Page 104 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Hungary

102  BUD APEST AREA B Y AREA CENTR AL PEST  103

w Hungarian National Museum Right Hand of Stalin
This hand is all that remains of the 8-m- VISITORS’ CHECKLIST
(26-ft-) high statue of Stalin that stood in
The Hungarian National Museum is the the Városliget in Budapest. A symbol Practical Information
country’s richest resource of art and artifacts of the Communist regime, Múzeum körút 14–16. Map 4 E1/
relating to its own turbulent history. Founded the statue was destroyed F1. Tel (1) 338 21 22 (327 77 73
for guided tours in English).
in the Hungarian
in 1802, the museum owes its existence to Revolution of 1956. Open 10am–6pm Tue–Sun. &
Count Ferenc Széchényi, who bequeathed 8 - = ∑ mnm.hu
his collection of coins, books and documents Transport
to the nation. The museum’s constantly v 47, 49. q Kálvin tér, Astoria.
expanding collection of art and documents @ 9, 15.
is exhibited in an impressive Neo-Classical Placing the Cornerstone (1864)
edifice built by Mihály Pollack. This painting by Miklós Barabás shows
the ceremony that marked the
beginning of construction of the
Chain Bridge in 1842.
Pelisse
Second floor
This short jacket, dating
from around 1620, is
typical of Hungarian
national costume. It
belonged to Gábor
Bethlen, a prince
Silk Corset of of Transylvania.
Queen Elisabeth
This black silk corset was worn by
Queen Elisabeth of Hungary and still
bears the mark of the stab wound that
killed her in Geneva on 10 September 1898.
First floor

Gothic Well
. Funeral Crown These reconstructed fragments are
This magnificent 13th-century part of a well from the Royal
golden crown was found in the Palace at Visegrád. The well dates
ruins of the Dominican Church from the 14th-century rule of the
and Convent on Margaret Island Angevin dynasty.
in the Danube (see pp112–13).
Museum Guide
On the first floor is the Coronation
Mantle and the archaeological
exhibition. Second-floor exhibits
comprise Hungarian artifacts from the
11th to the 20th centuries. The lapidaries are
on the ground floor and in the basement.

Key
. Coronation Mantle . Golden Stag
This textile masterpiece, made This hand-forged Iron Coronation Mantle
of Byzantine silk, was donated Age figure dates from Archaeological exhibition
to the church in Székesfehérvár the 6th century BC. 11th- to 17th-century exhibition
by St István in 1031. It became It was originally
the Coronation Mantle in the Main part of a Scythian 18th- to 19th-century exhibition
12th century. entrance prince’s shield. 20th-century exhibition
For hotels and restaurants see pp264–269 and pp276–285

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