The Herend Porcelain Manufactory is a Hungarian manufacturing company, specializing in luxury hand painted and gilded porcelain. Founded in 1826, it is based in the town of Herend near the city of Veszprém. In the mid-19th century it was purveyor to the Habsburg Dynasty and aristocratic customers throughout Europe.
Herend porcelain has won 24 grand and gold prizes in world exhibitions between 1851 and 1937. One of the best known Herend patterns was presented at the London World Exhibition in 1851, the Chinese-style butterflies and flowery branches painted in joyful, lively colours. The British Queen, Victoria, ordered a dinner set with its gold medal-winning pattern for Windsor Castle – and so the pattern is named “Viktória”.
The Herend Porcelain Manufactory was purveyor to the Habsburg Dynasty and the aristocracy. The factory continues to manufacture porcelain according to the traditional methods, in order to produce a consistent quality.
Museums: The company operates the Porcelain Museum of Herend at its site. The museum opened to visitors in 1964 and was chosen as the museum of the year 2002 in Hungary. The Museum presents the history of and the technology used by the Herend porcelain factory and working displays take visitors through the entire process of creating Herend porcelain.
