PTUJ SENTENCES THE CARNIVAL AND
PUTS THE BELLS AWAY FOR 11 MONTHS

The sentencing of Carnival marked the end of the fifth season in Slovenia’s oldest town, which bid farewell to the Carnival, Kurents, and the 17th Carnival Prince’s rule after a successful festival, which featured 70 events that were more than well attended, and fascinated with the great variety of costumes. – This was however only the first culmination of Ptuj’s rich all-year-round program.

Shrove Tuesday once again showed how special the period between Candlemas and Ash Wednesday is in Ptuj, with most of us wrapping up work already around noon, when costumed revelers, Kurents and musicians started filling the streets and squares of this year’s European carnival capital. One of the most festive days of this year’s Kurentovanje ended at the renovated Kurent fair, where the Carnival, as the one responsible for weeks of debauchery, was sentenced to a year at the castle jail.

Earlier, the 17th Carnival Prince Darko Cafuta – Baron Jakob Zekel Videmski handed the power over the city back to the Mayor Nuška Gajšek, while a bit sleepy and tired teams of the Ptuj Tourism Institute, Javne službe Ptuj public utilities company and the Municipality of Ptuj, together with the Chairman of the Organizing Committee Branko Brumen, bid farewell to the locals and visitors.

The 60th Kurentovanje was impressive; with over 7,000 participants from 16 countries, and over 100,000 visitors, the carnival captured the attention of the entire country, and justified the praise for its qualities from Lonely Planet and The Guardian. These qualities led to entering Kurents’ door-to-door rounds into the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Throughout the next year, Ptuj will welcome its visitors with a variety of cultural, entertainment, wine, folklore, historical, and other events, and in May it will host the congress of FECC – world’s largest federation of carnival organizers, which will be the perfect opportunity for presenting local and Slovenian tourism.

The 60th Kurentovanje featured over 70 different events in 11 days. You can read more about all the events and highlights of Ptuj’s fifth season of the year in the festival brochure (here)