Museum of Ethnography

About the museum

The museum was founded in 1872 as an ethnographic department of the Hungarian National Museum and now holds more than 235,600 ethnographic objects, alongside photographic, film and manuscript archives.

The current building beside City Park opened in 2022 to a design by Marcel Ferencz of NAPUR Architect. Most of the exhibition space sits below ground beneath two curved wings, whose landscaped roof forms a public park open from outside the building.

The permanent Collection Exhibition opened on 10 October 2024. It sets Hungarian and Carpathian Basin material culture alongside collections from other continents, organised around the work of collecting and interpreting objects rather than a single chronological story.

Opening hours

Tickets & prices

Collection Exhibition + ZOOM

4,900 HUF

Collection Exhibition + ZOOM — reduced

2,450 HUF

ZOOM only

1,700 HUF

ZOOM only — reduced

850 HUF

Collection Exhibition + ZOOM time-gate ticket

8,200 HUF

Time-gate ticket — reduced

4,100 HUF

Rituals of Beauty

2,500 HUF

Rituals of Beauty — reduced

1,250 HUF

All-in combined ticket

5,500 HUF

All-in combined ticket — reduced

2,750 HUF

Family all-in ticket

7,900 HUF

All-in group ticket

4,400 HUF

All-in group ticket — reduced

2,200 HUF

Last 1 hour all-in ticket

1,900 HUF

Last 1 hour all-in — reduced

950 HUF

Eligible free admission

Free

Free on the third Saturday of the month

Free

Free on national holidays

Free

Photo ticket

700 HUF

Audioguide — rental device

1,000 HUF

Audioguide — mobile app

1,500 HUF

Check official prices (opens in a new tab)

What to see

• Collection Exhibition

  The museum's principal permanent exhibition covers more than 3,000 square metres and presents almost 3,600 artefacts across eight thematic units, bringing Hungarian, Carpathian Basin and international material into dialogue through themes connecting objects, people, collecting and interpretation. Permanent, open since 10 October 2024.

• Ceramics Space – Ceramics of the World

  A freely accessible display of nearly 4,000 ceramics from around the world, organised through two contrasting approaches to collecting and interpreting material culture. The museum states it can be visited free of charge. Permanent, open since 23 May 2022; closed on Mondays.

• ZOOM – A Change in Perspectives

  An object-led permanent exhibition that presents the museum's vast collections through playful changes of scale, viewpoint and comparison rather than a conventional chronological narrative. Permanent, open since 23 May 2022.

Current exhibitions

• Rituals of Beauty

  19 May 2026 – 4 January 2027

  Feather and Painting: Body Decoration in the Amazon. A photographic exhibition exploring beauty and body decoration in Amazonian Indigenous communities through the research archive assembled over decades of fieldwork by Belgian cultural anthropologist Gustaaf Verswijver.

• Kiln Spirits

  19 June 2026 – 14 June 2027 · Project · Ceramics Space (Level -2)

  Contemporary Approaches 8. A small contemporary intervention in the Ceramics Space exploring objects associated with the superstitions and protective traditions surrounding the firing of ceramics.

• A Soldier's Lot – Remembering Compulsory Military Service

  Upcoming · 30 September 2026 – 29 August 2027

  An exhibition examining the everyday experience and memory of compulsory military service in Hungary through personal objects, photographs, documents, family collections and oral histories rather than through weapons or conventional military history.

• BUHERA – Jerry-Rigging

  Upcoming · 19 November 2026 – 22 August 2027

  An exhibition exploring the improvised objects and everyday ingenuity produced under Hungary's socialist-era shortage economy, when household needs were often met by adapting factory materials, discarded components and technical knowledge. English summary is a BudapestMuseums translation of the museum's own Hungarian description.

Practical information

Accessibility

Step-free exhibition access available via a designated entrance.

Accessible exhibition entry is available from the Damjanich Street side at Entrance II, behind the Etnoshop, using an accessible lift. The Heroes' Square-side Entrance I currently does not have the same accessible lift and visitors using that entrance require staff assistance.

Tickets

Ticket office closes at 17:30.

Tickets are sold online and on site at both ground-floor main entrances, on the exhibition floor and at three ticket kiosks that accept contactless payment. Tickets are generally non-refundable; online exhibition tickets bought through the official system may be rescheduled to another date if the request is submitted more than 24 hours before the ticket expires. Guided tours and museum-education programme tickets are not covered by that exchange option.

Toilets

Toilets available to ticket holders.

The QR code on the visitor's valid museum ticket is used to open the toilets in the building.

Lockers and cloakroom

Lockers and cloakroom available.

Lockers operate with a 100 HUF or 1 EUR coin. A lost locker key incurs a 5,000 HUF charge; staff at the nearest information desk can help open a locker.

Audioguide

Rental device 1,000 HUF; mobile app 1,500 HUF.

The rental device covers the Ceramics Space and ZOOM in Hungarian, English and German, and is collected on level -2. The mobile-app audioguide costs 1,500 HUF, is bought through the museum's online store and activated in the Museum of Ethnography app; the museum states the purchased audio content stays available without a time limit for the registered username.

Photo ticket

Photo ticket available for specified camera equipment — 700 HUF.

The museum's current admission page lists a 700 HUF photo ticket for camera, camera stand and telephoto lens. No general photography rule is published on the museum's current visitor pages.

Food and drink

Etno Bistro daily 10:00–19:00; ground-floor café Tuesday–Sunday 10:00–17:30.

Warm cuisine is served in the Etno Bistro daily from 11:30 to 17:00. The first-floor bistro café is temporarily closed.

Shops

Etnoshop and Etknow bookshop, Tuesday–Sunday 10:00–17:30.

Both shops are closed on Mondays. The Etnoshop also operates a Packeta pick-up point.

Roof garden

Free public roof garden.

The landscaped roof garden covers more than 7,000 square metres and is accessible free of charge from outside the museum. The publicly accessible areas are normally open 24 hours a day and offer views across City Park and Heroes' Square. It can only be reached from outside the building, so it does not follow exhibition opening hours.

Parking

Paid underground parking nearby; museum ticket includes 2 hours free.

Parking is available in the Museum Underground Parking for a fee. A valid museum exhibition ticket includes two hours of free parking; validate the benefit at the Entrance I information desk or with the garage attendant before leaving.

Wi-Fi

Free museum Wi-Fi available.

Network name EthnoMuseum. A short registration is required to use the network.

Guided tours

Guided tours by advance registration.

English-language basic guided tours cost 1,300 HUF per person for groups of 10–20 with an exhibition ticket, and curator-led English tours 1,690 HUF per person. Private English tours for groups under 10 start at 13,000 HUF per occasion by arrangement through tarlatvezetes@neprajz.hu.

Contact

+36 1 474 2100 · info@neprajz.hu

The museum's contact page states the central telephone line is available daily approximately 10:00–16:00, which is not the same as museum opening hours. Guided-tour enquiries go to tarlatvezetes@neprajz.hu.

Getting there

Address

1146 Budapest, Dózsa György út 35.

Area

City Park / Heroes' Square

Nearest transport

Benczúr utca / Damjanich utca / Damjanich utca – Dózsa György út / Hősök tere

• Benczúr utca — Bus 105 — closest to Entrance I, Heroes' Square side
• Damjanich utca — Bus 7, 105 / trolleybus 70, 79M — closest to Entrance II, step-free access
• Damjanich utca – Dózsa György út — Trolleybus 75, 79M — close to Entrance II
• Hősök tere — Metro M1

Parking is available in the Museum Underground Parking (Múzeum Mélygarázs) for a fee. A valid museum exhibition ticket includes two hours of free parking; validate it at the Entrance I information desk or with the garage attendant before leaving.

Directions