Budapest’s two biggest Christmas fairs open on Friday!

Two of Budapest’s big Christmas fairs, the Vörösmarty Classic Xmas on Vörösmarty Square and the Advent Basilica on Szent István Square, open on Friday.

Advent Basilica, Szent István Square

Visitors to the Advent Basilica, voted Europe’s best Christmas market for the second time last year, will be greeted by a 12-metre Christmas tree, light painting, a selfie point, an ice rink and quality craft and gastronomy exhibitors on the square in front of Szent István Basilica, the organisers told MTI on Monday.

According to their statement, the event will host around 120 national exhibitors. The gastronomic vendors will offer a range of popular festive fair food made exclusively from impeccable ingredients, as well as a number of delicacies that are only available here, in keeping with the spirit of the event.

The fair will feature a variety of street food and barbeque dishes, as well as dishes of the Hungarian speakeasy culture: among others, there will be deer stew, original Swiss raclette and lamb shank. There will also be goulash soup in loafs and 12-hour smoker-made pulled pork and pulled beef sandwiches, the organisers said. Handicraft exhibitors (folk artists, craftspeople and innovative creators of modern designer products) add to the atmosphere of the fair with their unique creations.

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Visitors can also look forward to previous popular programmes and many new features. Every evening on the half-hour, there will be a projected light painting on the façade of the Basilica, and a selfie point of the event will be available during the 3D projections. A 12-metre Christmas tree will be placed in the central part of the fair, and there will also be a free skating rink for children, with skate rental and skating lessons.

In the Advent Basilica, master blacksmiths will demonstrate their skills in the workshop, and a photo exhibition, Advent Anno, in collaboration with Fortepan, will decorate the outside of the pavilions, evoking the past. In front of the basilica is the manger of Bethlehem and the monumental Advent wreath, whose candles will be lit on Sundays.

Advent Basilica will again host the Hungarian Interchurch Aid (Magyar Ökumenikus Segélyszervezet), which will be accepting donations throughout the fair.

Vörösmarty Classic Xmas, Vörösmarty Square

The Christmas market on Vörösmarty Square will also be held, dressed up in a new look and called Vörösmarty Classic Xmas. From Váci Street, a grand Christmas tree will greet the festive crowds on Vörösmarty Square, which will be decorated in green and red.

One of the highlights of the fair will be the giant Christmas tree decorations on the Harisnyaház, and a new cover for the Vörösmarty statue will be unveiled, replacing the previous grey nylon cover to make the poet’s monument “visible”. In addition to the original life-size image of the statue, the cover will feature poem excerpts in Hungarian, German and English, the statement said.

A popular attraction on the square will be the free funicular railway, which will also include letting passengers see the festive decoration of the Lion Well.

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Visitors will also be welcomed by the new look of the gastronomic outlets and handicraft chalets set up in the square. The gastronomic exhibitors will offer traditional Hungarian food and drink, and the handicraft exhibitors will also select their products in the spirit of tradition.

In addition to the exhibitors displaying a wide variety of typical Hungarian handicraft artefacts, the craft house will be set up as an interactive, educational venue, where visitors can take part in different crafting sessions every day.

The organisers of Vörösmarty Classic Xmas are sponsoring the Take Me Home Foundation (Vigyél Haza Alapítvány), which works for orphaned and injured dogs, and will be offering a range of activities for donators during the event.

Handicraft products can be bought in the square until 28 December, after which the craftspeople will hand over their space to the crowds of New Year’s Eve revelers until New Year’s Day. The Advent Basilica will be open until 1 January and the Vörösmarty Classic Xmas until 31 December, the organisers said.

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Source: mti.hu