At nighttime, a zoo is a mysterious place, as visitors can only hear the animal sounds amid the darkness – but now you can see something truly spectacular after sunset at the historic Budapest Zoo and Botanical Garden. The new “Dragons’ Nights” lantern festival recently began illuminating this popular animal park, featuring hundreds of colorfully fantastic silk lamps arranged into 45 collections, including some zoo inhabitants, Chinese astrological beasts, and many other fanciful flora and fauna. The spectacle extends beyond the zoo walls, so glowing animals can now be spotted citywide.

Among the hundreds of multicolored lamps, animal figures include tigers, giraffes, peacocks, zebras, butterflies, monkeys, and even dragons.

These unique Chinese silk lantern artworks have already been exhibited in Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium, but this is their first exhibition in Central Europe. The colorful lanterns cover almost the entire zoo grounds, and walking among them feels as though we are in the middle of a psychedelic festival, especially when surrounded by giant mushrooms and grasshoppers. A tour can be an especially exciting program for children, but we think the exhibition is worth a visit for adults, as well.

The exhibited silk lanterns can be seen through May 22nd. As for when to visit, the Budapest

Zoo operates with its usual opening hours during the day, and re-opens at 7pm to allow visitors to admire the lanterns in the most ideal lighting conditions until 10pm; admission costs 1,900 forints for adults and 1,500 forints for kids.