museums - budapest, hungary

Budapest has this trap called the "Budapest Kartya". It costs about $40 for 48 hours, and gives the carrier free transportation on buses, trams, and the metro, as well as free entrance to a myriad of museums. No question, if you spend your time wisely, you can use the card for more than it cost, but then again, if you didn't get the card, you would spend much less (and see less as well). This was the dilemma we were faced with upon arrival in Hungary's magnificent capital. You can guess from the following whether we got it or not.

Museum 1: The Jewish Museum



The Jewish Museum was held in an ornate synagogue only a few stops from our hostel. Although small (about 4 rooms) it had a nice collection and interesting room dedicated to Hungarian Jews during the Holocaust. We saw Torah scrolls and crowns, yadim, various things for Purim, Seder plates, and a host of other Jewish ritualistic instruments.

Museum 2: The Electrotechnics Museum



Probably my favorite of the lot, we got a tour from a German physics teacher who spoke only German. It was fun to try and understand all the different experiments involving magnets, electricity, various forces, positive and negative vectors (I think?), etc. in another language. Regardless, it was a boys dream museum - we made a ball roll back and forth between to pillars, made arcs travel up between two wires, made a 350,000 volt spark that scared us silly (stay tuned for the video - since I jumped terrifically I'm not sure you can see it, but you can definitely hear it . . .), and more. Besides the interesting experiments, the museum also held an impressive collection of lights ranging from Edison to Halogen.

Museum 3: The Stamp Museum



I think the stamp museum in Budapest is unique in its claim to have stamps from every country in the world. At more than 500,000 stamps, there's a lot to see. Fortunately, the friendly lady who runs the place gave us a handy info sheet that made it easy for us to see some highlights by giving the section, frame, and page number of the interesting stamp. We saw a Penny Black, the first adhesive stamp, Greek stamps from the first modern Olympic Games, 3D stamps from Bhutan, Hungarian stamps with ultra-violet fibers (housed in a special area so you can see them), the biggest stamp (USA), and the smallest stamp (Costa Rica). Very cool.

Museum 4: Franz Liszt's Apartment



This small museum housed in Liszt's three-room apartment had his library, several of his instruments, some original scores, and the like. Photography cost extra. I didn't pay (shh don't tell - it was only one picture).

Museum 5: The Fine Art Museum



After cooking some delicious pasta and sauce, we headed to the Fine Art Museum with our hostel friend Efrin. Although we had to pay extra to get in (as on Thursday night there's a special "museum +" program) we enjoyed a fantastic temporary photography exhibit called "Soul and Body", some interesting Egyptian artifacts, the Jazz ensemble playing in the large gallery room, and highlights of the permanent exhibition including Gauguin, Monet, Da Vinci, Raphael, El Greco, and Valasquez. Afterwards we enjoyed views of the city at night.



I think this picture is hilarious. We all have THE EXACT same expression.