Dubrovnik Festivals and Annual Events
Dubrovnik is a world-famous Croatian festival centre hosting over 1000 events all year round, especially in summer when it is turned into a single grand open-air stage for all kind of colourful shows that make Dubrovnik holidays a one-of-a-kind experience. Alongside the larger and smaller Dubrovnik festivals there are numerous odd events held throughout the year, such as the performances of the indigenous folk dance by the Lindo folklore ensemble or concerts by the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra, Brass Band, String Quartet or Chamber Trio Domino. The famous Old Town historical locations like Revelin Fort, the Lazarettos, St Saviour's church, the Rector's and Sponza Palaces make the best setting for spectacular festivities.
The Dubrovnik Summer Festival is the most outstanding and extraordinary annual event initiated in 1949 and held from July 10 to August 25 in the streets, parks, squares, churches, palaces and towers of the Old Town. The rich entertainment program involves theatre, dance, music, poetry, folklore and features famous local and international artists. These festive holidays in Dubrovnik start with a picturesque opening ceremony in front of Sponza Palace, while the most distinctive feature is a Hamlet performance at Fort Lovrijenac.
Summer Dubrovnik holidays are a wealth of multifarious experiences and impressions to be received from a large number of other cultural events like the mid-summer international Libertas Film Festival. Closing the summer season is La Petit Festival du Theater attracting art and drama admirers, and the beginning of the summer is marked with the Musica Eterna festival offering classical music concerts. Relatively new is the open-air Medieval Fair, an immensely fascinating event comprising theatrical shows, Renaissance court dancing, folk singing, knight fencing, archery, fire jugglery.
Winter holidays in Dubrovnik are a mirthful time thanks to the Dubrovnik in Winter 3-month entertainment program starting on November 1, the Dubrovnik Festivals of Vocal Groups and Pop Music at the end of January, and 4 more great traditional events that can not be overlooked. The first two of them are the Christmas Fair at Sponza Palace and the New Year's Eve in Stradun that is listed among the top 10 world venues to see the New Year in.
The February is opened and closed with two more major celebrations that everyone can join in to spend their Dubrovnik holidays in a big and vivid way. The day of the city's patron St Blaise has been celebrated by the townspeople for more than a thousand years and is accompanied with a holy mass, the ritual of letting out the caged white pigeons and a solemn church procession, with a lot of merrymaking on the following days. The Dubrovnik Carnival which takes place in February or March is another great outdoor feast distinguished by fancy dress and mask parades in the Old Town streets where numerous performances take place.
See Also:
- The major Dubrovnik attractions include numberless monumental buildings encompassed by the majestic ramparts.
- Dubrovnik restaurants and cafe bars serve natural traditional food, both healthy and tasty.
- The nightlife in Dubrovnik gives a peculiar edge and some special thrill to the daytime adventures.
- Dubrovnik beaches and warm waters encourage sunbathers to make a Dubrovnik travel as early as in April.
- Dubrovnik sports facilities for amateur and professional sports are among the best on the Adriatic.