Arts and Culture in Budapest
Budapest's culture scene reflects the city's centuries-long history as a hub for thinkers, artists, writers, and musicians—after all, the city enjoys more than 40 theaters and upwards of 100 museums. It's wonderful to wander through halls of luscious art or take in concerts at the Liszt Academy (the composer was a native). Even better is to simply gaze at the stunning architecture spanning eras and design elements that remain innovative whether they were made yesterday or centuries ago.
Budapest, Liszt Ferenc tér 8, 1061 Hungary
This university for music was established more than a century ago by, you guessed it, renowned Hungarian composer Franz Liszt. The building is of course primarily a school—but its lively in-house concert series, including chamber music,...
Budapest, Liliom u. 41, 1094 Hungary
This funky venue for experimental art of all kinds—theater, visual art, dance, performance, music, even circus arts—began as a transformer station, then later sat empty for 40 years until a group of artists began squatting there in the...
Budapest, Komor Marcell u. 1, 1095 Hungary
Ludwig museums crop up frequently throughout Europe—the Ludwigs were avid German art collectors who were also generous enough to make large donations and establish institutions in places like Cologne since the late 1980s—and Budapest...
Budapest, Székács u. 29, 1122 Hungary
The Budapest Design Terminal, a Bauhaus-style building dating to 1948 on the Buda side of the Danube, was once a derelict bus terminal. These days the space, renovated in the early 2010s, is a hot spot for cow-orking, "incubation," networking,...
Budapest, Klauzál tér 5, 1072 Hungary
This relatively new art gallery–founded in 2013 by curators Patrick Urwyler from Switzerland and Hungary native Boglárka Mittich—focuses on showing and promoting contemporary art from Central Europe, which, let’s be frank,...
Budapest, Teréz krt. 30, 1066 Hungary
In an age of Hollywood blockbusters and cineplexes (even in Europe), true art-house cinemas are a dying breed; Művész on the Pest side of the city keeps the faith with a wide variety of international and vintage films shown on four screens....
