Budapest Money Museum Wins Best in Europe Award

Hungary Today 2023.09.19.

The spectacular building of the Money Museum in Széll Kálmán Square

This is the first time that a Hungarian institution has won the European Academy of Museums (EMA) Grand Prize. The jury appreciated the fact that the Money Museum introduces visitors to financial processes in an interactive and entertaining way, writes Magyar Nemzet.

The DASA award, recognizing the importance of learning in museums, was given for the content of the exhibition, the user-friendly exhibition spaces and the effective way in which the museum disseminates knowledge.

In the competition for the award, the Money Museum was among the top three, along with prestigious institutions such as Forum Wissen in Göttingen, Germany, and the Carmen Thyssen Málaga Museum in Malaga, Spain.

According to the jury, the Money Museum provides visitors with an interactive and entertaining introduction to the financial process, the basic rules of money, and the Central Bank of Hungary.

The use of state-of-the-art equipment and the organization of the exhibition make the history of money understandable for everyone.

Eszter Hergár, Director of the Money Museum and Visitors’ Center, said that in the year and a half since its opening, the Money Museum, with its fifty spectacular installations, has welcomed more than 135,000 visitors. Last year, the institution on the famous Széll Kálmán Square, was named one of the best museums by the Center for Museum Education and Training, and this year it was awarded the Best of Budapest and the Community Museum Award.

All the exhibitions and programs of the Money Museum, as well as the panoramic terrace connected to the Experience Center, are free of charge.

In July, the museum’s legendary building has been enriched with a special addition, a panorama rooftop terrace.

The addition offers an urban experience that has never been open to the public in its almost 100 years of operation.

This terrace, unlike the ones on the Pest side, gives a completely different view and perspective: Buda’s Krisztinaváros (districts 1 and 12) and the buildings on the Pest side can be seen as well. The rooftop terrace also houses a café.

Fact

The former Postapalota (Post office palace) building, Budapest’s first office building, was built in 1926. Even then it was described as a “two-faced, mysterious, fairy castle.” At the outbreak of World War II, it was used as a shelter, but later it was hit by several cannon shots and a part of it was completely destroyed and burnt down. Although the critical damage was repaired after the war, the palace was again badly damaged during the 1956 revolution.

60 years later, in 2016, the Central Bank of Hungary purchased the building and from the following year, a major renovation was launched, with the main aim of restoring the building to its original condition. Since 2022, the legendary building has been home to the Money Museum.

The view from the terrace. Photo via penzmuzeum.hu

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Via Magyar Nemzet, Featured image via penzmuzeum.hu