Hungary, where colourful folk traditions live on to this day

The main ‘duty’ of folk houses is to preserve and present local culture of the past, along with the folk art produced by the community; to show the general public the architectural masterpieces of folk culture and to present authentically furnished house interiors, together with the everyday life of a given social stratum. As a result, if you visit the country’s individual folk houses, you can travel back in time from the period following the Austro-Hungarian Compromise (1867) up to the 1950s.

Another way to protect folk monuments is to relocate valuable buildings to open-air ethnographic museums and allow a glimpse into the habits of the peasant way of life.

Open-air museums and village museums are created with the aim of presenting folk building styles and methods through buildings, tools and equipment that fall within the conceptual scope of original ethnographic material. You have plenty of open-air museums to choose from in Hungary if you want to get to know the world of folklore up close.

• Szentendre Open-Air Ethnographic Museum:

This is Hungary's largest outdoor collection, often just called the ‘Szentendre skanzen’. Come and see in detail the folk architecture of the country’s characteristic regions, the way of life and the housing culture of village and market town social strata here.

• Göcsej Village Museum:

This was the first open-air museum in the country and opened in Zalaegerszeg, in 1968. On display are wonderful examples of Göcsej folk construction in a 19th century village setting: farmhouses, a church, a blacksmith's mill and farm buildings await you.

• Folk monument ensemble:

You can visit the museum village in Szalafő, which is 8 km from the centre of Őrség in south-west Hungary. The village was built on seven mounds (the local idiom is "szer" for the mound phrase). So you can check out eight distant street rows, stunning open-air village museums, all of which have preserved the old way of life unadulterated.

• National Heritage Park:

In this museum located in Ópusztaszer, you can see – among other things – the ever-so-famous Feszty Panorama, the fabulous 120-metre long and 15-metre tall panoramic painting by Árpád Feszty, which brings to life some imagined scenes of the Hungarian conquest.

• Hollókő Village Museum:

Gain insight into the life of a three-member family from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Catch a glimpse of the types of furniture, utensils and tools used at the time so you can imagine what the Palóc way of life might have been like then.

• Szenna Open-Air Ethnographic Collection:

The aim of this collection is to preserve the most beautiful memories of wooden architecture in Somogy – this is the only village museum in the country that was established in a living village.

• Sóstó Village Museum:

In the largest regional open-air ethnographic museum in Hungary, the truly diverse folk architecture and housing culture of the Nyíregyháza region is on display in a uniform framework.

• Vas Museum Village:

The village houses erected here present the folk architecture of the whole area of Vas county. This museum in Szombathely also serves as a venue for many fairs and activities, so it’s worth going at a time when you can also catch an exciting event in addition to the display of folklore.

• Tihany Open-Air Ethnographic Museum:

A multitude of folk architectural monuments in their original location combined with an exhibition await you. Peek inside the house of the fishing guild, the pottery house or even the house of a farmer.

Any mention of true Hungarian heritage is sure to include Matyó folk art. This folk art is characterised by floral, space-filling embroidery, which dates back to the end of the 19th century and is used, in the main, on textiles for household use and with decorative functions. The various patterns, such as the famous Matyó rose, also play a major role in other craft activities. This characteristic folk art and costume has become world famous over the years, and has also been added to the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage by the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Several Hungarikums, i.e. Hungarian specialties, exist, and are included on the national list of intangible cultural heritage of the Hungarian Treasure Depository. Examples include, but are not limited to:

the living tradition of lace-sewing in Halas, where the production of this immensely fine lace requires incredibly meticulous freehand work;

‘hen beating’ in Moha, named after the ‘beating of hens’ by young bachelors while collecting egg donations (this is just a symbolic act: the backs of hens are symbolically tapped with a stick to promote fertility);

the tradition of the miller's cake in Borsodnádasd, where the folk cake is made with a unique, round-plate, scissor-like baking iron

or the world-famous Kassai Valley method of horseback archery, a traditional sporting and leisure activity, in which the archer must be able to make as many accurate shots as possible from the back of a galloping horse.

Do you fancy exploring and experiencing the folk values of Hungary? Discover these unique national values; no matter where you go, a fabulous Hungarikum awaits you everywhere.