The Museum was founded in 1919 by the company owner, world traveller, collector and patron of art Ferenc Hopp (b. 1833, d. 1919), who bequeathed his Oriental collection of approximately 4,000 items to the state, for the purposes of establishing a museum of Oriental arts. The collection was eventually housed and exhibited in Hopp's villa in Andrássy Street. Since 1923 the villa has been operating as a museum; at the time of its foundation it was and it still remains the sole museum of Oriental arts in Hungary.

Ferenc Hopp purchased his items of Oriental art in the course of his round-the-world trips and at World Exhibitions. As his interest in Oriental arts deepened, he sought advice from the young art historian Zoltán Felvinczi Takács - later to become the first director of the museum - concerning the development of his collection. Since the foundation of the Museum, the collection has been increased through donations, purchase and transference of Oriental collections of other museums. Currently the collection consists of approximately 20,000 objects and incorporates a body of Chinese, Japanese, Indian, South-East Asian, Nepalese, Tibetan, Mongolian, Korean and Near-Eastern pieces. Our principle field of collection - geographically speaking - consists of South, South-East and East Asia; as far as themes are concerned, it includes the traditional fine arts, applied arts and, occasionally, the folk art of these areas. Due to increased interest in contemporary Oriental arts, we intend to broaden the range of our field of collection in this direction.
The curators of the Museum are trained experts of the respective fields of Oriental studies. Qualified conservators specialised in Oriental art techniques undertake the conservation and restoration of the objects. The only Hungarian reference library and documentation department on Oriental arts belong to our Museum. The latter not only preserves the documentation related to our exhibitions and other activities but also archival photos and documents that come from Oriental travellers and others that testify to the history of collecting Oriental art in Hungary.
At the time of its foundation, the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Eastern Asiatic Arts belonged to the Museum of Fine Arts. Since 1947 it has been operating as a branch of the Museum of Applied Arts. In 1955 the György Ráth Museum became another exhibition ground of our Museum. Thus the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Eastern Asiatic Arts currently functions in three locales - (1) at the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Eastern Asiatic Arts, (2) at the György Ráth Musem and (3) at the Museum of Applied Arts. Its activities are distributed as follows:

  1. Ferenc Hopp Museum of Eastern Asiatic Arts (103 Andrássy út, Budapest H-1062): temporary exhibitions, library, documentation department
  2. György Ráth Museum (12 Városligeti fasor, Budapest H-1068): permanent exhibitions, conservator's workshop
  3. Museum of Applied Arts (33-37 Üllői út, Budapest H-1091): Reserve collections, offices, conservator's workshop, occasional temporary exhibitions
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