Hungarian National Gallery

If you love art, you absolutely cannot miss the Hungarian National Gallery (Magyar Nemzeti Galeria) during your vacation in Budapest.

A visit to this prestigious museum is a full immersion in Magyar art and will introduce you to authors and movements that have made its history from the Middle Ages to the present, with a special focus on the 19th and 20th centuries.

It is a huge gallery, occupying four wings of Buda Castle and spread over four floors. The castle building also houses other prestigious cultural institutions such as the History Museum, the National Library, and Ludwing, a museum devoted primarily to contemporary art.

The permanent collection includes an impressive number of works, including splendid medieval and Renaissance stone buildings, Gothic wood carvings, late Gothic altarpieces, paintings, prints, illustrations, and coins. An unmissable opportunity to learn about Hungarian art, a little-known artistic reality abroad.

Collections

The Hungarian National Gallery has five permanent collections:

• Paintings of the 19th and 20th centuries: a collection of more than 10,000 paintings by Hungarian artists made between 1800 and 1945, with the most representative works of the period. Landscapes, portraits, fin de siècle realism, interwar art and more.
• Sculptures and medals: the sculpture collection includes more than 4,600 works made in Hungary in the 19th and 20th centuries, including portraits by István Ferenczy, Romantic-style sculptures by Miklós Izsó, and other works representative of all the major artistic movements of the 20th century. The medal collection includes medals and plaques, wax models, and objects by contemporary artists totaling more than 4,800 pieces; of these, a large majority date from the first half of the 20th century.
• Prints and Illustrations: 11,000 works in a wide variety of genres, including lithographs, wood and metal engravings, etchings, watercolors, temperas, pastels, preparatory drawings and sketches, posters, and early artistic experiments in graphic design.
• Contemporary Art: a collection that brings together the most significant works of art produced in Hungary since 1945 and probes new artistic trends in the country.
• International art after 1800: an ever-changing collection organized according to two main nuclei, the nineteenth century (from Romanticism to Symbolism) and twentieth century and contemporary (most representative genres and new trends).

These are complemented by a well-stocked library and numerous temporary exhibitions.

The Buda Castle Dome

Take advantage of a visit to the Hungarian National Gallery to enjoy a splendid panoramic view of the city of Budapest.

For a small fee on top of the ticket price, you can climb to the top of the Buda Castle Dome, a striking vantage point that unlike many medieval towers or other vantage points does not require much physical effort to reach the top. You will only have to climb 56 steps!

Visible from afar and now one of the symbols of Budapest, the castle dome coincides with the highest point of the royal palace.

For safety reasons, only 15 people are allowed to the dome’s viewing terrace at a time, which will ensure that you can admire the city spread out below you without having to scramble with dozens and dozens of other tourists.

During the period from October to April, the dome may be closed in case of bad weather.

History of the gallery

The Hungarian National Gallery was officially founded in 1957 as a place exclusively dedicated to Hungarian art. The original core of the permanent collection is Hungarian works from the Museum of Fine Arts.

As early as two years after its opening, in 1959, it was decided to move the gallery’s headquarters inside Buda Castle, but it took sixteen years for the new location to open to the public (in 1975). In 2005 the gallery was expanded to include an additional wing of the castle.

A new, more modern venue is planned to be built, opening in 2022.

Admission Tickets

Entrance tickets to the Hungarian National Gallery can be purchased directly at ticket offices or online at the gallery’s partner sites. An additional ticket is required to visit the castle dome.

Children up to the age of 6 (not completed) and adults over the age of 70 get in free. Children and young people up to age 26 and adults aged 62 to 70 are entitled to discounted tickets.

Budapest Card holders are entitled to free admission to the permanent exhibition.

For a small additional fee, an audio guide available in multiple languages can be rented.

Guided group tours

Guided tours of the Hungarian National Gallery are held daily from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and are available in several languages.

Tours last about an hour and are led by the gallery’s professional guides, who will tell you interesting trivia and behind-the-scenes stories about the birth of the most interesting works on display. They should be booked in advance by specifying the date, language of interest and number of group members.