 |
During this year's Cultural Heritage Days, an event that takes place all over Europe, 820 buildings in 372 cities and towns around Hungarian will be open to the public. Additionally, 171 guided walks will take place.
Tamás Mezős, who heads Hungary's Office for the Protection of Cultural Heritage (KÖH), said many buildings that are ordinarily closed to the public will open their doors at the weekend. Among them are many that have been freshly renovated or are undergoing renovation, such as the Bourse Palace, which was the headquarters of Hungarian Television for decades, and the Paris Department Store on Andrássy út. "[Seeing these buildings] will perhaps draw the attention of society to the tasks that lie ahead of us," he said, noting that monuments slated to undergo renovations in the future include the Army Headquarters in the Buda Castle and the Castle Bazaar.
This year's Cultural Heritage Days will place an emphasis on sacred places, Mezős said. The Roman Catholic, Baptist and Greek Orthodox churches, as well as many others will be involved with the programme.
Márta Dragonits, the organiser of Sacred Art Week, said many churches would open their doors on Saturday evening. The ruins of the Magdolna Church in the Buda Castle will "reconstructed" with light after dark, she added.
In Budapest, visitors can see the Office of the President of the Republic in the Sándor Palace, the cellars of the Kőbánya brewery, the KFKI research reactor and, for the first time, the headquarters of the Hungarian News Agency, as part of this year's Cultural Heritage Days.
Outside of the capital, visitors can see the ruins of a university from the Middle Ages in Pécs, the town hall in Miskolc or the storage facility for low-level radioactive waste in Bátaapáti.
This year's Cultural Heritage Days events are expected to draw 200,000-250,000 visitors.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI) / Photo: MTI
