The Ferenc Hopp Museum in Budapest, Hungary, an ASEMUS member, is currently celebrating its 100th anniversary. On this occasion, visitors are invited to view the special exhibition "Made in Asia. The Centenary of the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Asiatic Arts", presented between 20 June 2019 and 30 August 2020. The exhibition displays the best pieces in the collection of the hundred-year-old Hopp Museum. Portraying the great periods in the Museum’s history, the show spans from the interwar period linked to the institution’s first director, art historian Zoltán Felvinczi Takács, to the period of Buddhist exhibitions, linked to Mária Ferenczy, a renowned sinologist, who passed away in 2017. The more than 500 artefacts – including temporarily displayed pieces – are arranged according to the most important periods in the Museum’s history. The display allows an insight into how – based on what opportunities and collecting criteria – the most representative items and groups of objects entered the collection. In order to protect the condition of the artefacts selected for the exhibition, in some cases quarterly replacements of certain items or groups of items were introduced. "Made in Asia" also pays tribute to the prominent figures in the Museum’s history: directors and staff members who played a key role in maintaining the operation of the museum and in shaping its collecting activity in those periods in the twentieth century that were fraught with tragedies in Hungary (and across the world). Visitors can be acquainted with the – often adventurous – stories of the highest quality pieces, thus allowing them with a unique opportunity to ponder twentieth-century history in the context of the Asian artefacts of a Hungarian museum.

Other activities

In addition to the exhibition, the centenary of the Ferenc Hopp Museum will see the publication of a book on the history of its collections, as well as a special jubilee edition of the Museum's Portable Museum Education Library, devoted to the life and work of its founder, Ferenc Hopp. A bilingual volume presenting the history of the Hopp Villa and its garden, illustrated with archival photographs, is also planned. Furthermore, an open-air cinema is taking place in the summer, and guided tours and museum education workshops, among other activities, are also planned.

Further information

On the occasion of the launch of the "Made in Asia" exhibition, an extensive interview with Dr. Györgyi Fajcsák, the Director of the Ferenc Hopp Museum, explaining the context, aims and contents of the show is available here. For further details about "Made in Asia: The Centenary of the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Asiatic Arts", please visit https://hoppmuseum.hu/aktualis_en