20 August is the greatest Hungarian national holiday, the holiday of the foundation of the State. On this occasion, visitors to Budapest will be received by a festive atmosphere at the weekend.

20 August is the anniversary of the burial and canonisation of Hungary’s first king, the founder of the State, King Stephen 1 (969-1038), the holiday of King St. Stephen, and also the holiday of the New Bread. St. Stephen was the king who, simultaneously with the establishment of a formal state structure, also organised the Christian church in Hungary.

Ceremonial programmes will already commence on 19 August. On the Buda side of the Danube, under the Buda Castle, in the immediate vicinity of the Chain Bridge, the Promenade of Hungarian Flavours will open at noon on 19 August where visitors may taste and purchase the specialities and delicacies of more than a hundred Hungarian producers and exhibitors. Fine Hungarian cheeses, jams, wines and ready-made dishes will await visitors who may also taste the Cake of Hungary which will be made this year from Hungary’s renowned apple varieties. There will be pop, jazz and other concerts at the gastronomic promenade from Sunday evening until Monday night.

The ceremonial raising of the flag and officer inauguration will begin on Monday morning, 20 August, in Kossuth tér outside the Parliament Building where President of the Republic János Áder will deliver a ceremonial speech. At 10.00 a.m., an aerial parade will commence over the Danube.

At 3.00 p.m., a spectacular harvest march will set out via the Chain Bridge to St. Stephen’s Basilica. The march will be attended by children and adults adorned in traditional Hungarian folk costumes who will walk across the city with the New Bread that symbolises the holiday. A ceremonial mass will start at St. Stephen’s Basilica at 5.00 p.m. which will be followed by a procession.

A spectacular fireworks display will then crown Budapest’s beautiful night cityscape at 9.00 p.m.

The 20 August programmes will close the cultural and gastronomic festival attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors, the Festival of Folk Arts which will be held in the Buda Royal Castle between 17 and 20 August. The festival’s English-language website may be found at www.mestersegekunnepe.hu.

At the same time, we shall not have to wait long for the next grandiose festival as the 21st International Wine Festival will be held between 12 and 16 September in the beautifully situated Buda Royal Castle. The English-language website of the festival: www.aborfesztival.hu.

For more information please visit: www.augusztus20.kormany.hu/en

(Ministry of Public Administration and Justice)