Hungary is pressing ahead with preparations for its annual 20 August national holiday celebrations, despite being forced to find a new organiser just weeks before the country’s largest state event.
Major national holiday plans remain in place for 20 August
According to tender documents obtained by HVG.hu, this year’s St Stephen’s Day programme for 20 August in Budapest is set to feature family activity zones, cultural events, light installations, electronic and contemporary music performances, and the traditional evening fireworks display. The celebrations are expected to take place across several locations in the capital, maintaining the multi-venue format seen in previous years.
The centrepiece of the festivities will once again be a large-scale evening spectacle telling the story of Hungary’s thousand-year history, from its earliest beginnings to the present day and a shared vision of the future. The production for 20 August is planned as a 20–30-minute multimedia show combining projections, drones, lighting effects and pyrotechnics.
According to the plans, the Parliament building will serve as the backdrop for projections featuring motifs from the Hungarian Conquest period, royal symbols, church interiors and imagery highlighting national unity. Drone and light displays are also expected to recreate famous Hungarian artworks and national symbols.
The fireworks themselves are planned to last around ten minutes, followed by a two-minute pyrotechnic finale. Afterwards, DJs are scheduled to perform in Kossuth Square.
Previous organiser removed amid financial and legal troubles
The last-minute reorganisation comes after the termination of the contract with Lounge Event Ltd., the company owned by businessman Gyula Balásy, which had originally been awarded a contract worth approximately HUF 12.5 billion (around EUR 35 million) to organise the celebrations.
The National Event Management Agency (Nemzeti Rendezvényszervező Ügynökség, NRÜ) said it ended its agreements with the company after its financial operations became unsustainable, preventing it from paying subcontractors and suppliers and jeopardising the successful delivery of the events.
The company has also become the subject of investigations on suspicion of breach of fiduciary duty and money laundering. Its bank accounts were reportedly frozen, tax enforcement proceedings were launched, and earlier this summer it also lost its central government communications contracts.
Following the termination, the NRÜ completed the legal, financial and technical closure of the original contract before launching a new public procurement procedure on 7 July. The agency is seeking a replacement organiser through an accelerated negotiated tender with a one-week deadline, leaving the successful bidder with only about a month to finalise preparations for Hungary’s most significant national holiday celebrations, 20 August.
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