Following the examples of alike museums in London, Vienna, and Berlin, the Hungarian Parliament built the Museum of Applied Arts in Budapest between 1893 and 1896. Meanwhile, the museum authorities had already started to collect contemporary and historical artworks from around Hungary and abroad. Besides hosting a comprehensive artwork collection, the museum also constitutes a great example of Hungarian Art Nouveau.
The plan of the Museum of Applied Arts in Budapest belongs to Ödön Lechner and Gyula Pártos. The building is topped with a huge green cupola. As for the interior, the museum’s entrance leads to an enormous atrium with a glass ceiling surrounded by white cloisters. Lechner also combines Eastern and Western elements with Hungarian vernacular architecture, thus creating a rich set of ornamentations. The tiles feature Hungarian folkloric ceramics, including Zsolnay pottery and majolica as well as Islamic, Mogul, and Hindu motifs.
Today, the museum needs an extensive restoration work as the wars and conflicts of the twentieth century, especially the conflict of 1956, damaged the museum severely. Substandard repairs also damaged the building further. There are numerous defects in the building including the loosened roof, corroding parts starting to fall off, fractured water pipes, and the overloaded electrical system. Moreover, the safety of the collections and staff as well as visitors is debatable.
