The Hungarian Cultural Days of Cluj 2017
The eighth edition of the Hungarian Cultural Days of Cluj, a reference event in the life of the city, will start on Sunday, the 13th of August 2017, under the aegis of Transylvanicums, a notion that describes specifically Transylvanian material, cultural and spiritual values and assets. “Evidently the festival of the Hungarian Cultural Days in Cluj does not wish to appropriate the term Transylvanicum as something that solely belongs to it, but we do want to lay an emphasis on the fact that the event is specifically Transylvanian in nature, being one of many Transylvanicums”, underlined Balázs Gergely, the main organiser of the event.
For eight days the inhabitants of Cluj, and visitors coming to attend the festival from all over Transylvania and abroad will have the opportunity to enjoy again hundreds of events diverse in nature, from concerts, exhibitions and film screenings to activities for children, gastronomic events or parties. A large part of these will take place at the locations that are already familiar to the public – Unirii Square, Mihail Kogălniceanu Street, Potaissa Street – but for the first time in the history of the Hungarian Cultural Days, the Central Park of Cluj will also become one of the hosts of the festival. There will be concerts organised here and a zone of relaxation, beer and wine stands, as well as an area designated for children activities. The Park will also host the “Dance of Wooden Spoons”, the annual cooking competition organised within the framework of the HCDC, there will be trips with a mediaeval boat on the lake, and the Casino – Cluj Urban Cultural Centre will accommodate the exhibition entitled “Coloured Sunrays’’ of artist Miksa Róth.
Another novelty of the present edition will be that the Wine Street will move from Emmanuel de Martonne Street to Potaissa Street, which will also hold traditional music performances. Kogălniceanu Street will remain “the heart” of the festival – with the artisans’ fair, the promenade of museums, operetta, folk and popular music performances, whereas the Garden of Ruins besides the Reformed Church (on Kogălniceanu Street) will accommodate the Mediaeval Village.
The edition this year of the HCDC is the richest in outstanding quality exhibitions and concerts. The concerts of the festival, over 30 in number, will take place in Cluj, at Unirii Square and the Central Park, as well as in Arkhai Sculpture Park in Vlaha.
The cultural festival will be closed by an operetta show, the Csárdás Princess of Emmerich Kálmán, directed and performed by the artists of the Budapest Operetta Theatre, accompanied by the musicians playing in the orchestra of the Hungarian Opera in Cluj. The show, a premiere in Transylvania will be a large-scale performance, and a spectacular one, involving 120 artists on stage.
Featuring such a variety of events, this year’s edition of the Hungarian Cultural Days of Cluj awaits over 250,000 visitors. The festival is organised by the Treasured Cluj Association, and co-organised by the Hungarian Cultural Days of Cluj Association, with the support of the Cluj-Napoca Mayor’s Office and City Hall.