Travel back in time to the 45-year long Communist period in Hungary under Soviet military occupation with one of these two exciting guided tour options. Choose the walking tour option to go on a guided walking tour of the Budapest city center and visit the Budapest Retro Museum. Enhance your experience by choosing the option of the House of Terror.
Meet your guide and begin a historical walk from the Parliament to the Budapest City Center. Start from the magnificent Hungarian Parliament, where you will see dramatic monuments, including the one commemorating the many victims of the red dictatorship.
Continue to Liberty Square, where you will find the Soviet Liberation Memorial, the last Communist monument of the city in its original place. Hear about and see sites from the Hungarian anti-Soviet revolution of 1956.
See the famous windows of Budapest, where Hungary's anti-Communist Catholic Church leader Cardinal Mindszenty spent the many years of his exile. Explore the ventilation channels of a secret underground nuclear bunker built in the years of the Cold War.
After the walk, be invited to a 1-hour guided visit in Budapest Retro Museum. This unique collection displays street views, typical vehicles, the astronauts of the Soviet-Hungarian space flight, real interior home designs, and thousands of objects from the period of the 1960-1980.
The museum is arranged over 3 floors in a fun and interactive way. Dress as a Communist comrade, or you can try to be a TV news presenter of the time.
Choose the option of the House of Terror and uncover the secrets of the former seat of AVO State Protection Police (the local version of the Soviet KGB). See how it was faithfully restored to commemorate the many victims of the most brutal period of Communist dictatorship of the 1940s and 50s.
Follow your guide to learn about Hungary from WWII through Nazi rule to Soviet Communist occupation. Among others, you will see many documents of the life and economy of the 1950s, interrogation and torture rooms, the office room of the dreaded director, and the "Justice room" of political show trials.
Head to the basement, where a part of the original prison cells were faithfully restored. View the various special rooms, a "wet cell", a "foxhole," a detention cell, a torture chamber and an execution room with gallows.
The last part of the exhibition shows the 1956 revolution against Soviet occupation and Communist rule, and its consequences, the retaliation and mass emigration. Finally, visit the Hall of Tears commemorating the victims, the Perpetrators' Wall, and the memorial of Soviet troops leaving Hungary.
