Count Ferenc Széchényi, one of the country's most eminent aristocrats offered his collection of books, medals and antiquities to his 'Dear Motherland' and to the 'Common Good' in 1802. The Hungarian National Museum evolved from this donation, with the advocacy of Palatine Joseph of Habsburg and the NationalAssembly, in the following years. The construction work of the museumbuilding - one of the most beautiful classicist palaces of Hungary - began in 1837 according to the plans of Mihály Pollack. Already in 1846, exhibitions were organized in the building and on the 15th March the revolutionary youth declared the ideas of freedom from its stairs upon which the Hungarian state is based. Today the task of the Hungarian National Museum is to collect, preserve and present the historical relics of the Carpathian Basin and Hungary from prehistoric times to the present using scientific methods. The museum's permanent collectioncontains more than one million works, world famous archaeological objects and priceless treasuresof Hungarian history and culture.