Attila exhibition coming to Hungary, showcasing the largest Huns-themed display in Europe in decades

The Attila exhibition is set to open at the Hungarian National Museum in early 2026, presenting more than 400 artefacts from 64 museums across 13 countries and marking the largest Huns-themed exhibition in Europe in recent decades dedicated to Attila.

This tension between historical reality and layered mythology forms the intellectual backbone of a major new Attila exhibition opening in early 2026 at the Hungarian National Museum.

Attila’s relationship with the Hungarians

Few historical figures have left a deeper imprint on Europe’s collective memory than Attila, ruler of the Huns. While modern scholarship treats the direct Hun–Hungarian connection with caution, Attila has occupied a central place in Hungarian historical consciousness for centuries. Medieval chronicles portrayed the Hungarians as heirs to the Huns, elevating Attila into a symbolic ancestor whose legacy shaped ideas of origin, power, and identity.

The Székelys, an ethnic group forming the Transylvanian branch of the Hungarians, and Attila, the Hun king, have traditionally been considered closely related. According to medieval chronicles (e.g. Anonymus), they are the descendants of Attila’s people, who served as loyal warriors during the Hungarian conquest. Genetic research, such as studies conducted by the ELKH Institute of Archaeogenomics in Székely Land, has identified a paternal lineage among today’s Székely people that can be traced back to the 5th-century Huns, although this is rare and the population was mixed. According to scientific consensus, there is no mass biological continuity, but cultural and genetic traces (Avar, Hun admixture) support the Hun–Székely connection from the Árpád era. This tradition is still an integral part of Székely and Hungarian identity today, as a symbolic kinship.

More than a historical showcase, the Attila exhibition is an exploration of cultural memory and identity. It examines how a fifth-century ruler became one of Europe’s most enduring and contested figures, whose image continues to resonate across nations, disciplines, and centuries—now brought together on an unprecedented scale in Budapest.

A key attraction takes its place

Preparations for the exhibition titled Attila are now well underway, and one of its most important centrepieces has just been installed. The monumental painting The Meeting of Pope Leo the Great and Attila at the Walls of Rome by Antal Haan has arrived at the museum and will be one of the exhibition’s signature works.

The scene itself originates from a Renaissance masterpiece. Pope Leo X commissioned Raphael to depict his namesake, Pope Leo I, persuading Attila to withdraw from Rome in a vast fresco measuring approximately 5 by 7.5 metres in the Vatican. Between 1874 and 1881, Hungarian painter Antal Haan recreated the scene at near-original scale for the Hungarian National Museum’s picture gallery, following a commission by Minister of Religion and Education Ágoston Trefort.

Due to its “Hungarian relevance” through Attila, the work was considered particularly significant. The painting, now owned by the Museum of Fine Arts, has not been displayed publicly for more than a century. Its restoration began months ago at the National Museum Restoration and Storage Centre.

• Read also: Centuries-old debate on the origins of the Huns may finally be settled