The Coronation days opened in the Slovak capital on June 22ndand lasted for a whole week. Under the auspices of the Municipality of the Capital City of Bratislava, and in cooperation with municipal institutions Bratislava Culture and Information Center (BKIS), Bratislava Tourist Board, Bratislava City Gallery, Bratislava City Museum, The Bratislava City Library, Bratislava City Archive, the city of Bratislava prepared varied programme of different genres for diverse audiences all with the coronation theme.
Coronation Celebration festival is one of the largest cultural events in Slovakia where you can experience the historical coronation ceremony of the Hungarian kings. During this event annually held in the streets of Bratislava at the end of June, you are taken back in time to the period when the kings used to get crown jewels from the Archbishop, admire the beautiful contemporary clothes, music, dances, fighting performances, purchase traditional products at the contemporary crafts fair, taste delicious wines or a special goulash.
The coronation is staged according to historical documents, with over 200 actors performing in period costumes. The show started off at the Castle, from where the procession walked to the city center.
The week dedicated to commemorating the rich royal past of Bratislava – also called Pressburg, Pozsony, and Prešporok in other languages, that were once spoken in the Slovak capital. The local and international visitors were able to enjoy the coronation atmosphere through cultural events, theater performances, concerts of sacred music, worship, period music, and games. In addition to this rich program, visitors could go sightseeing or join historical tours of the city under the baton of the Guild of Old Martial Arts and Crafts.
The opening of the event was held in the Main Square with a concert. At the Frankovka wine festival, the visitors had a chance to taste wines from Bratislavian wine-growers and wine-makers for the whole weekend, from 22-24. Also, a novelty at this years program was the children’s coronation procession.
For the visitors interested in finding out more about the history of the coronation, regular guided tours were organized in English, German and Hungarian language, organized by the Bratislava Tourist Board’s Tourist Information Center. This year the route was touring the visitors to the most important sites associated with the ceremony of coronation of Hungarian rulers and their wives and also to places associated with the reign of Maria Theresa during which Bratislava went through an unprecedented economic and cultural boom. During the tour the participants were able to play an encryption game replacing the coronation route, moving from task to task with the use of QR codes.
On June 24th, which was considered as the highlight of the week-long event, the focus was on the commemoration of the first coronation procession of the Habsburg monarch Maximilian II. The procession rout started at Bratislava Castle and went all the way to the Main Square. Followed by a Royal Knights Tournament held on the Tyršovo Embankment and a Coronation Concert at Saint Martin’s Cathedral.
