Hungarian Museum Wins Prestigious iF Design Award for the First Time!

The Museum of Ethnography’s permanent collection exhibition, inaugurated in the autumn of 2024, has been honored with the prestigious iF DESIGN AWARD, standing out among over 11,000 applicants. This annual award recognizes the most innovative companies and institutions worldwide, making this Hungarian achievement particularly significant. Notably, this is the first time a Hungarian museum has received such a high-level international design accolade. The exhibition’s design and execution were led by the Art1st design studio, which earned the prestigious award in the "Exhibition Design and Implementation" category. The exhibition is housed in the Museum of Ethnography, realized as part of the Liget Budapest Project. For decades, the museum lacked the opportunity to fully showcase its unparalleled collection, as its former location in Kossuth Square was unsuitable for such an extensive display.

The German iF DESIGN AWARD, established in 1954, is one of the most esteemed design accolades in the world. Each year, the competition recognizes outstanding design solutions across multiple categories, including product, packaging, communication, architecture, and service design. Award-winning projects set global benchmarks for design excellence. In 2025, more than 11,000 entries from 66 countries were submitted, assessed by a jury of 131 international design experts. Traditionally, the competition attracts the world's most innovative companies, including Apple Inc., Philips, Siemens, Lenovo, Huawei, and Samsung.

The Museum of Ethnography’s new permanent collection exhibition won in the "Exhibition Design and Implementation" category. The Art1st team developed a unique concept, structuring the exhibition into eight thematic units that present Hungarian and international ethnographic artifacts. Through interactive elements, multimedia solutions, and innovative spatial design, the exhibition redefines the contemporary museum experience. Visitors can explore diverse cultures worldwide, with interactive installations enhancing engagement with the objects and their histories.

“This award is a tremendous acknowledgment that Hungarian museum exhibition design can create memorable experiences on a global scale. Designing the Museum of Ethnography’s new permanent exhibition was a significant creative challenge, allowing us to seamlessly merge tradition with cutting-edge technology,” said Dániel Taraczky, lead designer and managing director of Art1st.

Art1st Creative Studio is one of Hungary’s leading exhibition design firms, renowned for its innovative and visually striking media design solutions. The team has been engaged in both national and international projects for years, focusing on balancing interactivity, audience engagement, and striking visual concepts. Winning the iF DESIGN AWARD is not only a milestone in the company's international recognition but also a success for Hungarian design and museum innovation.

“For decades, the Museum of Ethnography operated in a building that was never intended for museum purposes, making it impossible to properly showcase its vast and diverse collection. Thanks to the Liget Budapest Project, we finally had the opportunity to present this invaluable cultural heritage in a space designed specifically for museum needs. This award reaffirms the importance of this achievement, and we hope it is just the beginning. The current National Gallery building is also unsuitable for museum purposes, but its new home in City Park will be tailored to the collection’s and gallery’s needs,” said Benedek Gyorgyevics, CEO of Városliget Zrt.

A Grand Permanent Exhibition in Europe’s Most Advanced Ethnographic Museum

On October 10, 2024, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán officially inaugurated the Museum of Ethnography’s new, largest-ever permanent collection exhibition, which has since become a favorite among domestic and international visitors. The exhibition spans over 3,000 square meters and presents nearly 3,600 artifacts across eight thematic sections. Compared to its former Kossuth Square location, the new exhibition is displayed in a space three times larger, incorporating enhanced visitor areas and services for an improved museum experience.

“The Museum of Ethnography is one of Europe’s most outstanding thematic museums, and thanks to its new building, completed in 2022, it is now one of the world’s most modern ethnographic institutions, having welcomed over 1.3 million visitors. The museum houses 232,000 ethnographic objects, along with a unique collection of photographs, manuscripts, folk music recordings, and films. Beyond Hungarian folk culture’s invaluable artifacts, it also holds the region’s most extensive ethnographic collection representing distant continents, spanning from the 17th century to the present day. These collections illustrate the diversity of human existence, daily life, and communal relationships,” highlighted Lajos Kemecsi, Director-General of the Museum of Ethnography. The museum’s new building allows for this unparalleled Hungarian and international collection to be displayed in a space nearly three times larger than its former location. The exhibition extends beyond traditional gallery spaces, influencing the entire museum with newly designed areas, multimedia applications, and enhanced visitor services.

The Museum of Ethnography gained global attention following its architectural competition. It was recognized at the International Property Awards in London in 2018 as the world’s best public building, also receiving the Best Architecture Grand Prize. In 2022, it won the Swiss Built Design Awards in the cultural category, the Chinese Idea-Tops Awards’ first prize, and was named the best in its category at the London International Creative Competition, with the German Design Awards honoring it with an "Excellent Architecture" title. Prestigious organizations such as the Dutch Archello Awards and the Italian Inside Quality Design Awards included it among the year’s best projects.

A major success came in 2023 when TIME Magazine included the Museum of Ethnography in its "World’s Greatest Places" list, influencing the travel decisions of millions of readers. The museum also won the Paris Design Award, the International Architecture Award, and was recognized by the ARCHITIZER A+ AWARD for "Museum Architecture" and "Architecture and Façade." At the 18th Venice Architecture Biennale, one of the world’s most prestigious cultural events, the Hungarian Pavilion was dedicated to the museum. In 2024, the Museum of Ethnography was named the world’s best public building at the prestigious FIABCI awards in Singapore.