Kiscelli Museum

The Kiscelli Museum is one of the museums of the large Budapest History Museum, located in the Óbuda district, in a picturesque place surrounded by a park.

History of the Kiscelli Museum

The Kiscelli Castle, which houses the museum of the same name, was built in the 18th century. As soon as the castle was built, it housed a monastery of the Trinitarians, a small Catholic monastic order. Later, at the end of the 18th century, it was decided to place barracks in it and allocate a small area for a hospital.

The beginning of the 20th century became a stage of new life for the dilapidated and half-ruined building, a large-scale restoration began. After the restoration, the owners of the castle founded a small house-museum in it, where a personal collection of rare furniture was demonstrated.

After World War II, the building, according to Schmidt’s will, went to the city and became a museum. Thus, in 1949, the Kiscelli Museum opened. At first, its collection consisted only of objects found and acquired in Budapest, but over time, the collection began to expand, and now exhibits from all over Hungary appear here.

Kiscelli Museum Space

The Kiscelli Museum is a branch of the Budapest History Museum. Therefore, the atmosphere here is appropriate – get ready to walk along long spacious corridors, accompanied by the gaze of famous Hungarians, whose busts are displayed in the corridors. Appreciate the heraldic stucco and paintings with panoramas of historical Budapest. At any time, you can turn into one of the open doors and get into the bright exhibition halls.

In Kiscelli, every visitor is immediately immersed in a meticulously designed interior. The further from the main entrance, the longer the rooms become, and soon the traveler finds himself in a long enfilade of white arches. Here, where the floor is paved with red marble slabs, the light from the many windows falls on a collection of statues dedicated to ancient gods. You can look at it for a good half an hour, and tired visitors at the end of this exhibition are awaited by a cozy, soft sofa. It is from this point that the museum space is divided into two interesting exhibitions, for which, most often, tourists strive to get to Kiscelli.

One of the exhibits is a collection of old printing presses. Opposite each of them is an example of printing on old posters and billboards, placed on the walls and special stands.

In this collection, the most famous piece is undoubtedly the original printing press that produced the National Song by Sándor Petőfi, which became the anthem of the Hungarian revolutionaries. It is considered one of the country’s great historical heritage.

The next stop after the printing shop is a spacious hall, completely different from all the previous rooms. The thing is that this exhibition space is arranged in the old building of the museum.

The entire style of the original architectural plan has been preserved: multi-meter ceilings, high arched openings and worn brickwork. All this is placed under a modern roof, which makes it possible to fully enjoy the original appearance of the castle frame.

It is here that permanent and temporary installations of contemporary art are exhibited. From here you can also go down to the lower tier of the building, which resembles catacombs, where various historical artifacts are located.

The second floor of the Kiscelli Museum is dedicated to modern history. One wing is adorned with a gallery of modern and traditional paintings, together with an exhibition of dolls. The second wing is devoted to a collection of classical furniture and interior items. Here you can also find expositions of personal collections of famous Hungarian figures. Each of these collections is presented in individual rooms, and you can find anything in them – from a collection of massive pendulum clocks to an intricate dining set.

Another interesting walk inside the museum awaits visitors in the hall dedicated to the mysterious death of the Budapest girl Magnas Else. This room imitates her tomb, and you can get into it only by crossing a bridge illuminated by spotlights, which is suspended above the lower tier with installations.

After a fascinating walk around Kiscelli, it is worth going out into the museum courtyard, where there is a well-kept green garden. Here you can relax in the shade of the trees and look at the building from a completely different angle.

And for those who leave the museum, its ticket office offers unusual publications of its own edition. Thus, as a souvenir, you can buy brochures that contain interesting digests with the history of the museum’s exhibitions, starting from its formation and up to the present day. Or magazines describing the conducted research on the topic of art, as well as telling about the life of Budapest in the 20th century in excerpts from various literary works.

Key facts about the Kiscelli Museum:

Map with the location of the Kiscelli Museum: