Budapest - Petofi Literary Museum Petófi Irodalmi Müzeum

Named after its last owner, the Hungarian politician and first President of the Republic, Mihály Károlyi (1875-1955), this building in the street of the same name has an interesting past. It was built at the end of the 17th C as a single-story mansion. In the 18th C A. Mayerhoffer added a Baroque front, and this in turn was converted to the classical style in 1832/4. In 1848/9 the Austrian General Julius Haynau, who was to crush the freedom fighters, resided here.

It was here, too, that Count Lajos Batthyány, Hungary's first prime minister, was arrested in 1849.

A memorial room has been furnished in honor of Mihály Károlyi. The Károlyi Palace now houses a Museum of Literature dedicated to the best-known Hungarian poet of the revolutionary period, Sándor Petofi. The museum contains Hungarian "literabilia" and a collection of texts by the leading Hungarian poets and writers.

Manuscripts, books and periodicals, a sound archive and works by various notable artists add to the museum's attractions. From time to time there are exhibitions on selected themes or on the subject of particular Hungarian writers.