The task of the Monument Protection Documentation Department is the preservation and cataloguing of the continuously growing collection of documents on institutional Hungarian historic preservation since the foundation of the Temporary Commission of Hungarian Monuments in 1872. The Department also makes these documents available to research.
The Document Archives preserve the official, registered documents that were created within the institutional Hungarian historic preservation system between 1872 and 1992 as well as the varied contents of the collection, which due to their nature do not belong to the collection area of the other collection units. In addition, it is here that one can find a portion of the bequests of outstanding figures of Hungarian historic preservation such as Flóris Rómer, Imre Henszlmann, Lajos Arányi, Frigyes Schulek, István Möller, Kálmán Lux, István Genthon, Jenő Rados and Mihály Détshy.
The Print & Drawing Archives are one of Hungary’s fundamental collections for architectural history and contain nearly 500,000 documents. The core materials of the collection are comprised of the measured drawings made during the time of the National Commission of Historic Monuments (1881–1949). Of those who created these drawings, Robert Onderka, Imre Henszlmann, Ferenc Schulcz, Viktor Myskovszky, Imre Steindl, Frigyes Schulek, István Möller and Ottó Sztehlo are worthy of particular mention.
The documents recording the data related to the monuments of historical Hungary contain important information on the history and historiography of historic preservation, the connections between the official historic preservation agencies and educational institutions (the Hungarian Royal Joseph University of Technology and the Hungarian Royal State Technical College of Construction) as well as the research methodologies of past practices. The collection continued to grow in the 20th century. Since 1957, the documents of the National Inspectorate of Monuments and its legal successors ensured its continuous expansion until 2011. The collection also increases through bequests (e.g. those of Jenő Rados and Anikó Gazda) as well as the acquisition of other documents.
The basis of the Photographic Archives is nearly 400,000 photographic images, the oldest of which is from 1868. Its documents have been created during the recording and surveying of historic properties as well as during historic preservation and rehabilitation work. In part, these images record the old buildings and cityscapes of historical Hungary, and in part were created during work for historic research, rehabilitation, surveying and studies of cityscapes performed by the legal predecessor institutions.
The collection conserves the photographic legacies of numerous architects and art historians, including Jenő Rados, Károly Csányi, Anikó Gazda and Miklós Horler.
The Library, which contains more than 42,000 books and 6,000 volumes of periodicals, is a restricted public reference library for historic preservation, architectural history and art history that is continuously growing. It collects publications connected to architectural history as well as heritage and historic preservation and that support the research at the Hungarian Museum of Architecture and Monument Protection Documentation Center.