Attila the Hun, 2026

This project brings together a series of interactive installations and animations created for the Attila exhibition at the Hungarian National Museum. Each work approaches the figure of Attila and the world of the Huns from a different angle, combining historical source material, archaeology, and speculative digital storytelling.

The exhibition includes both completed installations and upcoming pieces, moving between research-driven interfaces, playful visitor interaction, and atmospheric animated content.

Attila Archive

A virtual collection of written records that mention Attila, dating as far back as 452 AD.

Attila Archive is a virtual collection of written records that mention Attila, dating as far back as 452 AD. These documents include books, codices, newspapers, and even comic books. The various types are all represented as books to achieve a uniform aesthetic appearance - their pages, however, are scans of the original source material, in order to preserve historical accuracy. Visitors can interact with an elongated display via touch – they can scroll through the books, and even open them and browse through relevant pages to explore the records in further detail.

Legendary Sword Creator

Interactive installation inviting visitors to create their own historical sword design.

Using this interactive touchscreen-based installation, visitors can choose a design for each part of the sword: hilt, crossguard and blade. Each part’s design references an actual object found in the Attila exhibition. Once finished, visitors are shown the unique sword design they created along with the history that the selected parts carry.

Attila’s Grave

Interactive map exploring the many presumed locations of Attila the Hun’s grave.

Over the centuries, thousands of people have attempted to locate the grave of Attila the Hun, with many believing they had succeeded. This is hardly surprising in light of folk tradition, which holds that the former Hun leader was buried in three coffins made respectively of gold, silver, and iron, thus promising enormous wealth to any lucky finder.

Hundreds of newspaper articles and letters have been published over the past two centuries by and about individuals who claimed to have seen the grave. The presumed locations range from France to the Eastern Carpathians and encompass some eighty different sites.

Exploring the marked locations on the map, visitors can see where, when and by whom the grave of the great Hun king was claimed to have been discovered.

Attila Face Reconstructor

This installation focuses on the speculative reconstruction of Attila’s face through a contemporary digital interface. It is intended to connect historical imagination, visual interpretation, and reconstruction techniques in a format that invites visitors to reflect on how iconic figures are continuously re-created.

Cranial Deformation

This work explores transformation through animated transitions between archaeological and imagined forms. By morphing skull-based structures and facial geometries, the piece reflects on the tension between scientific evidence and myth-making in the visual culture surrounding Attila.

Hun-Themed Animations

A final group of animated works expands the exhibition into a more atmospheric and interpretive register. These animations use Hun-related motifs, symbolic imagery, and stylized motion to create a visual layer that complements the interactive installations and reinforces the wider narrative world of the exhibition.

Created by: Gita Elek, Gáspár Hajdu, Flóra Petrók, Sámuel Setényi, Roland Vass
Animations: Piros Animation