Budapest braces for 20 August festivities: Fireworks, free events… and even more road closures
There have been “brutal traffic jams” in Budapest for weeks while Mayor Gergely Karácsony is “somewhat ironically concerned about closures” in connection with preparations for the 20 August national holiday, Zoltán Kovács, the state secretary overseeing the preparations, said on Facebook on Friday.
The traditional 20 August fireworks show in central Budapest is organised “similarly to last year’s practice”, Kovács said, adding that the spectacle will be visible along the Danube banks from Petőfi Bridge to the southern tip of Margaret Island. Areas are being closed down with a view to causing “minimum inconvenience” to the public, while the bridges in central Budapest will only be closed down for the show itself and cleaning up afterwards, he said.
Kovács also said that the “closure plan” had been prepared in cooperation with the metropolitan police and the government office. Celebrations of the national holiday will be held between 16 to 21 August, offering several hundred programmes free of charge at 19 venues in Budapest, Kovács said.
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