Herend Porcelain, Budapest

The Hungarian traditional of hand crafted porcelain dates back hundreds of years. Truly the porcelain of royalty, Herend porcelain has been used in royal courts from Austria to Mexico. Queen Victoria was so impressed by Hungarian porcelain that she ordered some for her palace.

Today, Herend still make their famous products at a small factory in the Hungarian countryside. Using a mixture of quartz, kaolin and feldspar the porcelain is fired at tremendous heat and then hand painted by craftsman. Beautiful coffee cups, soup tureens, plates and bowls are decorated with patterns of leaves, birds and flowers. Herend also makes beautiful porcelain figurines-- delicate, hand painted figures of carnival workers, horses and traditional soldiers. Herend porcelain is not cheap, running anywhere from between $75-$300, but it is well worth the price. There are a lot of imitation Herend products sold in Budapest, so you’ll want to be careful about where you buy it.

The best place to purchase Herend porcelain is from one of the company’s show rooms around the city, such as the Herend Porcelain store at Vaci Street 19-21. They are open every day from 10:00am-7:00pm and their employees speak quite good English.