The Eiffel Hall will contain storage areas for props and costumes, an opera studio and rehearsal stages. The new base will be installed with a rehearsal stage the size of the stage in the opera house. The other rehearsal hall will be equipped with a retractable seating system, Hoppál said.

The opera house will close for a nine-month renovation next year and productions will be moved to the recently refurbished Erkel Theatre during the period. Hoppál said the biggest cultural investment the government is currently occupied with is the Budapest Liget project, which will see the construction of several new museums in Budapest’s large-scale Liget (City Park) museum quarter.

The first part of the project is on track to be completed by spring of 2018 while the second phase is expected to be completed by the summer of 2019.

Hoppál noted that the Buda Vigadó is also set to undergo a complete refurbishment which will cost 5.5 billion forints. The building is home to the House of Traditions and the National Institute for Culture.

The state secretary noted that Budapest’s Museum of Applied Arts will also be refurbished for around 25 billion forints. Hoppál said 2015 was an important “festival year” in Hungary: many regularly organised festivals set attendance records this year and Hungary also hosted two major international events.

Budapest hosted the 15th annual WOMEX world music festival in October, which proved to be an immensely successful event, Hoppál said. The city of Pecs hosted the Europa Cantat festival in August, which was also a success, he said.

Hoppál noted that the human resources ministry oversees the country’s only institution dedicated to creative industries, the Design Terminal National Creative Industry Centre.

He said the ministry is committed to supporting design, style and urbanism. “It is no accident that UNESCO named Budapest as one of the world’s most creative cities earlier this month, but we don’t intend to stop here.

We are trying to set up incubation programmes in some of the countryside’s creative centres as well,” the state secretary said.

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