Budapest Guide
The Városliget and the stadium district
Museum of Fine Arts
Opening time: Tues– Sun 10am–5.30pm
Price: 1200Ft
Address: Hősök tere
Website: www.szepmuveszeti.hu
The Museum of Fine Arts (Szépművészeti Múzeum) is the pan-European equivalent of the Hungarian National Gallery, housed in an imposing Neoclassical building completed in 1906. Most exhibits are labelled in English and a free floor-plan is available, but if you want more information you should go on an English-language tour (Tues– Sat 11am & 2pm from the lobby; free) or hire an audioguide (1000Ft). Besides its permanent collection, there are regular temporary exhibitions (1400–3200Ft; combined ticket 3600Ft) and cultural events on Thursdays (6–10pm; 3000Ft), as advertised.
The museum's forte is its hoard of Old Masters, based on the collection of Count Miklós Esterházy, which he sold to the state in 1871. The Spanish Collection of seventy works is arguably the best in the world outside Spain, highlighted by five Goyas, Velázquez's Peasants at Table and Ribera's gory Martyrdom of St Andrew. The Dutch Collection boasts an array of Brueghels as well as the Parable of the Hidden Treasure by Rembrandt. The superb Italian Collection features Boccacio's masterpiece The Adoration of the Infant Christ, Titian's Madonna and Child with St Paul and a watchful Venetian Doge by Tintoretto. Look out for Raphael's exquisite Esterházy Madonna – a Virgin and Child with the infant St John – and a a Veronese grandee in an ermine-trimmed robe.