Henning Larsen Architects is among eleven finalists who will compete to design a new museum building in Budapest. The building will house both the National Gallery and the Ludwig Museum – Museum of Contemporary Art.

image courtesy of Henning Larsen Architects

The National Gallery displays Hungarian and international fine art from 1800 to 1950, and the Ludwig Museum is a contemporary art museum exhibiting art in various forms from the 1950s to today.

The design competition is part of the Liget Budapest Project within Budapest’s historic City Park – the oldest public city park in the world. The comprehensive project involves the construction of five new museum buildings, the renewal of the green area of the City Park, and the renovation of the institutions already present in the park. It is one of the biggest museum projects in Europe.

The Liget Budapest Project is Hungary's first open, international competition in the past century. Starting from nearly 500 anonymous submissions, only 17 advanced to the second round before the jury selected the winning proposals for the Museum of Ethnography; the House of Hungarian Music; the FotoMuzeum Budapest and the Hungarian House of Architecture.

As the jury could not find a suitable candidate among the 80 submissions for the New National Gallery and Ludwig Museum, a new competition was launched in November, 2014. The jury is expected to make the final announcement in April, 2015.

According to plans, construction will begin in 2016, and the new museums will open to visitors in 2018.

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