Bela Bartok Memorial House
Bela Bartok Memorial House
4
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The building where composer Bartok Bela lived and worked between 1932 and 1940.
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4.0
34 reviews
Excellent
18
Very good
6
Average
9
Poor
1
Terrible
0
VispHafnarfjordur
Hafnarfjordur, Iceland33 contributions
Aug 2011 • Couples
We took a bus to this lovely house where Bartok lived before he left for USA and we understand now why he was unhappy in NY in an apartment building when he had been living in this lovely house with a beautiful garden and in a peaceful neighbourhood! And they had some memoribilia that where also interesting and an english speaking guide!
Written 28 August 2011
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
WRC35
London, UK62 contributions
Nov 2014 • Couples
The museum is pleasantly located in a villa district to the north of Budapest in the house which Bartok and his family rented in the 1930s before he left for the US. It is easily accessible by a short walk from a tram stop. The original house has been extended to accommodate a performance space and to display a good collection of Bartok musical and personal memorabilia and furniture. There is plenty of information about the composer's early life and work collecting folk music in Hungary and neighbouring countries. We were the only visitors there on a sunny Friday morning in late November and were given a warm reception and an excellent personal guided tour in English by a knowledgeable guide who also spoke German. The museum is probably only of interest to those who are already familiar with Bartok and his music but it compares very favourably with other similar museums we have visited elsewhere in Eastern Europe which often have little to offer beyond being the house in which the composer in question was born.
Written 25 November 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Feodor_Dostoevsky
Ottawa, Canada86 contributions
May 2013 • Family
A visit to Bela Bartok's house in Budapest is a must for serious music lovers. It is set in a quiet neighbourhood in the suburbs (be warned if you have ambulatory problems: it is an energetic uphill walk from the bus-stop to the house). The ambience both outside the house and inside is lovely and peaceful. In Bartok's study one can imagine the maestro sitting there (although after leaving it in 1940 he never returned). I went with my granddaughter to a voice recital, but I felt distinctly like an outsider who has blundered into someone else's party. Since Hungarian is spoken by almost nobody but Hungarians, the country has become very adept and welcoming in English, treating it as the foreigners' lingua franca. Bartok House is the exception, and knowing what was going on was quite difficult. We met some very helpful and nice people individually but the concerts series are not set up to deal with outsiders. It is best to think of Bartok House as a shrine to visit for historical and spiritual reasons; but unless you are lucky you will come away from the concerts with an empty feeling.
Written 4 June 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Theusdude
51 contributions
May 2013 • Solo
The self guided tour completed my image of Bartok as a composer searching for the Hungarian soul in music. However, the collections are very small and no English explanations (in fact, no explanations in any language other than his bio in Hungarian, English, German and Chinese were available). An audio guide or app to tour the house and small garden would have been very helpful. When I visited no English speaking staff was on site.
Written 18 May 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
kjl43
London, UK4 contributions
Mar 2012 • Couples
After a false start (regardless of what the website said it _is_ closed on Sundays), we returned and had a very good tour from a knowledgeable and very professional guide. The museum is well worth a visit, and has a very good selection of books in its shop, including scores.
Written 17 March 2012
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
DesRB
Menai Bridge, UK125 contributions
Apr 2019 • Couples
I confess to not being a great fan of much of Bartok’s music, but our visit to his last Hungarian home (from 1932-40) was delightful. The Memorial House, which is quite small, is easily accessible by bus or taxi (we went by taxi to get there early and returned by bus at our leisure), and entry is free with the Budapest card. Being a little bit outside the city also enables you to escape from the city crowds for a while and get up into the hills.
We were given a friendly welcome, and shown around the house by one of the staff (there were just 3 other visitors besides us on the tour); visitors are not allowed to wander around by themselves. We saw many of Bartok’s personal effects, together with furniture, his collections of folk-art products, and much else. He seems to have been an avid collector in many areas, both musical and non-musical! The house and the knowledgeable guide portrayed the composer in a much warmer light than is superficially apparent from a lot of his music.
The house has toilet facilities for visitors, and there are various Bartok-related items for sale at the reception desk, including a selection of his music. There is also a small concert room where chamber concerts are regularly held. I highly recommend this memorial museum for classical music lovers.
We were given a friendly welcome, and shown around the house by one of the staff (there were just 3 other visitors besides us on the tour); visitors are not allowed to wander around by themselves. We saw many of Bartok’s personal effects, together with furniture, his collections of folk-art products, and much else. He seems to have been an avid collector in many areas, both musical and non-musical! The house and the knowledgeable guide portrayed the composer in a much warmer light than is superficially apparent from a lot of his music.
The house has toilet facilities for visitors, and there are various Bartok-related items for sale at the reception desk, including a selection of his music. There is also a small concert room where chamber concerts are regularly held. I highly recommend this memorial museum for classical music lovers.
Written 16 June 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
ShropshireSneezer
Shropshire22 contributions
Nov 2012 • Couples
Bartok chose this house because of its quiet surroundings, and it is still quiet today. when we visited in November I guess we were the only visitors that day. Worth the bus ride (Number 5 from Stalin Terrace) just to see some real Budapest. The house itself has some Bartok memorialbilia, but thinly spread. One comes mainly as an act of homage. They could perhaps do with some discrete background music to give the concert room more atmosphere.
Written 28 November 2012
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
incksy
7 contributions
Apr 2017 • Solo
This museum is great for those with a love of or fascination for the composer Bartók. It is easy to find if you have google maps and search for its Hungarian name and it's an easy bus ride out of town into the depths of suburban Buda. The museum is entered by pressing the buzzer at the gate and asking to visit. It is a beautiful, quiet, understated place, as one might expect. We had a very thorough personal tour from one of the staff at the museum, who was clearly very knowledgable. Great to see Bartók's study and piano, which looks to be in fabulous condition. Also his collections of insects, folk instruments and so on, and old ink bottles, papers, bits of pencils and general stuff of everyday life. Some great family photos too. Nice insight into this extraordinary composer's personal world.
Written 9 April 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Haneen H
Shanghai, China86 contributions
Jul 2016
Walking into a place where an amazing composer lived in with all his belongings makes you feel like you're walking back in time. It was a great place to see all of the little things that were dear to Bartok. The only thing that wasn't clear was how to get there as there are no signs to show the location. If you take bus number 5 all the way to the end and then you go up a hill for about 10 minutes you'll get there, but ask around and make sure you're on the right direction.
Written 21 July 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
thoroughlygood
London, UK102 contributions
Oct 2016
A lovingly curated collection of Bartok's possessions from his personal and professional life. If you know a lot about Bartok already you may not necessarily learn anything new about the man, but the pictures and the space makes venturing out on the 11 Bus from Batthyany Ter for 30 minutes worth the visit. You'll get a personal guide for your visit. You won't be able to take pictures.
Written 19 October 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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