budapest
28000 meters of sparkling
The winner of the fifty applications for designing the Christmas lighting of Budapest has finally been brought to light. The atmosphere of the 2011 sparkling will be familiar in spite of the changes that took place in the background.
The seven venues covered in gold by the Budapesti Dísz- és Közvilágítási Kft. (BDK), the company in charge of the lighting of Budapest, are the same. The string lights in Vörösmarty Square, Váci Street and the neighboring streets, Andrássy Avenue as far as Oktogon, Nagymező Street, Liszt Ferenc Square, Városháza Square, Batthyány Square and Clark Ádám Square are all their doing. There are 900 decorative elements and 28 kms of string lights altogether. A significant change is that this year has seen the installment of LED strings making the almost half a million lights energy-saving.
A further novelty is the 24 smaller and the 8 bigger unique 3-dimensional ornaments. In addition, there are pine motifs with snow blanket, candlestick wall ornaments, orbs, angels, snow crystal motifs with crowns, snow crystal curtains, mantles of light and candles in lampions fitted on candelabra or hung between houses. Another new addition is the approximately 200 icicle shaped decorations in Andrássy Avenue.
It must be mentioned that the Budapest lights are not solely the work of the winner chosen by the local government. The different districts formulate their own Advent image with the help of tenders and cooperating with BDK. The Christmas lighting of houses, restaurants, hotels and shops are often in unison with the design dictated by the city.
We’ve still got almost 20 days till Christmas Eve so there’s enough time to brighten our apartments. For as low as a couple thousand forints you can by great string lights which will definitely work for the years to come and don’t even consume much energy. If you don’t want to use up any kWs at all, you must still light some candles to contribute to the Christmas atmosphere.
