Perhaps no building in Zalaegerszeg has served so many different purposes. Inaugurated as a savings bank in 1890 and designed by Antal Hencz and János Schadl, the eclectic-style structure is still regarded as a symbol of the city’s urbanisation. After the Second World War, it housed an extraordinary variety of institutions and activities: municipal offices, medical practices, a school canteen, a sewing workshop, a wedding hall, a youth club, even a press office. In 1973 it was transformed into a repository of the histories of Zalaegerszeg and Zala County.

Today, the renovated museum building opens a window onto the past of the city. The permanent exhibition “The Lives of Our Forebears” presents centuries of everyday history, revealing how former residents lived, worked, and organised their community life.

Visitors can also explore the collection of Zsigmond Kisfaludi Strobl, one of the most distinguished Hungarian sculptors of the 20th century and a two-time Kossuth Prize laureate, who was the prominent figure of sculpture training for four decades. The exhibition “Classical Beauty” presents the finest works from his legacy preserved in Zalaegerszeg.

Another permanent exhibition, “The Dreamer of Clay”, offers a cross-section of the oeuvre of János Németh, a Kossuth Prize-winning ceramic artist honoured as Artist of the Nation. His works reflect the characteristic motifs of the Göcsej landscape and the lives of its village communities.

The exhibition “The Mosaics of Dedication”, dedicated to György Fekete, another Artist of the Nation, showcases finely crafted wooden works that may be described as object-collages.

The museum’s newest permanent exhibition, “In the Spell of Clocks”, presents the collection of Zalaegerszeg watchmaker József Preisz, gathered over six decades and including numerous rarities. Preisz was also responsible for maintaining the clock mechanism of the St. Mary Magdalene Parish Church and conceived the idea for the clock tower in front of the Hevesi Sándor Theatre.