The objects arrived in five lorries from Istanbul's Sabanci Museum. Hungarian National Museum staff have already started setting up the exhibition, said museum director Tibor Kovács. The exhibition, which will cost almost HUF 100 million, is expected to attract more than 100,000 visitors, he added.
The exhibition, entitled Genghis Khan and his Heirs - The Great Mongolian Empire, drew some 110,000 visitors to the Sabanci Museum between December 2006 and April 2007.
The exhibition includes hundreds of objects made as early as the 12th century. The paintings, gold treasures, Buddhist statutes and writings come from the collections of twenty museums in Europe and Mongolia. The exhibition will also feature a genuine yurt, to be set up in the courtyard of the museum.
In addition to Istanbul, the exhibition has already travelled to Bonn, Munich and the Austrian city of Schallaburg.
The exhibition in Budapest will be expanded with objects from the time of the Tatars. These objects will travel to museums around the country when the Genghis Khan exhibition closes in September.
Genghis Khan (1162-1227), born Temüjin, united the Mongol tribes and formed the Mongol Empire in 1206. He and his successors went on to conquer many of the Mongolians' neighbours, including Persia, Korea and parts of Russia, Indonesia, India and China. In 1241, Genghis Khan's heirs invaded Poland and Hungary too. At its height, the Mongolian Empire stretched from the Black Sea to the Pacific Ocean.
Today Genghis Khan is regarded as a national hero by Mongolians, who celebrated the 800th anniversary of the founding of their state in 2006.
On an official visit to Budapest in 2005, Mongolian president Natsagiyn Bagadbandi said he would take steps to see the exhibition travelled to Hungary at the request of former Hungarian president Ferenc Mádl.
Source: Múlt-kor / Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
