World Press Photo Exhibition at the National Museum

Almost 94 images from around the world will be on display at the World Press Photo exhibition at the Hungarian National Museum (MNM) from Friday, featuring the best and most important photojournalistic and documentary photographs of the past year, and visiting Hungary as well as 30 other prominent locations.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Désirée Bonis, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Budapest, said that the first prize-winning photo is a powerful reminder that war is still raging not far from Budapest, while the exhibition shows that the world is facing a climate crisis alongside economic difficulties.

She recalled that World Press Photo is an independent, non-profit organisation founded in Amsterdam in 1955, which has since become a recognized platform for journalism worldwide. As she pointed out, in order to have reliable information, it is essential that journalists can work freely.

MNM Director General László L. Simon expressed his pleasure that the museum will once again host the exhibition. The international jury has again selected a rich selection of material. He pointed out that the exhibition would be accompanied by a number of accompanying events. National Geographic Hungary turned 20 this year. To mark the anniversary, World Press Photo is presenting the most exciting and beautiful Hungarian material of the magazine's two decades in the National Museum. The 24.hu online news portal will also be exhibiting a selection of photos from the past year's events in Hungary on the museum's fence. In the Museum Garden, works on climate change by Czech-Polish-Slovak and Hungarian photographers can be seen, he said.

The 94 award-winning images on display were selected by an independent jury from more than 60,448 photos. The photo of the year was Jevhen Maloletka's Air raid on the maternity ward of Mariupol hospital. The image shows a wounded mother being rescued from a hospital damaged in a Russian airstrike on March 9, 2022. The baby of the mother, Irina Kalinyina, was stillborn and half an hour later Irina died. The jury said the photo depicted an attack on Ukraine's future.

The World Press Photo exhibition is open until November 5 at the Hungarian National Museum.