Marzipans are sweet gifts from Hungary. Marzipan - sweet gifts from Hungary Marzipan Museum in Budapest

All children love toys, and when they are also made from sweets, a lot of fun is guaranteed. If you are walking around Budapest, be sure to visit the Szabo Marzipan Museum with your whole family. It is located in the Hilton Hotel, located opposite the Fisherman's Bastion - one of the city's popular attractions.

This location is convenient because it will allow you to combine visits to several interesting places in one day. Even if your child is indifferent to sweets, he probably loves cartoons, the main characters of which are presented in this museum. However, here adults will also find something to be surprised by, looking at the edible displays.

Marzipan exhibits of the museum

Marzipan is a mixture of ground almonds and powdered sugar, seasoned with other food additives and dyes. It turns out to be so plastic that you can sculpt all kinds of figures from it. Almonds don’t grow here, so marzipan delicacies are not very common, but in Europe it’s customary to eat interesting figures on holidays.

The Budapest Marzipan Museum is rich in large-scale exhibitions. Both adults and children will be interested in looking at the reduced, but exact copies famous landmarks that are made from edible material. There is a Fisherman's Bastion, the building of the Hungarian Parliament, a chain bridge, St. Basil's Cathedral and other large-scale exhibitions. Near each there are signs indicating how much marzipan and time was spent - this information is sometimes stunning. The museum displays a figure of Queen Sisi in full height, she is wearing a dress made entirely of marzipan. Marzipan portraits of famous people hang on the walls.

Exhibitions for children

Children will enjoy the performances the most famous cartoons with detailed study. Small scenes contain not only marzipan characters, but also other surroundings - houses, trees. Among the marzipan figures, children will see their favorite cartoon characters “Shrek”, “Kung Fu Panda”, gnomes, Dalmatians, piglets and many other characters. The part of the museum dedicated to cartoon characters is most loved by children.

However, no less impressive for both children and adults will be the huge chic cakes and incredibly realistic cacti, of which there are countless numbers. Children will also remember the marzipan room - all the furniture in it is made from this product. The exhibits in the museum are hidden behind glass, so you cannot touch them with your hands. On the ground floor of the building there is a confectionery shop, where visitors can see the process of creating culinary masterpieces with their own eyes.

And, of course, few children and adults will not want to try the attractive sweet figures. This can be done in the cafe located next to the museum. Marzipan liqueurs and sweets are sold there, however, as visitors note, the prices are quite high. Perhaps this is due to the convenient location of the cafe, but you can buy marzipan sweets in other shops in Budapest much cheaper. By the way, relatively close, in the town of Szentendre, there is another Marzipan Museum, which we also recommend visiting with the whole family and comparing the exhibits of both museums.

If you come to the capital of Hungary for more than 2-3 days, I highly recommend setting aside time for the museums of Budapest. Perhaps someone will say that walking through museums is a rather boring activity, but believe me, such places are fraught with many interesting discoveries. For example, in Budapest you can see the Fisherman's Bastion. Isn't that news? And if I clarify – from marzipan? And in the very center of the city, hidden from view by the walls of houses, there is a real soviet tank! What can we say about hundreds of paintings by great artists, archaeological finds from centuries ago and ethnographic monuments from many cultures of the world...

It is very difficult to talk about all the museums in Budapest in one article, so here is my personal TOP 6. These are the museums I would go to first and recommend to you!

The complex was founded in 1896 as a repository and exhibition of works of foreign art. Visitors were able to get inside only 10 years after the museum was founded (preparatory work was carried out all this time). The institution was located in a building specially built for it by Albert Schickedanz and Fülep Herzog. Over the years of its existence, the museum's collection has been constantly replenished with new art objects, and now the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest is the largest collection of foreign exhibits on this subject. At the same time, the Hungarian art exhibited separately, as part of a museum called the Hungarian National Gallery.


The museum's collection contains more than 100 thousand objects, and large collection there was Spanish painting (the second largest outside of Spain itself). Full list collection-halls:

• Ancient Egypt. The core of the collection was the collection of Eduard Mahler, an Egyptologist from Hungary. 1295 works.
• Ancient art. The base was the collection of Paul Arndt from Munich. 1300 works.
• Ancient sculpture. Of interest were examples of wooden sculpture from Germany and Austria, and bronze figures of the Renaissance. 403 exhibits.
• Graphics and engraving. Here you could see drawings and sketches by da Vinci, Rembrandt, Goya. 2423 works.
• New masters. Paintings by Rodin, Cezanne, Monet, Manet, Chagall. 1301 paintings.
• Old masters. Great amount portraits by Raphael, Titian, Rubens, Dürer, Velazquez. The basis of the collection was the personal collection of the Esterhazy princes in the amount of 700 paintings. 1644 exhibits.

Useful information about the Museum of Fine Arts

Address: Dozsa György út, 41 (the museum is located on the side of Heroes Square and next to).

Official site: szepmuveszeti.hu/main.

Working hours: Tuesday-Sunday from 10:00 to 18:00, Monday - closed.

Price entrance ticket: depends on where you want to go. Eat permanent exhibitions, there are temporary ones. current prices here: szepmuveszeti.hu/jegyarak.

How to get there

• By metro - station Hősök tere, then 5 minutes on foot;
• by bus - stop Hősök tere M, No. 20E, No. 30, No. 30A, No. 105, No. 230, then 2 minutes on foot;
• by trolleybus - stop Benczúr utca, No. 79, then 7 minutes on foot or stop Állatkert, No. 72 and No. 75, then 2-3 minutes on foot.

I marked this and other museums in Budapest on the map, which is attached at the bottom of the article.

Museum of Applied Arts (Budapest)

The complex opened its doors to everyone in 1896 (it was in this year that Hungary celebrated its millennium). The building in which the complex is located began to be built three years earlier by architects Gyula Partos and Eden Lechner. The style of construction is defined as modern or secession. The exterior of the building combines styles oriental cultures and classic Hungarian elements. The roof is covered with emerald-colored tiles from the Zsolnay factory. Few museums in Budapest can boast of such a noticeable building. During the Second World War, the museum was seriously damaged, but by 1949 restoration work was completed.

From the central hall, glassed passages lead to separate exhibition rooms. The objects are now on display in the museum applied arts Europe XVI-XXI centuries. Here you can see a variety of glass, ceramics, porcelain, bronze and wood items. There are many elements in the museum national costumes and textile items, household items and jewelry. Of particular interest is the Hall oriental art, where you can see the best examples of carpet weaving. The Museum of Applied Arts in Budapest also houses an impressive collection of family heirlooms from the Esterhazy family.

Useful information about the Museum of Applied Arts

Address:Üllői út, 33-37.

Official site: imm.hu.

Working hours: from Tuesday to Sunday – 10:00 – 18:00, Monday – closed.

Full admission price for an adult: 3,500 forints. There is a 50% discount for students and pensioners. Holders will receive a 20 percent discount.

Attention! The museum is closed for reconstruction until 2020.

How to get there

• By metro - blue line M3, stop Corvin-negyed, then 2-3 minutes on foot;
• by tram - stop Corvin-negyed M, No. 4 and No. 6, then 2-3 minutes on foot;
• by bus - stop Corvin-negyed M, no. 6, then 3-4 minutes on foot or stop Köztelek utca, no. 15 and no. 115, then 2 minutes on foot;
• by trolleybus - stop Üllői út, No. 83, then 2 minutes on foot.

Marzipan Museum in Budapest

In 1926, a man named Károly Szabó was born in Transylvania. It was thanks to him that Hungary became famous for its marzipan, and we can now visit museums dedicated to this sweetness. Karoly Szabo learned about marzipan in Lebanon, where he learned the art of confectionery. Upon returning to Austria, he opened his own confectionery shop, and in 1985 he decided to attract customers by fashioning a figurine of a cartoon character out of marzipan. After the death of his wife, Károly Szabó moved the already expanded museum to Hungary (where it is still open to this day). The museum is not open in Budapest.

Ethnographic Museum (Budapest)

The first collection, which formed the basis of the museum, was assembled in 1872. It included exhibits from the 18th and 19th centuries found in areas inhabited by ethnic Hungarians. The bulk of the modern collection was assembled before the end of the First World War. During the twentieth century, the collection was replenished by both collectors from Hungary and numerous travelers from this country. In 1973, all exhibits were moved to the building of the Palace of Justice. This building, by the way, dates back to 1896, like many museums in Budapest (they approached the millennium anniversary in Hungary on a grand scale). A building whose style is attributed to the era of greenism, designed by Alajos Hausman. It is interesting that the architect’s project was to be implemented in a building located opposite the museum.

Currently, the complex has more than 200 thousand objects, which makes ethnographical museum in Budapest is perhaps the largest institution on this topic. The museum contains various ethnographic artifacts, and is based on a collection of Hungarian culture - the largest in Europe. The collections include furniture different eras, elements of church interiors, icons, objects of everyday life and crafts, exhibits of cultures of various regions.

A large collection is represented by confiscated goods from Hungarian customs; it contains about 3 thousand children's toys and more than 20 thousand folklore objects(including 3 thousand painted eggs!). The collection of musical instruments was prepared in the 1870s in the Carpathian region. It includes both the instruments themselves and various musical recordings. In addition to European cultures, the ethnic groups of Asia, Oceania and Africa are also widely represented (more than 10 thousand objects per region).

Useful information about the ethnographic museum

Address: Kossuth Lajos ter, 12.

Official site: neprajz.hu.

Working hours: Tuesday to Sunday – 10:00 – 18:00; Monday is a day off.

1400 forints.

How to get there

• By tram - No. 2 to the Kossuth Lajos tér M stop, then 3 minutes on foot;
• by metro - red line M2, to the Kossuth Lajos tér stop, then 3 minutes on foot;
• by bus - No. 15 to the Kossuth Lajos tér M stop, then 2 minutes on foot;
• by trolleybus - No. 70 and No. 78 to the Kossuth Lajos tér M stop, then 2 minutes on foot.

Museum of Terror in Budapest

One of the darkest museums in the city is located in historical building on, previously owned by the Nazis and later by the Communists. The building was erected in 1880 according to the design of Adolf Festi as an ordinary residential building. But in the 1930s, the building was leased to the National Socialist Arrow Cross party. The party headquarters was located here, and here, in the basements, there were prisons and torture chambers. After World War II, the house was occupied by the State Security Administration. The communist government approached planning on a grand scale, and torture rooms have expanded into the basements of neighboring buildings. After the 1956 revolution, the house was given to the Hungarian Komsomol, and in the 2000s it was bought by the History Research Foundation. In 2002, the Budapest Terror Museum was opened here.


The museums of Budapest are beautiful and impressive, but this complex is nothing like them. The classic gray house is surrounded by a large black canopy with the word TERROR cut into it. At first it seems that it is written incorrectly. The creators' idea becomes clear in sunny days when the shadow from the canopy is cast on the walls of the building.

Inside there are several halls on three floors, where there are exhibitions of both Nazi and communist terror. Several halls are dedicated to the first, almost the entire museum is dedicated to the second (and this is logical, because Hungary was under the control of the “Reds” for almost 40 years). In the atrium of the museum there is a real Soviet tank, and all the walls are covered with photographs of victims of terror. In the halls dedicated to the terror of the Nazis, there is a lot of information about the Arrow Cross party, in the communist halls there are documents about all the important historical events that time.

The Terror Museum in Budapest is full of emotionally difficult exhibitions. There is a room with a floor map on which camps for exiles from Hungary are marked.

There is a room with the office of the head of the State Security Department, Gabor Peter, who was actually located here. There is a courtroom in which, instead of walls, there are hundreds of folders with the personal files of the convicted. But the heaviest exhibition is in the basements, where you can look at real prison cells and torture facilities.

Useful information about the House of Terror

Address: Andrassy út 60.

Official site: terrorhaza.hu.

Working hours: Tuesday – Sunday – 10:00 – 18:00, Monday – closed.

Entrance fee for adults: 2,000 forints.

How to get there

• By metro - yellow line M1, to Vörösmarty utca station, then 1-2 minutes on foot;
• by tram - No. 4 and No. 6 to the Oktogon M stop, then 5 minutes on foot;
• by bus - No. 105 to the stop Vörösmarty utca M, then 2 minutes on foot;
• by trolleybus - No. 73 and No. 76 to the stop Vörösmarty utca M, then 2 minutes on foot.

Budapest History Museum

The complex was founded in 1887, but opened a little later (like many museums in Budapest, this one took some time to prepare). Visitors were able to see the first exhibition in 1894 on the site of the ruins of an ancient city called Aquincum. The archaeological site, which can also be visited, is located in the suburbs of Budapest. In 1899, the Budapest History Museum opened its first exhibition directly in the city - on the territory of the City Park. Well, modern Historical Museum hospitably hosted, to be precise, its south-eastern wing. And another branch (in addition to Aquincum and the Budapest Gallery) - the Kiscelli Museum is located in the capital area called Óbuda.


Nowadays the museum can be divided into large departments:

1. Stories of primitive times and Antiquity.
2. Stories of the Middle Ages.
3. New and recent history of Budapest.

The first department stores exhibits found by archaeologists, in particular in Aquincum. The history of the ethnic groups of Buda and Pest, as well as earlier settlements, and the history of the pre-Hungarian period of the area is presented here. The second section is represented by objects from the Middle Ages, also found during archaeological excavations. New and modern times It will be interesting from the point of view of the documents stored here, illustrating different stages of life in Budapest. Individual exhibits in the museum are also of interest. Yes, you can see here ruins of palaces in the Gothic and Renaissance styles, dating back to the Arpad and Angevin dynasties, as well as to the reign of the Jagiellons. The museum contains the interiors of the halls of King Matthias Corvinus, the queen's rooms, and an almost intact chapel from the end of the 14th century.

If you, like me, loved and voraciously read fairy tales of all times and peoples, then you probably remember Mouse King from the fairy tale of Hoffmann, who agreed not to touch the Nutcracker in exchange for marzipan. In those days the Soviet food industry didn’t spoil us with delicacies, so I naively believed that a bun sprinkled with some kind of sticky powder with the overseas name “Marzipan” on the label and with a gray mass sparingly measured for the filling was the magical marzipan from a fairy tale. Having seen and tasted real marzipan abroad many years later, I experienced a culture shock and realized that the idea of ​​marzipan was touching and, perhaps, one of the biggest gastronomic misconceptions of my Soviet childhood. However, marzipan has remained a real fabulous delicacy for me.

IN small town Szentendre is always popular original museum, opened in 1994 by pastry chef Karoly Szabo, is the Marzipan Museum. The museum is small, but very interesting - all the exhibits are made from marzipan mass.

Near the entrance there is a marzipan manufactory. Confectioners quickly and deftly sculpt funny figures right before your eyes.

We climb the steep stairs to the second floor and immediately gasp with delight! What a cake! If you want to “bake” the same, write down the recipe: 970 eggs, 25 liters of cream, 15 kg of sugar, 15 kg of chocolate, 20 kg of flour, 10 kg of glaze.

First, let's get acquainted with historical figures.

King Matthias and his wife Beatrice of Aragon.

Marzipan map of the Austro-Hungarian Kingdom, the mythical Turul bird and the sacred Hungarian crown

The building of the Hungarian Parliament. The weight of the exhibit is 60 kg, and it takes at least 4 months to create it!

And then you find yourself in a real fairy tale kingdom!

I forgot to take a photo of the sign, now I’m sitting and wondering how much this giant Mickey Mouse weighs?

The history of marzipan dates back to the beginning of the last millennium and is closely connected with the history of the spread of almonds. Moreover, almost all European countries are fighting for the authorship of the marzipan dish. The French are pulling the blanket over themselves, but they are being squeezed out by the Italians with their Sicilian legend, according to which marzipan was invented in the first month of spring in the year of the great crop failure, when after a hungry winter only almonds remained as an edible food. Almonds came into use in all forms, including ground almonds mixed with powdered sugar. The resourceful Italian people immediately learned to make almond bread, almond pizza, sweet marzipan and pasta with almond sauce. True, the Egyptians also added almonds to bread. This dish with royal nuts was intended exclusively for the pharaohs. It is not surprising that such a high-quality product was revered in many countries as bringing good luck, love, and prosperity. The most preferred version is that marzipan appeared in ancient China, from where it penetrated to the Middle East and the Arabs, who captured the Iberian Peninsula in the 8th century, founded its production in the territory of modern Spain.

As for the etymology (Spanish: mazapán; Italian: marzapane; French: massepain; English: marchpane; German: marzipan), one version is the Arabic word “MAUTHA-BAN”, meaning “sitting king”, so how marzipan has been shaped into figures since ancient times

Marzipan has many faces. Firstly, by its nature this mass is extremely plastic and can take almost any shape. That’s why it makes so good a variety of figures and decorations that are valuable in themselves and decorate other confectionery products. Secondly, there are as many ways to use almond plasticine as there are contenders for its invention. In Toledo, pine nuts are added to it, in Andalusia - candied fruits, sometimes finely chopped raisins are added to marzipan, and in Holland they add egg white, a few drops of liqueur and lemon juice and freeze it in the refrigerator for a week. The essence of this, of course, does not change. Marzipan, glazed or unglazed, in the form of painted figures or rolled into balls similar to selected potatoes, is a fragrant and delicate magic.

Its magical essence is confirmed by the fact that to create marzipan mass you only need two things - almonds and sugar. Both of them, ground into powder, interact, firmly stick together and penetrate each other without the participation of any auxiliary elements. The secret lies in the almonds, which contain the right quantity and quality for this process. vegetable oil. Therefore, any attempts to replace ( walnuts, hazelnuts and especially peanuts) are doomed to failure. In other nuts, the magic proportion of oil is not suitable.

Bitter almonds are sometimes replaced with essence, almond liqueur, bitter almond oil, or omitted from the recipe altogether. In this case, the marzipan mass can be used for decoration, but it does not have a specific “marzipan” taste. Sugar may be in the form of powder or syrup, or may be replaced by another sweetener. But the proportions of the main ingredients are the “top secret” of confectionery enterprises.

Manufacturers are also experimenting with additional ingredients - these are flavorings - cocoa, liqueurs, orange zest, rose water, spices - and dyes.

The best marzipan producers not only keep it a secret old recipes its preparation, but also follow the traditional, proven technology of its production. Carefully sorted and cleaned almond kernels are mixed with precisely adjusted amounts of water and sugar and ground between granite millstones. The result of grinding should be “grinds”, which should not be too coarse or too fine. Marzipan is fried in open rotating copper pans. The properties of copper as a catalyst and a certain frying temperature give the mass a characteristic, recognizable taste of real marzipan. However, not just any almond can be used. The type of nut, its taste, humidity and harvest time are of great importance.

Marzipan is prepared in two different ways: cold and hot.

The cold method consists of mixing thoroughly ground ingredients, and the hot method, in addition to classic ingredients, also includes the use of freshly brewed sugar syrup.

Marzipan is also used in the form of candies glazed with chocolate or sugar icing and fruit figurines or other figurines, without glaze, but with dye. IN pure form marzipan is called "marzipan bread". Moreover, today you can not only eat marzipan, but also drink it: there are several dozen different marzipan liqueurs

Well, about the benefits, and they are also involved here. Two dozen almonds - daily norm vitamin E for the human body. The same vitamin that more successfully fights stress than others and protects cells from damage as a strong antioxidant. Here it would not hurt to return to history and remember that, according to one version of the appearance of marzipan, it was invented as a medicine

Sugar appeared in Hungary in the 14th century. Back then it was extracted from sugar cane, so it was called cane honey and was sold in pharmacies as a medicine or spice. Historians tell us this interesting thing: on the tables of the rulers Sigismund and Matthias, sugar first appeared in the form of small sculptures for decoration. In his travel diaries, one Bavarian traveler noted that during the feast in honor of the wedding of King Matthias

in 1477, the eighth course of the meal was served with a chessboard of sugar and almonds, prepared by a confectioner from Naples. The first Hungarian written mention of marzipan, according to the Historical and Etymological Dictionary of the Hungarian Language, contains a document from 1544. Then the word " marcipán" was written and sounded differently: "marczapan", and Italian confectioners brought this new word.
The first marzipan recipes supposedly date back to the 16th-18th centuries.

Although the history of marzipan goes back centuries, it is still one of the most original and exquisite confectionery products, the personification of aristocratic sophistication, delicate taste, prestige and good form.

If you decide to make your own marzipan, you won’t need anything special. You will need to take 400 grams of peeled almonds, 200 grams of confectionery sugar, 200 grams of high-quality sugar and a glass of water. Make syrup from water and sugar: bring to a boil and simmer for 20-30 seconds. Do not refrigerate the syrup. Place the almonds in a coffee grinder and grind almost into dust. Then add powdered sugar and mix in a mixer at medium speed. Then, without stopping stirring, pour in the hot syrup in a thin stream.

At the end of the process, knead the slightly cooled paste thoroughly with your hands. The composition should turn into a smooth, homogeneous and plastic mass with the consistency of soft plasticine. This, in fact, is marzipan. It should be stored in the refrigerator, wrapped in cling film.

If you are in Hungary, be sure to go to a candy store, inhale the bewitching, fabulous smell and you will hardly resist taking away a whole bag of this delicacy. When you arrive home, brew some fruit tea with cinnamon and orange zest, close your eyes and enjoy the magical taste of marzipan. And you will return again to those happy times when you believed in fairy tales and did not doubt one bit that all your dreams would come true!

Marzipan is a type of confectionery made from almonds and sugar. It is not known for certain where exactly marzipan was first prepared, but in Hungary they love marzipan! And not only eat it in the form of cakes and sweets, but also look at masterpieces made from sweet delicacies. Confirmation of this 5 marzipan museums!

The most famous is Marzipan Museum in Szentendre, but not less interesting museums available in other cities in Hungary.

Marzipan museums in Hungary

Open every day from 10.00 – 18.00

Adult ticket 350 Ft, for students and pensioners 200 Ft

Marzipan Museum in located next to the Festetics Palace, was opened in 1996.

The museum displays about 100 exhibits, almost all made by Simonfai Jenő and his wife Ágnes. The most popular exhibit is the Festetics Palace, which took 2 months to complete. You can also see various marzipan landmarks and figurines of heroes from children's fairy tales. There is a pastry shop at the museum where you can try various marzipan cakes.

Open from Tuesday to Sunday from 10.00 – 18.00

Adult ticket 180 Ft, children under 14 years old 120 Ft

"March bread" is a literal translation of the word "marzipan" from some European languages.

The most famous marzipan sweets: Mozartkugel(Austria-Germany); Frutta di Martorana or frutta Marturana(sweetness in the form of fruits and vegetables, Italy, Sicily); Mazapán de Toledo(Spain; protected geographical name; marzipan with natural sugar and almond content of at least 50%); Lübeck marzipan, which is produced by several manufacturers (Lubeck, Germany); Königsberg marzipan from Cafe Schwermer, which differed from Lübeck in its low sugar content; frankfurter bethmannchen- cookies from Frankfurt am Main, which are baked from marzipan mass; marzipan stollen- one of the options for traditional German Christmas pastries; marzipans from the Tallinn Town Hall Pharmacy (Raeapteek), now one of the famous producers of Estonian marzipan is Kalev; Szamos marcipán and Szabó marcipán- Hungarian brands.

Traditionally, special Christmas and Easter marzipans are also prepared in Europe.

Soviet "marzipan" - sugar glaze with unrefined crushed bean-peanuts - is, of course, a budget option, but not exactly the same :) So far I can’t say anything about Dutch, Norwegian and other European marzipans, but I hope to find out more someday.

Szabó Marcipan Múzeum, Budapest

Classic marzipan is made from almonds.: It is crushed and mixed with sweetener. The latter can be sugar, powdered sugar, sugar or glucose-fructose syrup, and sometimes honey. Nowadays, you can find marzipan with various additives: apricot kernels, candied fruits, raisins, rum, chocolate, and other nuts.

The properties of sweet almonds have been known since ancient times. It cleanses internal organs and improves brain activity, has a positive effect on vision; softens the body, throat, dry cough. Along with sugar (!) used for asthma, pleurisy and hemoptysis, for abrasions and ulcers in the intestines and bladder. It calms the pungency of urine and gives fullness to the body.

You can learn about the properties of the almond-sugar mass from the works of the Persian physician, whose name was Abu Bakr Muhammad Ben Zakariya ar-Razi (865–925). Avicenna, whose works were compiled at the turn of the 10th-11th centuries, also wrote in great detail about the properties of almonds and what it can be combined with to make medicines (including sugar). I read Avicenna's book in in paper form. Its modern 10-volume edition is always on my desk, called “The Canon of Medical Science.”

"That's why it's taken with sugar." This is where you need to look for the origins of marzipan! There is evidence that even before it became a delicacy, marzipan (or a similar sugar-almond mixture) was sold in pharmacies as a medicine.

The first mention of marzipan in Hungary dates back to 1544: the word “marczapan” came from the Italian “marzapane” and was associated with the arrival of Italian confectioners on Hungarian soil. The first Hungarian (more precisely Transylvanian) recipe for marzipan was published in a cookbook in 1695: grind 2 pounds of shelled almonds with 1-1.5 pounds of sugar in a mortar. It took a long time to grind, about an hour. Then sprinkle with rose water, mix with tragacanth and simmer over low heat. Once cooked, coat with egg white.

In the 19th century and between the two world wars, marzipan was made by a few small confectionery shops, but Hungary has only become famous for its marzipan in the last two decades thanks to a man called Karoly Szabo (Szabó Károly;1926-2009)

Szamos Múzeum Cukraszda, Szentendre

Karoly Szabo born in Transylvania (until 1921 this territory was part of Hungary). Then he moved to Austria. but due to political squabbles he soon left for Lebanon. There he learned confectionery skills, incl. I learned what marzipan is. He spent 7 years in Lebanon with his family, and upon returning to Austria, he founded his own confectionery shop. They say that things weren’t going well for him until he came up with the idea of ​​sculpting a popular cartoon character out of marzipan and placing it in the window of his pastry shop. So, in 1985, the first marzipan museum in Europe appeared in the town of Puchberg am Schneeberg.

Szabó Marcipan Múzeum, Budapest

Károly Szabó decided to move production to Hungary after the death of his first wife. In 1994, he opened a marzipan museum in the city of Szentendre. A wonderful small town on the banks of the Danube is located not far from Budapest. A bus and a special train go there from the capital (travel time from terminal to terminal is approximately 40-45 minutes). You can also get there by water, but it takes much longer. Exact address - Szentendre, Dumtsa Jenő utca 12.

Not all travelers know that Budapest also has a marzipan museum. The one in Szentendre is called Szamos Múzeum Cukraszda, and the one in Budapest - Szabó Marcipán Múzeum. The names are different, but they have the same founder.

Szabó Marcipan Múzeum, Budapest

The history of the confectionery house Szamos begins from the moment when a young pastry chef named Mladen Savitch (Szavits Mladen) married a girl with the surname Samos. The museum in Szentendre changed its name when Károly Szabó decided to retire. But he still couldn’t hold out for long and created a second museum, which bears his name.

The building of the Hungarian Parliament. Szabó Marcipan Múzeum, Budapest

The museum is located in Budapest, right next to the Fisherman's Bastion, in the building of the Hilton Hotel. Behind is the famous temple Holy Virgin Mary (Buda Castle Church of Our Lady), known as "Matthias Church" (most tourists and even some guides incorrectly call it "St. Matthias Church").

Fisherman's Bastion. Szabó Marcipan Múzeum, Budapest

Many exhibits in both museums were made by the hands of Károly Szabó, some are even repeated - not exactly the same, but very similar. The exhibits are very different: national heroes and symbols, cartoons, fairy-tale images, popular personalities in full growth, as well as just flowers, musical instruments, paintings.

Szabó Marcipan Múzeum, Budapest

Szamos Múzeum Cukraszda, Szentendre

Both productions - Szamos and Szabó - now exist in Hungary in parallel, but Szamos is more “promoted” and is constantly expanding. In 2011, in Budapest on Wörsmarty Square - where the Christmas market also operates - he opened the Gourmet House (Hungarian Gourmet Ház / English Szamos Gourmet Palace). There are not only a pastry shop and a coffee shop, but also a chocolate workshop. You can even sign up for a chocolatier course.

Both museums have small shops, and in Szentendre you can watch craftsmen making their masterpieces.

Szamos Múzeum Cukraszda, Szentendre

In these museums you can see exhibits made not only from marzipan, but also from chocolate, sugar-gelatin mass, and also with the addition of other ingredients.

Szamos Múzeum Cukraszda, Szentendre

I'll show you a few more exhibits that I like best.

Marzipan "handicraft" from Szabó Marcipán Múzeum, Budapest

Do you see anything unusual in this installation? :)

Szamos Múzeum Cukraszda, Szentendre

“Grandfather planted a turnip. The turnip grew big and big!” In Hungarian "turnip, turnip" (the full word is "shargarepa") - this is a carrot :)

Every girl dreams of being a princess at least for a minute :)

Szabó Marcipan Múzeum, Budapest

But in “marzipan” liqueur there is actually no marzipan: there are simply additives that imitate its taste and aroma.

This is what no tourist leaves without:) Each of these candies costs about 1 euro, so you don’t mind spending money on them (the photo is old, the prices, of course, have changed a little). In each confectionery shop you can buy one piece of candy (pure marzipan, as well as with various additives) so that you can decide for yourself which brand name will remain in your memory the longest.

I personally have not seen Szabó products in ordinary Hungarian stores: apparently, they can only be purchased in specialized places. And marzipans from "Szamos" can be found almost everywhere: from large shopping centers to gas station shops.

The article was prepared based on materials from my own trips, as well as using the sites www.szamosmarcipan.hu, www.szabomarcipan.hu