Temporary exhibition
April 23 – June 20 2008

In 2003 Hungary requested that the Hungarian section of the ripa Pannonica should be put on the World Heritage tentative list. In the same year the Bratislaba Group was formed, and its English, German, Austrian, Slovakian, and Hungarian researchers resolved to establish the framework of making the Roman limes a united World Heritag Site. Between 2005 and 2008 this professional circle involving the scholars of tuther countries is engagaed in research work of grat importance supported by the Culture 2000 European Union grant.
The exhibiton demonstrates the history of Pannonia, the significance of the border line and the structure of the Roman army, but the visitors can inspect to the lives of the soldiers and the inhabitants as well.

April 15 - October 31, 2008.

The exhibition, organized since 1995, aims at providing an glimpse of the results of the archaeological excavations at the museum in 2007. The exhibition will be larger than ever displaying finds from prehistoric periods, the period of the Roman occupation and the Migration period from excavations conducted in the area of Budapest. The Budapest Historical Museum carried out more than 70 excavations last year, bring to light more than 200,000 objects, making it difficult to select objects for this exhibition. The present exhibition concentrates on anthropomorphic depictions so that the prehistoric idol and vessel with a face motif as well as Roman anthropomorphic vessels will be on display. The most exciting find of the 2007 season and also in the exhibition is the limestone life-size statue of a Roman soldier shown wearing a cruirass. Prehistoric and Roman ceramic and glass vessels, metal objects, jewelery and grave steles will also be on display. The exhibition will be complemented by an interactive part for young people and also an interior showing everyday-life in an excavation.
Thus, the unique archaeological finds discovered in 2007 demonstrate once again that there is always "something new under the ground": the archaeological heritage of Budapest is particularly rich and surprises await both researchers and visitors.

Organized by:
Orsolya T. Láng

New exhibition building (135 Szentenderi Road, District III)
open from September 20, 2008

The storerooms of the Budapest History Museum holds one of the largest archaeological collections in Hungary. About one million archaeological finds from prehistoric times to the Migration period of Budapest are stored here at the Aquincum Musueum. The aim of the Visual Storage exhibit is to give visitors insight into the repositories of a a museum, repositories that serve as an enormously important resource of historical materials, art objects and treasures. In the past it has proven difficult to provide access to these objects for visitors and professionals alike. Though this exhibit in our new exibition building at the Aquincum Museum, rebuilt in 2007-2008, a window has been opened onto what kinds of pieces may be found in the repositories.

The "Aquincum Vision Storage" follows the history of Budapest and Aquincum, juxtaposing the chronology and types of archaeological finds from prehistory to the Migration Period. The visitors are drawn into the interesting world of a museum as seen on the light shelves built into this simple walk-in installation repository. More than 1200 finds are on display in this exibition. The inscriptions on the shelves and shelf registers help to orient vistors. The visitors can see closer the moved pictures of the more important finds on a digital screen.

The construction of the Visual Storage will allow us to change the materials put on display form time to time so that visitors can see as soon as possible the growing number of archaeological finds which have been brought to light in excavations by archaeologists at the Budapest History Museum.

Directed by Dr. Paula Zsidi

The Celts
in the archaeological heritage of Budapest

Archaeological finds from Budapest before the Roman occupation

Temporary exhibition, 20th September 2008- 15st March 2009.

The Celtic tribes populating Western and Central Europe invaded the territory of Western Hungary in the 4th century BC, and by the turn of the century came to dominate the whole of the Carpathian Basin.
The territory and close surroundings of Budapest was especially densely populated in the 1st c. BC. Fortified by earth-work, the central settlement of the Eraviscan tribe was built on the highest point of Gellérthegy and occupied the northern and southern slopes of the hill. This settlenemt was the political, economical, and religious center of the tribe’s life. The tribal center on Gellérthegy ceased to function as a result of the Roman invasion and the founding of the province Pannonia at the beginning of the 1st c. AD.
Painted earthen vessels, bronze jewellery, iron utensils and agricultural merchandise were distributed by Celtic merchants. By the 1st c. BC, silver coins were used as currency. The name of the Eraviscan tribe who lived in the Northeastern part of Transdanubia and around Budapest can be found on the coins minted by them as RAVIS. The heyday of Eraviscan coinage was the middle and the second half of the 1st c. BC. Archaeological research has placed the mint to somewhere around Aquincum.