An exhibition at Budapest of the
Faces Concealed in Gold - Gold Masks from Asia
The Zelnik Collection at the Museum of Ethnography Budapest

I don't really know how many people have gone crazy about gold. Throughout history, this noble matter has been at the center of interest and has been the subject of greed for centuries. Some lived for it, some died for it. Ladies wore it for beauty, emperors and kings owned it for projecting power. There were men put their lives on finding Eldorado, and alchemist tried to make it. Gold has always meant luxury, extravagance, wealth.


And art has used it. Not surprising, the exhibition called Faces Concealed in Gold – Masks from Asia, opening March 12th at the Museum of Ethnography, will also be centered around the precoius metal.

A world premiere, dr. István Zelnik’s collection is the largest and most exciting collection of golden art works, boasting 24 golden masks hailing from all around the globe; from China to the Java Islands to Southeast Asia and the Balkans covering more than two and a half thousand years of human history. The oldest piece is from the 5th century.

The exhibition explores the ritual significance of these masks as well as their role and power in our lives and afterlives.