This startling museum is housed in what was once the headquarters of the dreaded ÁVH secret police. The building has a ghastly history, for it was here that many activists of every political persuasion that was out of fashion before and after WWII were taken for interrogation and torture. The walls were apparently double thickness to mute the screams. A plaque on the outside of this house of shame reads in part: ‘We cannot forget the horror of terror, and the victims will always be remembered’.

The museum focuses on the crimes and atrocities committed by both Hungary’s fascist and Stalinist regimes in a permanent exhibition called Double Occupation. But the years after WWII leading up to the 1956 Uprising get the lion’s share of the exhibition space (almost three-dozen spaces on three floors). The tank in the central courtyard is a jarring introduction and the wall outside displaying many of the victims’ photos speaks volumes. Even more harrow­ing are the reconstructed prison cells (collectively called the ‘gym’) and the final Hall of Tears gallery. The excellent audio guide costs 1300Ft.