Stop 3 · Buildings Walk
Móra Museum
Roosevelt tér · Palace of Culture, 1896
Kids swapped Hun gold for pumpkins and apples before Ferenc Móra saved it.
It was inaugurated on 6 September 1896, during the millennium celebrations, as the Palace of Culture. The Somogyi Library and the city museum shared the building: the library moved in in 1897, and the first permanent exhibition opened in 1899.
Ferenc Móra came here in 1904 and was director from 1917 until his death in 1934. He was a writer and an archaeologist at the same time.
In 1926, in Mátyás Bálint's vineyard at Nagyszéksós, the largest Hun gold treasure found to date came to light. According to the museum, similar gold pieces had been found in the area before, and legend has it the local kids swapped them for pumpkins and apples, not knowing they were gold. Móra saved the find: about 150 pieces, more than a kilo of gold, are still in the museum.
The building was badly damaged in the Second World War, and one of the main entrance's columns fell. It took Ferenc Móra's name in 1951 and reopened in 2020 after its biggest renovation.
Film bonus: part of Szerelem első vérig (Love Till First Blood) was shot here. According to the museum, the two lovers sent each other secret messages with the help of the staircase lions.
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- TrueInaugurated in 1896, with library and museum in one building.
- TrueFerenc Móra was director from 1917 to 1934.
- True1926: the Nagyszéksós Hun gold treasure, more than a kilo of gold.
- AllegedlyGold swapped for pumpkins and apples: a legend, according to the museum.
- TrueNamed after Ferenc Móra since 1951.
- TrueThe lovers of Szerelem első vérig passed messages via the lions.
People say
In 1927 a Berlin newspaper wrote that Franz Ferdinand's “cursed” car had ended up with a wealthy car dealer in Szeged, and that the city of Szeged had finally put it in a museum. An American newspaper even sent a correspondent to Szeged to look into it.
What we know: According to Szeged reporters of the time, the story was a hoax: neither the police nor the old Szeged motorists knew anything about the car. The car is actually on display in Vienna, in a military history museum.
Where it was said: Szegeden keresték Ferenc Ferdinánd elátkozott kocsiját (urbanlegends.hu)