The concept of the country house museum:

Country house museums are open air ethnographic collections of in situ preserved buildings of significant folk architectural value (mostly listed buildings or under unique local protection). They can be residential buildings, all buildings of a whole croft, workshops, out buildings or simpler industrial facilities. In their exhibitions, the country house museums present to the public the traditional material culture of the given settlement or region with objects collected and preserved locally according to a specific time period and by displaying one of its social strata. At least one defining room of the country house museum must be furnished as an interior. The restored and furnished buildings are the most characteristic monuments of local folk culture within a region.

The events of the country house, the dissemination of knowledge and the services provided to the communities and visitors to the settlement serve to learn about, preserve and bring to life the local traditional knowledge, the intangible heritage, and to strengthen the local, ethnic and national identity.

Some of the country house museums are public collections with a museum institutional operating license or they may be on the tentative list of World Heritage, as a member of the Hungarian Country House Museums Network.

 

Monument:

A monument which has been declared protected by law in accordance with Act LXIV of 2001.

 

Monument value:

All structures, gardens, cemeteries or burial sites, areas (or their remains), as well as their purposefully belonging ensemble and system, which are of historical, artistic, scientific and technical monument of outstanding significance from the point of view of Hungary's past and community identity, together with their components and accessories and furnishings.

 

Local listed building:

Act LXXVIII of 1997 § 57 deals with the protection of the local architectural heritage:

57 § (1) The elements of the architectural heritage which, based on their value, do not receive national unique monument protection according to § 56, but are outstanding from the point of view of the region or settlement due to their special appearance, characteristics, settlement or settlement structure value, they faithfully reflect the work and culture of the people and communities that live there, and they are part of the local architectural heritage.

(2) It is the task of the local governments to explore, enumerate, declare protected, maintain, develop, preserve and ensure the protection of the values ​​of the local architectural heritage. The protection of national territorial monuments does not affect the scope of local individual protection on individual properties.

(3) The local government (both the capital city and the district local government in the capital) shall decide on the declaration of local protection or its termination, as well as on the restrictions and obligations and subsidies related to protection in a settlement image decree.

(4) The local government –  in accordance with the obligation to cooperate in Act LXIV of 2001 5 § (1) on the protection of cultural heritage contained in it – shall send the draft decree on the termination of local protection outside the settlement procedure to the cultural heritage protection authority for information.

(5) The local individual architectural protection established in the local government decree shall be recorded in the land register as a legally binding character.