Rome in Aquincum
permanent exhibition at the Aquincum Museum
from the 15th of september 2008 -

The newest permanent exhibition of at the Aquincum museum is now open to the public in the recently re-built and restored 'electrical transformer house', a protected monument building in its own right, constructed in Neo-Classical style and situated at the edge of the archeological park. The exhibition presents valuable but never before exhibited finds from the rich collections of the museum. The exhibition hall is now spacious enough to hold the freshly restored mosaics and wall paintings from the governor's palace excavations. The visitors can also see monumental statues which formerly stood in sanctuaries, the dolphin fountain or a reconstruction of a large ornamental stone vessel (crater). These objects all reflect the luxurious nature of the palace's interior. The objects presented in the cases, including imported bronze, glass or ceramic vessels as well as the gold and silver jewelry, were all part of the daily life the governor and the coterie surrounding him.
The other unique aspect of the new exhibition is that the world famous archaeological find, the Aquincum organ, can again be exhibited some 75 years after it was first brought to light. The remnants of the organ were discovered during excavations preceding foundation work on the building that today serves as the main exhibition building of the Aquincum Museum. The preserved parts of the organ, the reconstrution of its structure and mechanism as well as a playable copy are also on exhibit here.

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

There is something new under the ground

Old sites - new results

A selection of new archaeological finds from 2010

Temporary exhibitions

15 April 2011-25 March 2012

For the 15th time, the Aquincum Museum (Budapest History Museum) is putting on show the nicest and most important archaeological finds from the previous year's excavation season. However, archeological research have been on-going for more than 120 years in the Capital city, continuously bring to light memories from the past. These finds help archaeologists understand the past of the city and its suburbs better.

The same exhibition in 2011 puts on show finds that enriched our knowledge, not only concerning parts of the long excavated historical towns but also about large areas in more peripheral districts of the town. The Painter's House, the southern town wall and an other part of the eastern cemetery (former Gas factory) came to light in and around the Aquincum Civil Town. A so far unknown watch-tower, part of the 4th century AD Pannonian defence system was also discovered. Excavation brought new results from the Prehistoric, Roman, Migration Period and Mediaeval settlement history of Budatétény, the Danube bank at Szigetszentmiklós or on Csúcshegy-Harsánylejtő.

The new results are represented by spectacular finds such as the shards from a 7000 year old faced-vessel and a clay statuette, Roman glass vessels, jewelry, brooches (fibulae) coins, oil lamps and two Mediaeval corollae (head ornament). Knowledge of past construction techniques and household activities provide information for reconstructions of Neolithic and Avar building remains found in District XXII, on Növény Street.

Another interesting find on show is the threshold mosaic from the Roman Proconsul's palace with braid-motifs that was found during the excavation of the palace in the middle of last century that was only finally conserved last year. Thus, it will go on exhibit again for the first time after 40 years!

In keeping with tradition, the museum will continue to pre­sent find material collected in 2011 on the history of Budapest in the "There is something new under the ground..." exhibition.