History · since 1802

National Museum

Hungarian National Museum

original name: Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum

outstanding

This is where the shape of Hungarian history is set out, and it is set out in objects: Avar gold, Roman inscriptions, weapons, seals. Two of the collection’s best things are out of reach at present, which changes the arithmetic of a visit. There is more Roman material here than in the Kunsthistorisches in Vienna, Pannonia having lain on this ground; there is less medieval sculpture than in the National Gallery across the river.

Minimum route

1.5–2.5 hours

Founded

1802

Ticket

from HUF 3,500

Today

10:00–18:00

What to see

The Roman lapidarium in the basement: inscribed stones and sarcophagi from Pannonia. On the Border of East and West, grave goods from the Palaeolithic to the conquest, with gold from Avar burials. The History of Hungary in two parts, from the crown of Saint Stephen to 1990. The coronation mantle of 1031 and the Seuso Treasure have been closed for building work since December 2025; until that work ends there is no point in coming for them.

Minimum route — 1.5–2.5 hours for the essentials

30 minutes in the Roman lapidarium. 35 minutes for the archaeology. 40 minutes for the first half of The History of Hungary. The second half, 1703 to 1990, wants another forty minutes and some knowledge of Hungarian affairs.

Reference

About the museum

The museum dates from 1802, when Count Ferenc Széchényi gave his books, maps and coins to the nation. Mihály Pollack built the house on Múzeum körút between 1837 and 1847; on its steps, on 15 March 1848, Petőfi’s National Song was read aloud. Four permanent displays: archaeology from the Palaeolithic to the Hungarian conquest, and the history of Hungary in two parts, from the founding of the state to 1990.

Getting in

Address

Múzeum körút 14–16, 1088 Budapest

How to get there

Metro M3 to Kálvin tér, then two blocks on foot. Trams 47 and 49 stop at the same corner.

Opening timeschecked on 22 August 2026, the museum website

open now until 18:00

Mon	closed
Tue–Sun today	10:00–18:00

Closed on Mondays. Since 2 December 2025 the rooms of the coronation mantle, the Seuso Treasure, the Széchényi Hall and the open store have been shut for building work.

Ticketschecked on 22 August 2026, the museum website

Full ticket 3,500 forints, reduced 1,750.

from HUF 3,500

tickets online

When to go

We would come at opening time on a Tuesday or Wednesday. On 15 March the museum is free and crowded: people come that day for the steps.

Contacts

mnm.hu

Access for visitors with limited mobilitychecked on 22 August 2026, the museum website

The museum — partly. The step-free entrance is to the left of the main one, on the Bródy Sándor utca side. Staff take visitors from that door through the building and to the displays. A toilet and a baby-changing room stand on that route. The lift and the accessible toilet are opened on request. Objects that may be touched are placed throughout the permanent display.

Nearby

Jewish Museum 550 m from here
Holocaust Memorial Center 1.2 km from here
Stamp Museum 1.3 km from here

All nearby

If this moved you

In the same city

If the Roman stones in the basement turned out to be the strongest thing here, the town they came from lies excavated in Óbuda: streets, baths and the only Roman organ to survive.

significantAquincum

If you want the country’s general reckoning seen through a single life, a branch of this museum occupies the house where Ignác Semmelweis was born.

for enthusiastsSemmelweis Museum

If the country’s history in objects makes you want it in faces and paint, Hungarian painting is gathered whole in the Buda palace.

outstandingNational Gallery

Abroad

If a country’s history told in objects convinced you more than books do, Moscow runs the same method through forty rooms beside Red Square.

world-classThe Historical Museum · Moscow

· No. 105

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