It’s Christmas at the Castle Museum of Nagytétény, one of the finest monuments of Baroque architecture in Hungary.
Every year the castle opens its doors to a group of artists, each charged with decorating a Christmas tree in harmony with one of the castle’s many rooms.
“Rococo is my favourite period – its easy lifestyle, luxury and splendor,” says Natalia Gyulai, one of the artists taking part in the event. “I decorated the Christmas tree with pink marabou feathers. Exotic feathers are expensive and grand, so they perfectly match the rococo style. And white doves symbolize the holy spirit, love and happiness in religious art.”
Femininity is an important element of the French Baroque style for artist Sara Gink, who chose the French baroque room for her very personal Christmas tree.
“The extreme hedonism and wealth of the Late Baroque era can be seen on this Christmas tree. Hydrangea flowers symbolize femininity. Pale pink lichen from Iceland symbolize hedonism. I also decorated the tree with cloves. It was exhausting fixing every single clove to a wire. Cloves symbolize Christmas and the combined smell of the pine tree and the cloves is very nice,” she says.
Another room features a tree decorated with women’s magazines’ cover pages, twisted and painted silver. The balls are made of stainless steel kitchen scrubbers.
Another good reason to visit Nagytétény Castle is its permanent collection of handcrafted furniture dating from the 14th to the mid-19th century.
The Christmas trees are on display until early January.
