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Museums & Galleries in Budapest
Hungary's capital, a Danube city of grand Habsburg-era boulevards, thermal baths and a dense cultural life, split between hilly Buda and flat Pest and long a hub for food, music and the arts in Central Europe.
Why here
Budapest holds two of Central Europe's great public art collections within a short tram ride of each other. On Heroes' Square, the Museum of Fine Arts pairs a first-rank holding of European Old Masters, El Greco, Raphael, Goya and Rembrandt among them, with one of the region's best Egyptian and Classical Antiquities collections. Across the river in Buda Castle, the Hungarian National Gallery tells the parallel story of Hungarian art itself, from medieval altarpieces to the grand nineteenth-century canvases of Mihaly Munkacsy and on into modernism. Together they let you see the international canon and the national school side by side, both with English-language tours.
Best months
Both museums are indoor and open year-round, closed on Mondays. Weekday mornings are the quietest. The Museum of Fine Arts reopened in 2018 after a major restoration that recovered its Romanesque Hall, so the building itself is part of the visit.
Getting there & around
The Museum of Fine Arts sits on Heroes' Square at the end of Andrassy avenue, reachable on the historic M1 metro line. The Hungarian National Gallery is up in Buda Castle, a funicular or bus ride above the river. Both offer English guided tours; check tour times and any temporary-exhibition ticketing in advance.
Skill levels: beginner
Schools & guides (2)
Hungarian National Gallery
OrganizerThe Hungarian National Gallery, founded in 1957, holds the largest public collection of Hungarian art and occupies the former royal palace wings of Buda Castle above the Danube. Its permanent displays trace Hungarian painting and sculpture from medieval altarpieces through the nineteenth-century canvases of Mihaly Munkacsy to twentieth-century modernism. The gallery offers English-language tours and sits within the castle district's cluster of museums.
Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest
OrganizerThe Museum of Fine Arts opened in 1906 on Heroes' Square and holds Hungary's leading collection of international art, from an Egyptian and Classical Antiquities holding to Old Master paintings by El Greco, Raphael, Goya and Rembrandt. Its Romanesque Hall and marble galleries reopened in 2018 after a three-year restoration. The museum runs English-language guided tours and anchors an art itinerary that pairs it with the Hungarian National Gallery across the city.