This year`s annual Night of the Museums is on June 20, when art, history and more are on display through the evening until 2.30am next morning.
You can buy a HUF 1,500 ticket (HUF 600 for children aged 6-18 years) at all participating museums – which is nearly all of them – or at BKK ticket offices, and this will gain access to as many museums as you wish to visit. Free buses will circulate between museums.
Most programs start at 9pm and this year`s event has the main theme Living Transylvania. This includes an exhibition in the National Gallery titled Destiny and Symbol: Hungarian Art in Transylvania 1920-1990. Here you can also taste Transylvanian delicacies in the gastro corner.
An exhibit in the Museum of Ethnography is From the Székely Gate to the Last Towel, the Gábor Szinte Collection. Also there will be a photo display in Várkert Bazaar titled Transylvania from Birds Eye View.
Apart from these events, almost 50 museums, exhibition halls and other venues will welcome the curious with art, literary, folk and gastronomy programs related to Transylvania.
The Törley Champagne Visitor Center at Anna utca 5-7, District XXII, will have concerts, champagne tasting and an exhibition introducing the history of champagne making in Hungary. You can also walk in the Törley Castle and park.
The 101-year-old Astoria Hotel and Cafe will be open for one-hour tours starting at 6pm, 7pm, 8pm, 9pm and 10pm. Pre-registration is required.
You can take a culinary tour of Transylvania in the hotel’s Cafe Astoria restaurant. The director of the restaurant is from Szováta, a village in Erdély, so is an expert in Transylvanian gastronomy. See also the Astoria 101 exhibit about the turbulent history of the hotel and cafe through a display of its treasures and guest books.
The price of the Astoria`s buffet dinner with registration is HUF 3,990, drinks not included, and without registration HUF 5,990. Menu: Starters – Aubergine cream, Game ham (venison, wild boar); Soups – Bean soup with lettuce and dill, Potato soup with tarragon and ham knuckle; Main courses – Stuffed cabbage, Roast trout dipped in cornmeal with garlic sauce, Székely cabbage, Transylvanian stew, Polenta with cottage cheese; Desserts – Chimney cake, Pancake with dill and sweet sheep curd, Cottage cheese doughnuts with sour cream and Transylvanian cranberries.
Elsewhere, you can feed carnivorous plants and watch the blooming of the Victoria water lily, a rare flower that only blooms at night, in the Füvészkert (Botanical Garden of ELTE University.)
The Hospital in the Rock, a secret civil defence hospital and nuclear bunker under the Castle District, lets you see its Special Forces Exhibition before the official opening.
The Labyrinth of Buda Castle will have a spooky night tour with movie screenings and exhibitions, or you can enjoy night bathing in the Rudas Bath (special entrance fee: HUF 3,900).
For children there will be a Kids’ Castle at Szentháromság tér in the Castle District. Thematic guided tours, a playhouse on the historic square, a mini castle with an exciting obstacle course, a stonemason’s and other craft workshops, and a baroque pantomime will welcome children from 11am to 8pm.
The Center of Scientific Wonders (Csodák Palotája), Campona Shopping Centre, District XXII, will enable kids to try their hand at numerous scientific games and activities on more than 1,300 square metres. On the Night of Museums the centre`s program from 6pm to midnight will have maths puzzles and mysteries, chemistry and physics experiments, and more.
The Museum of Applied Arts at Üllői út 33-37, District IX, will have craft workshops and other programs for families with children. You can also browse among the items of Hungarian designers at a creative arts fair and go on guided tours from the basement to the rooftop of the museum.
The Retro Toys Exhibition Space and Shop at Teréz körút 54, District VI, will allow callers to revisit their favourite toys from childhood, buy replicas, and take part in a toy repair contest and the opening ceremony of the musical box exhibition.
The Story Museum (Mesemúzeum) at Döbrentei utca 15, District I, will feature concerts, a magician show, theatre programs and creative activities for kids.
Other museums that have children`s programs on the Night of Museums are the National Gallery, Art Hall (Kunsthalle), National Archives, Capital Circus of Budapest at City Park, Artists’ School student performance plus music programs and trying out artist equipment, Hungarian Museum of Trade and Tourism with exhibits, creative activities, theatre performances and gastronomy programs, Hungarian Sport Museum, Pesti Barnabas Technical School of Food Industry, Postal Museum, Police Museum, Military History Institute and Museum and Stamp Museum.
The complete program is available at www.muzej.hu (in Hungarian).
The Indian Embassy in cooperation with Ferenc Hopp Museum of Asiatic Arts has planned a colourful program for both children and grown-ups on the Night of the Museums. The theme is closely tied to the exhibition titled “The Indologist Indian – In Memory of Ervin Baktay”. Visitors will have a chance to follow the footsteps of this prominent scholar and explorer of Indian culture of his time. Baktay was the uncle of the famous Indo-Hungarian painter Amrita Sher-Gil, who is the namesake of the cultural centre at the embassy in District II.
