Debrecen4U March 3, 2026

A 150,000‑Piece LEGO Munkácsy Artwork Sets Off on Tour from Debrecen

A mosaic artwork based on Mihály Munkácsy’s Ecce Homo is setting off on a four‑stop spring tour from the Déri Museum. The tour will include towns with communities of disadvantaged children, and audiences in Oradea will have the chance to see it as well.

A total of 155,000 LEGO building bricks, along with the contribution of several hundred children and adults, were required to complete the replica of Mihály Munkácsy’s Ecce Homo. Since last Advent, the remarkable mosaic—measuring two and a half metres in height and four metres in width—had been on display in the Dome Hall of Déri Museum. The artwork has now embarked upon its spring tour and therefore had to be dismantled.

“It cannot be transported in one piece for structural and other technical reasons. It has to be dismantled into four columns, four panels, and then reassembled at the locations where it will be exhibited,” János Angi, Director of Déri Museum, explained.

Completed through the cooperation of the Déri Museum, LEGO, the Nyíregyháza-based “tekerd!” group and six schools in Debrecen, this unique project demonstrates the power of community collaboration. This message will accompany the artwork to two settlements in Hajdú-Bihar County, Bagamér and Nyírábrány, and then across the border to Oradea.

“I trust that this may serve as an inspiring and exemplary model for others, demonstrating the important values that can be created through cooperation between the economy, culture and educational institutions,” Deputy Mayor István Puskás said.

On Palm Sunday, the artwork will return to Debrecen for a while to be exhibited in the Reformed Great Church. There has been interest in the composition in both Hungary and abroad, and it is therefore expected that, following the spring tour, the mosaic Ecce Homo will be presented at further venues as well.

Source and photo credit: dehir.hu