The Best Christmas Market in Europe Dedicated to Culture – A Magical Advent as a Magical Backdrop for Magical Art

Eight music festivals crown this year's Christmas market. But as far as culture goes, that's just for starters!

They say word of mouth is the best form of advertising. Zagreb’s Christmas market, which has been voted best in Europe three years in a row, certainly is creating a buzz. Many of the world’s most relevant and respected websites and media sources have listed Zagreb among the cities of Europe and the world that you really must visit over the holiday period. British newspaper The Daily Mail has a list of the most exciting Christmas markets in the world, from Chicago to Croatia, and notes that it is definitely worth trying štrukli cheese pies in Zagreb. Zagreb’s Christmas market is also one of the ten most beautiful in Europe according to Forbes magazine, which highlights, among other things, the wonderful atmosphere. It has also been rated one of the best in Europe by the South China Morning Post, which says it is one of the Advent events you simply must visit!

Zagreb's Christmas market boasts as many as eight attractive music festivals. There will be singing at the concert “From Zagreb’s Christmas Balconies”. Melodies from the Ad gloriam brass and wind sextet will reach us from some of the most beautiful balconies on colourful city streets. Advent Fest in the Cathedral is worth visiting for the organ with the most beautiful sound in Croatia, as well as a series of concerts. The joy of Christmas will be celebrated through music at the Festival of Advent and Christmas Songs which is held in a number of the city’s museums and churches. In the Dverce palace a concert programme by the Zagreb Soloists awaits us, inspired by the Advent and New Year concerts in Vienna. Advent Classic Fest is an opportunity to enjoy some of the most beautiful works of classical music played by top Croatian musicians in the Mimara Museum, St Mark’s Church, Music Academy and Kontesa Jazz & Cabaret Club. In St Katherine’s Church the Zagreb Chamber Orchestra will play works by top composers such as Vivaldi, Tartini, Bach and Mozart while a series of concerts related to the holiday season also awaits in St Blaise’s Church.

There will also be crowds at the Croatian National Theatre for the operas La Bohème and The Magic Flute, for The Nutcracker ballet and the Christmas concert. In the Mala scena theatre there will be wonderful plays for children, while in the Vidra theatre there is a programme created by the Novi život drama studio for blind and partially sighted people.

The Ethnographic Museum is putting on the exhibition “Advent with the Most Beautiful Stories of the Nuns of Sister Samuel”; in the Museum of Arts and Crafts there is an exhibition of Christmas and New Year cards, in the Gallery of the Archaeological Museum there is the exhibition “Master Giotto”, while in the Art Pavilion the large exhibition “Vlaho Bukovac and Alexandre Cabanel – A Historic Encounter of Pupil and Teacher” is well worth visiting. In the Klovićevi dvori Gallery exhibitions of the works of Nikola Reiser and Vladimir Becić await, as does the educational play “The Museum Story of Julijo Klović”; while in the Mimara Museum you can see “The Museum of Friendship – An Exhibition Dedicated to Female Friendships”.