Events take place from the afternoon of Saturday, 22 June until the early hours of Sunday. Armbands are available for 1,700 forints (800 HUF for under-18s, free under-6s) at all participating museums and offices of Budapest transport company BKK.
See here for details of bus routes.
For more comprehensive information in English, see here.
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Guided tours and Django Reinhardt at the Budapest History Museum
Up in Buda Castle, a guided tour in English ‘Ups and Downs – Lights in the Night’ will take you on an illuminating journey through the history of our fair city. This will be followed by ‘Knights in the Night, Kings in the Light’, a guided tour around the medieval palace, again in English. These are scheduled for 8pm and 9.30pm respectively. In between, at 9pm, there’s a live performance of classic Django Reinhardt tunes by the Valami Swing group, with a little Gypsy jazz and Balkan spice thrown in.
Budapest History Museum
District I. Szent György tér 2
2/5
Lounge DJ and dance at the Hungarian National Gallery
With Hungarian-language tours a-plenty, the National Gallery is offering all kinds of learned insights into Magyar art in the 19th and 20th centuries. Non-Hungarian speakers can enjoy the lounge tunes being spun by DJ Tolcsvay between 6pm and 10pm, a dance interpretation of iconic composer Kodály in Prosody at 8.30pm and, perhaps most romantically, a complete panorama of Budapest under the stars from the gallery dome.
Hungarian National Gallery
District I. Szent György tér 2
3/5
Lou Reed at the Kiscelli Museum
Up in Óbuda, the former Baroque monastery walls of the Kiscelli Museum will be shaking to the tunes of Lou Reed for the Budapest Wild Side concert at 8pm. Tying in with the exhibition here about Budapest’s legendary punk club, the Fekete Lyuk, a spiky Magyar supergroup will be blasting out a few old Velvets numbers. Anyone know the Hungarian for Venus in Furs?
Kiscelli Museum
District III. Kiscelli utca 108
4/5
Mariachi, jazz, Latin and gamelan music at the Kunsthalle
Before a plethora of culture at the Kunsthalle, what better start to the day than a mariachi band from Slovakia? Mariachi Sin Fronteras, sombreros and all, kick things off with Mexican rhythms at 3pm. At 6pm, you can look forward to a few jazz and Latin tunes from Myrtill Micheller and Richárd Révész, before Zengő Ércek break out the Balinese gamelans at 10pm for an hour of Indonesian percussion.
Kunsthalle
District XIV. Dózsa György út 37
5/5
Tango at the Hungarian National Museum
While Múzeum Galaxis promises an intergalactic journey through history – with special focus on the 30th anniversary of the collapse of Communism – it’s pretty much for Hungarian speakers only. For something completely different, ‘Tango at the Museum’ will involve a dance demonstration at 6pm, various live acts until way past midnight, as well as a tango dance class at 9pm. Entry with armbands valid until 2am.
Hungarian National Museum
District VIII. Múzeum körút 14-16
