Hungarian Language Museum

The world's only museum entirely dedicated to the Hungarian language

Opened in 2008 on the Kazinczy estate, the museum is a small but cleverly designed building that uses interactive screens, sound rooms, and old manuscripts to walk visitors through the history of the Hungarian language. Sections cover the Uralic origins, the medieval codices, the great Bible translation of 1590, the reform era, and the modern dialects.

Many of the displays carry English captions, but it helps to come with at least a passing curiosity about Hungarian — the museum is built for language nerds and rewards them generously. Combine with the Kazinczy Memorial Hall just outside.

things to do museum
A story
Hungarian is one of Europe's stranger languages — a Uralic outpost surrounded by Slavic, Germanic, and Romance tongues — and it nearly died as a literary language in the eighteenth century. The reform movement Kazinczy led from this hillside coined some ten thousand new words, many of which are still in everyday use.