August 20 Festivities in Budapest to Feature Air Show, Sacred Relic, Pricey Fireworks
- 2 Aug 2023 4:08 PM
- Hungary Around the Clock
An aerial parade will be part of the August 20 celebrations this year, with hundreds of thousands of people expected to take part in the festivities around the holiday, state secretary Zoltán Kovács told a press conference in Budapest.
The World Athletics Championships, to be held in Budapest, will be integrated into the celebrations and diplomatic events will also be ongoing in Budapest, he said.
As is customary, the August 20 events will start with the flag-raising ceremony and officers’ inauguration on Kossuth tér before the air parade sweeps across the skies over Budapest.
President Katalin Novák will deliver a speech at Esztergom and will present the Order of Saint Istvan decorations there.
The right hand of Hungary’s patron saint will be paraded outside the basilica that bears his name in the afternoon before the festivities are rounded off by a fireworks display starting at 9 p.m.
In addition, the public may visit Parliament free of charge on August 20.
The government will spend Ft 12.9 billion on organising the August 20 festivities, 25% more than last year’s Ft 10.3 billion, Népszava reports, citing data from the State Treasury.
Details of the nearly Ft 13 billion are not yet public. Last year, the government spent Ft 3.2 billion on fireworks, Ft 4.5 billion on related events, and Ft 1.95 billion on the media.
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