The Zsolnay Porcelain Museum traces the history of the porcelain factory established in Pécs in 1853. At the forefront of European art and design for more than half a century, many of its majolica tiles were used to decorate buildings throughout the country and contributed to establishing a new pan-Hungarian style of architecture. Zsolnay’s darkest period came when the postwar communist government turned it into a plant for making ceramic electrical insulators. It’s producing art (well, knick-knacks, really) again, but contemporary Zsolnay can’t hold a candle to the chinoiserie pieces from the late 19th century and the later Art Nouveau and Art Deco designs done in the lustrous eosin glaze. The museum was once the home of the Zsolnay family and contains many original furnishings and personal effects.
