By now, the Jewish Summer Festival is one of Hungary’s most important, most visited and most interesting cultural art events. Even strata of the population usually less interested all year round in cultural events are drawn to this event held on the last week of summer. Visitors may gain a glimpse into a culture they’re not really familiar with and can become part of it. They can get to know the traditions and holidays of a several thousand-year-old culture, and in addition see artists and performers who will offer them a once in a lifetime experience.

The tenth jubilee festival represents Jewish culture with several branches of art (theatre, film, fine arts, photography, oratory, painting, jazz, operetta, klezmer, pop music, literature, chamber music), youth programs, bazaars, open musical programs and coffeehouse literature eves. Our program series follows traditions, grows from them while renewing and enriching itself every year. Due to the jubilee the festival has gone through a makeover, its ticketing system has also changed and entry tickets will be available in 138 offices of the TICKETPRO network.

The Jewish Tourism and Cultural Center held the first festival in 1998 thanks to the initiation of the Budapest Jewish Community, with Europe's largest and definitely one of the most spectacular Synagogues as its central location. The Dohány Street Synagogue itself was built between 1855 and 1859 according to plans of Frigyess Fessl and Ludwig Förster.

By the second festival the community opened up towards the more worldly locations such as the Hungarian National Opera House, the Uránia Movie Theatre, the Belvárosi Theatre, the Budapest Exhibition Hall, the Örökmozgó Movie Theatre and the Fészek Club. The internationally renowned artists and performers from Europe and from around the globe made the festival classier and more recognized from year to year, appealing to both Jews and others. Its wider range of effect is obvious by how it created new working possibilities for artists, bands, orchestras and those working in the tourism and catering industry.

The second most important asset of the festival is the fact that it serves as a meeting point for representatives of art coming from a different cultural backgrounds and calls attention to aspects, genres and styles which were less known previous to the festival. Over the ten years of the festival several other cities in Hungary joined the programs, hence in the week prior to the Jewish holiday season the entire country is holding a Jewish Summer Festival.

The goal of this internationally renowned event series, that by know has a European and global status, is to introduce Jewish culture to as many people as possible and with the diversity of the programs, to put an emphasis on how important it is for cultures to live peacefully with each other. Jewish cultural heritage is not only a tourism attraction, but also a carrier of European civilization. (source)