Introduction

Relying upon one hundred and fifty years of history and our professional collections, our mission is the understanding, research, presentation and promotion of the built environment of Hungary and the Carpathian Basin.

The Hungarian Museum of Architecture and Monument Protection Documentation Center (HMA MPDC) is an interdisciplinary institution created as the legal successor to the previous Hungarian historic preservation bodies.

We operate as a historic preservation research center and museum that presents Hungarian architecture in a comprehensive manner. Our goal is to be an institution fostering an understanding of our knowledge of historic preservation and our common architectural history that is open to both professionals and the general public.

We perform basic historic preservation research during which we prepare studies on regions, towns and groups of buildings or monuments. Our tasks include the creation of inventories and thematic historic preservation research as well as geodesic surveys, horticultural research, historical research, on-site examinations and physical building research in connection with historic properties and ensembles.

The collections of documents on the built heritage – the Document Archives, Print & Drawing Archives, Photographic Archives and Library – that are nearly one hundred and fifty years old and the museum collections that are more than fifty years old are open to professionals and the general public.

Our collections of documents on the built heritage are the most important sources on historic preservation research and rehabilitation projects in the territory within the historic borders of Hungary. They come from a collection area covering the entire Carpathian Basin and include several hundred thousand items.

The museum’s collection consists of nearly three hundred thousand artworks and four hundred architectural models. The collections of documents on the built heritage include more than one million items.

Our institution is an essential research center for architects, archaeologists, art historians, conservators and ethnographers.

The Hungarian Museum of Architecture was established in 1968 and the scope of its collection encompasses materials related to architecture and architectural history. The collection of the museum is comprised of artworks and architectural models making up several hundred thousand items. Pieces of fine and applied arts, original building elements and other objects are being constantly added through bequests and purchases.

The results of our research work and the scientific processing of our collections are presented in publications and at conferences, as well as through temporary exhibitions. In addition to the scholarly research and cataloguing of the built heritage, one of the long-term tasks of the Hungarian Museum of Architecture is to organize a permanent exhibition presenting the history of Hungarian architecture from its beginnings to the present day.

Our institution is financed by the Hungarian Academy of Arts.