Old historical Museum of applied arts at Budapest Hungary

Getty Images/iStockphoto

Museum of Applied Arts

Budapest


Housed in a gorgeous Ödön Lechner–designed building (1896) decorated with Zsolnay ceramic tiles, this museum was closed for renovation at the time of research and was not due to reopen till early 2021. Its main collection contains Hungarian and European furniture from the 18th and 19th centuries, art nouveau and Secessionist artefacts, and objects relating to trades and crafts (glassmaking, bookbinding, goldsmithing). Another one consists of Islamic art and artefacts from the 9th to the 19th centuries.

In the meantime, for art nouveau visit the György Ráth Museum. The Museum of Applied Arts' stunning central hall of white marble was supposedly modelled on the Alhambra in Spain.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Budapest attractions

1. Corvin Cinema

0.15 MILES

A restored art deco building, the Corvin sits in the middle of a square flanked by Regency-like houses. Note the two wonderful reliefs outside the main…

2. Ervin Szabó Central Library

0.29 MILES

Southeast of the Hungarian National Museum is the main repository of Budapest’s public library system, which holds some 2.4 million books and bound…

3. Holocaust Memorial Center

0.31 MILES

Housed in a striking modern building, the centre opened in 2004 on the 60th anniversary of the start of the Holocaust in Hungary. The thematic permanent…

4. New Budapest Gallery

0.38 MILES

Inside Bálna Budapest, the whale-shaped complex beached by the Danube, the New Budapest Gallery is a spare, modern space hosting changing exhibitions that…

6. Hungarian National Museum

0.44 MILES

The Hungarian National Museum houses the nation’s most important collection of historical relics in an impressive neoclassical building, purpose built in…

8. Hungarian Radio Headquarters

0.47 MILES

The renovated headquarters of Hungarian Radio was where shots were first fired on 23 October 1956; a memorial plaque marks the spot.