About us

The foundation of the museum is attributed to Rómer Flóris (1815–1889), a teacher of the Order of St. Benedict, who noticed antiquities that can be well used in school illustration during his teaching work. In its concept, historical monuments served both school illustration and local and national identity. In December 1857, he announced the program of the planned development of the antiquities library, i.e. the museum, to be set up in the Bencés high school in the Győr Közlöny: „Don't anyone tell me if I want to see a museum, I'm going to Vienna or Pest, and I'm not looking for it in such a cornering institute. Anyone who thinks like this, gentlemen, should never go to the Győr theater, casino, or commercial gathering, because you can see more prestigious than these in the above-mentioned and other cities as well! And yet I dare to say that it will be more interesting for Hungarians and especially Győri to see Győri, - if it will be the way we want to make it and will, - than even Vienna and Paris.” As a result of his enthusiastic organizational work, on May 6, 1859, the imperial and royal central committee, which took care of the research and maintenance of architectural monuments, designated the Benedictine high school as a collection of antiquities in the area. Rómer's successors further developed the institution managed by the order, which was already called the Rómer Flóris Museum in the 1920s, with varying intensity.

The city's cultural center, built in 1935, created an opportunity for Győr to create its own museum of history and art. The General Assembly of Legislative Authority passed a resolution in 1938 to the museum of towns about its establishment, which was approved by the Minister of the Interior the following year. His urban history material is city public library and city archive It was selected from its collections and presented at large-scale temporary exhibitions (1938, 1943).
Also this year, 1938. opened its doors on April 28th in the picture gallery. took an active part in organizing the city's artists Győr Fine and Applied Arts Society also, which also transferred part of his own fine art collection to the gallery. The larger part of the collection was made up of paintings, which served as decorations for the offices of the town hall and have been continuously growing since the end of the 18th century.

At the end of World War II, with the approach of Soviet troops, they were encircled by the City Museum and Gallery his most valuable artefacts. This wagon crossed the Hungarian border on March 30, 1945, with the third gold train that transported Jewish values. The artefacts, believed to have been lost for a long time, were stored in the mine near Altaussee, Austria, and only on February 10, 1964, did the 65 paintings and 68 graphics left over from the original collection return to Győr. The collection of money and medals, several Győr skylines and maps, the scepters of historical flags and city judges, as well as the whereabouts of significant archaeological finds are still unknown today.

The established communist system nationalized the schools in 1948, as a result of which it operates within the framework of the Benedictine High School Rómer Flóris Museum became state property. the museum of towns plus picture gallery your remaining material and the Benedictine collection Győr Museum was combined under the name, and then moved to the former baroque palace on the main square of the city, the Apátúr house, in 1949.

The National Center of Museums and Monuments reviewed the names of rural museums and gave new names to many institutions as a worthy expression of the material of the collection and local historical traditions. During this, the Győr museum took the name of János Xántus (1825–1894), an excellent ethnographic and natural history collector who had once studied in the city.

The brick-vaulted rooms connected to the walls of the Turkish-era end castle, once opening onto the Bécsi kapu (formerly republic) square, were converted into a castle museum in 1957, where the tangible memories of the Győr castle were presented. A year later, the museum's Roman and early modern stone library, AMIMA, opened in the courtyard and dungeons of the former Sforza half-bastion. However, the castle museum building was built by the West-Hungarian factory catering company received, which opened the Vaskakas wine bar here in 1971.

The yearbook of the museum was launched as a publication forum for the scientific research work carried out in the institution, which was named Arrabona from the Roman fortress and settlement that once existed in the Győr area.

The Decree No. 9 of 1963 established the county museum organization by integrating the museums under the county councils in every county. The headquarters of the Győr-Sopron County Museum Organization is a Xántus János Museum became.

An exhibition presenting the oeuvre of the city's native Margit Kovács (1902–1977), a native of the city, has opened in one of the iconic buildings of downtown Győr.

 The exhibition of the sculptor Miklós Borsos (1906–1990), who started his career in Győr, was housed in the former house of the bishops' court judges in Káptalandomb.

After the monument renovation, a selection of journalists from the modern art and ethnological collection of journalist Imre Patkó (1922–1983) opened in the Vastuskós Ház overlooking the city's main square.

The legacy of the renowned Győr medical dynasty, consisting of artefacts, family history documents and photos of the Petz family, was added to the museum.

On the initiative of the art collector Ernő Kolozsvári (1934–1999), art collector and the mayor of Győr between 1990–1994, the city's municipality decided to create an art museum. The new institution was located in the building of the newly renovated Hungarian Ispita, where historian Péter Váczy (1904–1994) opened its doors with a collection of art featuring a variety of material. In the following years, his collection was expanded with materials from the exhibitions taken over from the Xántus János Museum (Miklós Borsos exhibition, Margit Kovács exhibition).

the City Art Museum Béla Radnai (1891–1962) opened his new permanent exhibition selected from the art collection of the newly renovated Esterházy Palace.

After the reconstruction of the Győr Synagogue, the new exhibition of the City Art Museum was opened, which presented the art collection of János Vasilescu (1923–2006). The exhibition closed its doors in 2023.

In his will, Antal Fruhmann left his house and workshop to the Xántus János Museum, where the exhibition presenting the history of stove craftsmanship opened in 2008.

As a result of the transformation of the Hungarian museum institutional system, the museum structure in Győr was also reorganized. By abolishing the county museum directorates, the state added their institutions to the maintenance of the settlements. On February 1, 2013, the Xántus János Museum and the City Art Museum were merged in Győr, and the new institution was a city museum with a county scope., Flóris Rómer Museum of Art and History continues to operate under the name.