„MATRICA” Museum and Archeological Park Százhalombatta

The settlement is very rich in archaeological sites. Above the more than 100-year-old brick factory, a Bronze Age hillfort, an Iron Age rampart and settlement and 50 hectares of an Iron Age tumulus cemetery (Hallstatt culture, 7-6th century, BC) can be found on the loess plateau over the Danube.

The Museum bears the name of the Roman military camp and civil town „MATRICA”, which was a flourishing settlement for about 300 years. The Romans buried their dead in cemeteries along the roads leaving the camp.

The permanent exhibition of the museum supported by the Local Government of Százhalombatta has been receiving visitors since 1987. The regional museum grew out of a small local historical collection and has acquired European fame where, beside scientific research, serious popular scientific and museum pedagogic work is carried out. Walking around the exhibition, the history of 4000 years comes to life. The objects of everyday use, the grave-goods, the stones with inscriptions tell us about life, death and beliefs of the other world in various archaeological periods.

Archaeological Park

The first open-air prehistoric museum is being built in Százhalombatta where authentic reconstructions of houses, ovens and outbuildings from Bronze and Iron Age excavations can be seen. Parallel to this, the prehistoric environment is being replanted. On about 5 hectares within the area of the „hundred mounds”, which lent its name to the settlement, visitors can get an insight into prehistoric everyday life. What is forbidden in a museum, that is to touch the exhibits, is encouraged here. Anybody can try him/herself out at prehistoric skills: spin and weave, prepare jewellery or clay vessels, grind cereal grains or wattle fence.

Visitors can eat cakes baked from emmer grown nearby or taste food made according to prehistoric recipes. A special attraction is the burial chamber in an Iron Age tumulus reconstructed from the original timbers where a multimedia show presents the burial rites of the age.

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