Zagreb Advent lights up tomorrow, Satuday, November 30, with a three-stage opening beginning in the afternoon. First, at 4.30pm on the main square of Bana Josipa Jelačića, the first Advent candle of the Christmas season will be lit, setting in motion the six-week festive jamboree that overtakes the capital every year.
At 6.30pm, the ever-popular outdoor skating rink on Trg Kralja Tomislava – the Ice Park – opens for the tenth year running with a performance of The Nutcracker, followed by the traditional lighting of Christmas lamps in Zrinjevac park at 8pm.
What will follow, all the way until January 11, is a dizzyingly jam-packed with festive cheer. Throughout the city centre, huts constituting the sprawling Christmas market will offer visitors mulled wine, cocktails, traditional seasonal foods and more, enriched by a packed programme of music shows, workshops and exhibitions.
Simply crossing the city will mean running into some kind of festivity – be it a concert on Zrinjevac, DJ sets on Europski trg, passing by the colossal decorated tree on the main square, or any number of otherwise regular nooks and crannies transformed into little winter wonderland scenes.
Museums get in on the act, too, making up the Advent Art Jam series. Special and themed exhibitions will open in the Croatian Natural History Museum, the Museum of Hangovers, the Zagreb City Museum and the Chocolate Museum (to name but a few), while even the animals join in the fun at Zagreb Zoo with an educational and seasonal children’s programme running on Saturdays throughout the Christmas period.
Those looking to soak in the atmosphere will find plenty of photogenic scenes throughout Zagreb, with a routine favourite being the dreamlike scenario created in the Grič Tunnel, this year called the Polar Express, or the transformation of Ribnjak park into a romantic Moon Garden with hundreds of little lamps creating the illusion of falling stars and permanent moonlight. An exhaustive list of these memorable Christmas transformations can be found under Advent Decor on the website.
Lovers of classical and traditional seasonal music will find performances taking place at St Mark’s Church, the Journalists' Association and the Hungarian Cultural Centre as part of the Advent Classics programme. Younger visitors should enjoy the Junior Advent offerings as part of this year’s festivities.
Even Zagreb’s hotels join in the Christmas spirit, offering special deals for visitors, mini musical programmes and decorations of red, gold and green.
To get a sense of the scale of Zagreb Advent, check out the English-language website and map with details of this year’s celebrations.