Hungarian National Gallery
Six centuries of Hungarian art, from Gothic wood altars to Paris-era photographs, inside a royal castle.
Coming soon on iOS — be first to walk Budapest offline.
Founded in 1957 inside Buda Castle, this is Hungary's fullest account of its own art — medieval altarpieces, Baroque canvases, 19th-century realism, and work by Hungarian artists who built careers in Paris before World War II. The Museum of Fine Arts handles international art; this is the Hungarian story start to finish.
What to look for
- 15th-century wood altars from the medieval collection
- Tivadar Kosztka Csontváry's painting Ruins of Ancient Theatre, Taormina
- Photographs by Brassai, one of the Hungarians who worked in Paris before the war
Located inside Buda Castle — combine with a walk along the castle grounds on the same visit.
Hungarian National Gallery is one of 37 sights worth the detour in Budapest, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Budapest pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Budapest
- Hungarian Parliament BuildingA political manifesto in stone: Hungary's parliament was built to look like Westminster, on purpose, with 40 kg of gold inside.
- Buda CastleA palace first raised in 1265, severely damaged in the Siege of Budapest during World War II, and rebuilt by a communist government — the scars and the seams are the story.
- Széchenyi Chain BridgeThe bridge that stitched Buda and Pest into one city — designed in Britain, shipped in sections, and opened in 1849 as one of the world's longest spans.
- Heroes' SquareAt the far end of Andrássy Avenue, a monument built in 1896 fixes the Magyar conquest of 896 AD in stone — seven founding chieftains, national leaders, and the plaza where Hungary reburied Imre Nagy in 1989.
- AquincumMarcus Aurelius is believed to have written parts of the Meditations here — on the Roman empire's frontier, not in Rome.
- St. Stephen's BasilicaThe first King of Hungary's mummified right hand sits in a reliquary here — and the dome above you had to be torn down and rebuilt from nothing after it collapsed in 1858.