Photo: Géza Mirkovszky · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Magyar Iparművészeti Múzeum

Applied arts museum housed in the Art Nouveau main building by Lechner Ödön; the main building has been closed to visitors since 4 September 2017 because of reconstruction.

Temporarily closed

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Temporarily closed. The main building has not been open to visitors since 4 September 2017 because of reconstruction work. The most important pieces of the Art Nouveau collection are presented in the Ráth György-villa (Városligeti fasor 12).

About the museum

The Magyar Királyi Iparművészeti Múzeum (Hungarian Royal Museum of Applied Arts) was founded in 1872 on the initiative of Rómer Flóris and Pulszky Ferenc, modelled on the applied arts museums in London and Vienna. The core of the collection came from objects transferred from the Hungarian National Museum; contemporary acquisitions were based on purchases at world exhibitions and gifts from well-known Hungarian manufactories such as Herend and Zsolnay.

The competition for a separate building was won by Lechner Ödön and Pártos Gyula with their design under the motto “Keletre magyar!” (Hungarians, look to the East!); construction began in 1893. The palace on Üllői út is one of the best-known Art Nouveau buildings in Hungary, and its decoration includes many Zsolnay ceramics from Pécs. The purchases made under the director general Ráth György and his successor Radisics Jenő laid the foundations of the exceptional Art Nouveau collection.

The Second World War and the 1956 revolution caused serious damage to the building, and by the end of the 20th century its condition had deteriorated considerably. The last comprehensive permanent exhibition, Gyűjtők és kincsek (Collectors and Treasures), opened in 2006. The main building has been closed for reconstruction since 4 September 2017; since 1 July 2024 the museum has operated as a branch of the Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum Közgyűjteményi Központ (Hungarian National Museum Central Collection Centre).