4628) "Skanzen - Open Air Ethnic Museum , Magyarorszag (Hungary) : Magyar Posta (Hungarian Post) has issued a strip of four postage stamps highlighting exhibi9ts from the Skanzen Museum in Szentendre which was founded in 1967:
Evolution of Open Air Ethnographic Museums:
Open air ethnographic museums were established at the end of the 19th century owing to various factors.
On the one hand, in accordance with the scientific progress branches of museology continually developed and differentiated.
A demand for creating an ethnographic museum which is suitable to demonstrate folk life in a most complex way, furnishings and farming equipment included arose.
On the other hand, the capitalist economy reaching its developed stage since the second half of the 19th century resulted in an intensive urbanisation and modernisation from the north-west to the east of Europe, as a consequence of which the existing pieces of peasant architecture began sinking into decay at an alarming speed.
Preservation of monuments of folk architecture became imperative.
For accomplishing this dual task “skanzens” have proved to be exceptionally appropriate
International background:
It was the outstanding Swedish scientist, Arthur Haselius who established the world’s first open air museum in 1891 in Stockholm so that the characteristic buildings of various Swedish regions and ethnic groups should be preserved and presented, collected in one place as a permanent exhibition with the possibility of being visited by masses of people.
It was named Skanzen after the part of town of its location and in due time it found its way into many languages, including Hungarian, as an equivalent of open air museum.
In the wake of the Swedish example smaller and larger skanzens have been created; up till World War I mainly in Scandinavia, later on in more waves in the greater part of Europe as well.
After World War II this kind of exhibition became well known in North America, Asia, and even in Australia. It is in Southern Europe, Inner Asia, the Middle East and Africa where open air museums have not taken hold yet.
The situation in Hungary:
Hungarian ethnographers were also touched by the idea of an open air museum.
Supposedly the most popular part of the national exhibition staged for the 1896 millennium of the Hungarian conquest of the land was the Ethnographic Village featuring village buildings with furniture embedded in the history of the nation, deemed characteristic by the experts of the day.
Half of the exhibition, comprising 24 dwelling houses originally furnished, a wooden church and several farm buildings, represented the Hungarian architecture and lifestyle, the other half showed those of the ethnic minorities.
Regrettably the Ethnographic Village was dismantled in November, 1896 but the collection of objects enriched the Ethnographical Museum and the exhibition itself started the research into folk architecture and implanted the idea of creating a central Hungarian skanzen in professional and lay domains as well. Unfortunately, conceptional misgivings, but mainly lack of funds and the events of the world wars prevented the idea to be put into practice almost for 70 years.
Museum history:
In 1949 pieces of folk architecture were qualified for protection.
Surveys and basic research started, databases and land-registers were set up.
Ethnographic science sized up folk architecture and outlined the up-to-date course of research.
As a consequence, Hungarian ethnographers and protectors of monuments gained enough knowledge to lay the foundation for the Hungarian central skanzen. The Hungarian Open Air Museum in Szentendre was founded in 1967, first operating as the Village Museum Department of the Budapest Ethnographical Museum then in 1972 it became independent, functioning in an area of 46 hectares in the valley of the brook Sztaravoda.
Uniquely in Europe, parallel to founding the national open air museum a network of regional skanzens were also established in Hungary; in 1968 the Göcsej Village Museum in Zalaegerszeg, in 1973 the Vas Museum Village in Szombathely, in 1979 the Sóstó Museum Village in Nyíregyháza, in 1980 the Szenna Open Air Ethnographic Collection and in 1985 the Ópusztaszer National Historical Memorial Park opened its gates.
Almost at the same time a range of regional houses preserved and furnished in situ were reconstructed and opened to the public. Nowadays their number approaches 400.
The aim of founding the Szentendre Open Air Museum was to present folk architecture, interior decoration, farming and way of life in the Hungarian language area from the 2nd half of the 18th century to the 1st half of the 20th, through authentic objects and original, relocated houses arranged in old settlement patters.
The more and more elaborate settlement plan appropriates the relocation of more than 400 edifices into the museum, arranged into village-like regional units on the basis of ethnographical considerations.
Within the units buildings are fitted into the traditional system of peasant households, supplemented by sacred, communal and outbuildings which used to be integral parts of traditional villages. Dwellings and farm-buildings represent the typical houses and outbuildings having evolved historically in each region.
During the past 40 years the Hungarian Open Air Museum has become one of the most successful museums of the country by its exhibitions, infrastructure, programmes and professional and scientific results.
The number of visitors approaching a quarter of a million during the 7-month opening time unequivocally proves its popularity with inland and foreign tourists.
The awards obtained by the Museum:
Museum of the Year (2000), Visitor-friend Museum (2004), and the Prima Primissima Award (2005), the most valued one, exemplify the incorporation and acknowledgement of the museum on a national scale.
Following the government statute of July 25th, 2007 the Skanzen has the means of further development by the funds ensured by the European Union.
The Village in Northern Hungary regional unit is going to be built, a new entrance building awaits the visitors, a period motor train helps inside transport and the Open Museological Workshop as a new locale for entertaining education is added to the existing possibilities.About Skanzen - Hungarian Open-Air Museum.
The Postage stamps:
In 2026, Magyar Posta is issuing a strip of four special stamps on the topic of the Hungarian Open-Air Museum in Szentendre.
Twenty thousand copies of the strip of four stamps were produced based on the design of the graphic artist Barnabás Baticz by the Pénzjegynyomda printing company.
7 August 2026.
More about the Hungarian Open-Air Museum in Szentendre, generally known as the Skanzen:
This Museum is Hungary’s largest outdoor museum and was founded in 1967.
The aim of its foundation was to construct at a single location a collection of historic residential, agricultural, and industrial buildings representing the vernacular architecture of the different regions of Hungary, which could be visited as an open-air museum.
As part of the Danube-Ipoly National Park, it is situated in a nature reserve on the south-eastern slope of the Visegrád Mountains, in the valley of the Sztaravoda Stream, hence not only the collection of buildings but also the natural surroundings are specially protected.
Set in grounds covering 75 hectares, the folk architecture, interior furnishings, farming practices, and way of life of the Hungarian-speaking areas come to life for visitors.
The museum’s permanent exhibitions and regional sections, comprised of residential houses, farm outbuildings, mills, and churches, showcase the rural heritage of bygone eras. In each of the regional sections, the buildings are arranged according to the traditional layout of a peasant farmstead, which are complemented by sacred, communal, and economic buildings that were once part of the traditional village scene.
The permanent open-air exhibition spans the period from the mid-18th century to the mid-20th century.
The active and interactive areas of the museum’s exhibitions allow visitors to experience the atmosphere and aspects of tradi- tional rural life.
In recent years, the Skanzen’s responsibilities have expanded significantly, and it now functions as a centre for museum education, teaching, training, intan- gible cultural heritage, and folk architecture.
The postage stamp:
The stamps in the strip show a streetscape from the Upper Tisza Region; the windmill from Dusnok and the Skanzen train; a streetscape from the Upland Market Town Region, and the main square of a Transylvanian town.
The accompanying First Day Cover (FDC) features a village streetscape with an autumnal atmosphere typical of Northern Hungary.
The Skanzen’s logo appears as the postmark on the first day cover.
Technical details:
Issue Date: 07.08.2026
Designer: Barnabás Baticz
Printer: Pénzjegynyomda Zrt. (stamp) (stamp), Pátria Zrt. (FDC)
Size: 40.00 mm x 30.00 mm
Values: HUF 1,760
Hungarian National Memorials Collector Coin Series":
"Hungarian National Memorials Collector Coin Series":
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