungarians and their origins are a little bit of a mystery, and so ethnography, a usually quite obscure and somewhat arcane science is venerated here with relish and gusto. The Museum Of Ethnography, located on Kossuth tér, just across from the very impressive if somewhat ineffective Parliament is a testament to this fact; it is enormous, full of really cool rooms and exhibits, and has constant as well as travelling exhibits, and is one f the most frequented places of all. Usually dealing in musical instruments, textiles, language, and the mystery of where we came from. A very interesting journey.

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