The MTI reports that the Museum of Ethnography has reached its highest point. The building will be structurally completed this autumn and open in 2022.

The building was designed by the Hungarian Napur architect studio and is being built on the site of an old car park. The new museum will form to hills on the edge of City Park – said the ministerial commissioner for the Liget Budapest Project, László Baán. The final plans for the building were selected from an international design tender which garnered interest from the world's leading architects, and the final plans have received several prestigious international awards, including the world's best public building award, added Mr Baán.

The new building of the Museum of Ethnography has reached its maximal height (Photo: MTI / Zoltán Balogh)

 The new home of the Museum of Ethnography follows a consistent design idea. Sixty per cent of the buildings are underground. The area above ground level opens similarly to two wings forming a gate-like structure at the end of Városliget Avenue. The two buildings form the lower edge of a circle with a 1 km radius.

The Ministerial commissioner added that similar to the House of Hungarian Music the highest point of the new museum will also be below the canopy level, and will hopefully soon be joined by the new building of the Hungarian National Gallery.

Baán László told the MTI that the new building covered 40,000 square metres with the construction costing roughly 40 billion HUF (112 million EUR), which is a favourable price in the current construction industry. The majority of the museum's collection would be moved into the National Museum Restoration and Storage Centre, and the relocation of items was already underway.

The director of the museum emphasised that the Museum of Ethnography was moving to a building specifically constructed as a museum for the first time in its 150 year history, and its collection of over 250,000 pieces would be on display in an exhibition floor over three-times the size of the current.

Plans for the new Museum of Ethnography (Source: Városliget Zrt.)

The director added that not only the site of the exhibition spaces was an important factor. In the museum's old building, exhibitions were displayed in spaces created through demolishing the wall between former offices. Meanwhile, architects have carefully planned the new building around the requirements of museologists and designed both the path of visitors and for display items, also allowing for exhibition spaces to be rearranged almost entirely without limitation.

The new motto of the Museum of Ethnography will be freedom – stated the director. This is not only emphasised by the building’s organic connection to City Park but the fact that visitors will be able to move freely through the building. No ticket will be needed to walk under the central arc, or use the parks created on the two wings of the building.

The plans for the new museum were also popular with the public (Source: Városliget Zrt.)

A permanent exhibition for children and youths will be placed in a 1000 square metre overground area. The library and archive will attract readers with its spectacular reading and research rooms, while event spaces, projectors and a restaurant will also serve guest – detailed Mr Kemecsi.

The MTI quotes Benedek Gyorgyevics, CEO of Városliget Zrt. as saying that the building will be surrounded by revitalised park areas and a unique promenade as work continues to renew the rest of City Park.

Watch the video about the new building of the Museum of Ethnography on Youtube.

Source: MTI

Cover photo: The Museum of Ethnography's new building to open in 2022 (Photo: MTI/Balogh Zoltán)