The Advent in Zagreb event will be held in the Croatian capital from November 27, 2021 to January 7, 2022 in line with strict anti-epidemic rules, the organisers said at a news conference on Thursday.

The event will kick off with the lighting of the first Advent candle in Ban Jelacic Square in the evening of November 27, before the first Advent Sunday on November 28.

The motifs of this year’s Advent in Zagreb will be traditional Croatian toys, made by local toy makers.

Over 120 concerts and various street events will take place.

The city museums and theatres as well as other institutions will be involved in the programmes.

Some of the new programmes are the Advent in Lado, Christmas Garden in the Academy of Fine Arts, and events prepared by local catering establishments and hotels.

Advent will be promoted in 16 foreign markets, the head of the Zagreb tourist board office, Martina Bienenfeld, said.

Zagreb Mayor Tomislav Tomasevic said that he hoped this year’s Advent would be great and pleasant for everybody.

He added that this year, 70 Advent kiosks had been allocated to Christmas market exhibitors in a public auction.

From those 70 Advent booths, the City of Zagreb will earn HRK 3.3 million in fees and this amount will be spent on the Advent events mainly. In 2019, there were 220 Advent booths and the city earned HRK 900,000 from them. The new model of allocating booths via public auctions is evidently more transparent, and I hope that all the negative connotations about the Advent programme have now been removed, Tomasevic said.