The best places to learn about Hungarian history

Hungarian history is exciting right from the beginning – just think about the adventures of Árpád and the Hungarians during the Conquest of the Carpathian Basin – but there is much more to learn about these past centuries. Luckily, Hungary pays attention to preserving cultural and national heritage so there are many museums both in Budapest and elsewhere to learn about history.

Ópusztaszer National Heritage Park

Here: Ópusztaszer (near Szeged), Szoborkert 68, 6767
Hours: Tuesday – Sunday: 10:00 – 18:00 (in the summer season)

The Ópusztaszer National Heritage Park is a 136-acre large theme park, with five different sections dedicated to ancient Hungarian history. The heritage park’s location in itself is mysterious: this is the site where Árpád and his chieftains took the blood oath and founded the Hungarian ‘nation’.

You can walk along the park, enjoying a breath of fresh air, while learning about the secrets of the world-famous Hungarian horsemanship, or checking out the yurts and finding out how our ancestors lived. The other three areas include a medieval monastery, an Open Air Museum focusing on village life in the interwar period, and the Feszty-panorama, a large cyclorama depicting the Hungarian Conquest of the Carpathian Basin.

Hungarian National Museum

Here: Budapest, Múzeum körút 14-16, 1088
Hours: Tuesday – Sunday: 10:00 – 18:00

At the Hungarian National Museum (not to be confused with the Hungarian National Gallery), exhibitions are divided into two sections: permanent and temporary. The latter usually focus on world history or on special Hungarian topics.

The permanent exhibitions provide visitors with an insight into the development of art, archaeology and the progress of Hungarian (and Transylvanian) history, from prehistoric times all the way to modern times, to the fall of Communism.

Hospital in the Rock

Here: Budapest, Lovas út 4/c, 1012 (under Buda Castle)
Hours: all days 10:00 – 20:00