Carnival celebrations to be held in Bratislava on Saturday

Children's parade, mask competition, dance workshops and evening carnival entertainment. On Saturday, 10 February, the second edition of the Bratislava Carnival will take place in the Old Market Hall, on the Velvet Revolution Square and in front of the Zichy Palace. In addition to a varied programme for children and adults, you can look forward to a typical carnival meal - doughnuts. The Bratislava Gallery, Museum and Zoo will also take part in the event.

The carnival period begins the day after Three Kings Day and ends on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. It is characterised by parades, crazy masks, the aroma of pig-slaughter specialities or fried doughnuts and, sometimes, even looser manners. Carnival feasts or parades were held in towns as well as in the countryside - they were mainly organised by various craft guilds.

"I am very happy that, in association with BKIS and our partners, we have again managed to organise the Bratislava Carnival, an event that will bring carnival activities to our city. There will be a traditional street parade of masks and tasting of delicious carnival doughnuts. In addition, there will be many other activities for everyone, both young and old, in the Old Market Hall, the City Gallery, the Museum and also in our Zoo. I am confident that together we will live up to the legacy of Carnival. May it be a time of fun, joy and good cheer. I believe that we will continue this great tradition, which is a reflection of ancient customs, but also a celebration of diversity and connecting communities," says Mayor Vallo. The second year of the Bratislava Carnival is organised by the Bratislava Cultural and Information Centre ↗︎ (BKIS) in association with the City of Bratislava, the Old Town ↗︎, the Bratislava City Gallery ↗︎, the Bratislava City Museum ↗︎ and Bratislava Zoo ↗︎. Partners of the event are the Old Market Hall ↗︎, RC Prešporkovo, SĽUK ↗︎ and edelia.sk.

Carnival programme for both children and adults From 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., the Bratislava Carnival programme will mainly be devoted to children. The Spojár brass band will perform on Velvet Revolution Square, SĽUK will present traditional carnival masks and Sylvia Ciulisová will talk about carnival customs. The youngest participants can also look forward to creative mask-making workshops, braiding, face-painting, a disco, a theatre and a concert by a children's band. The Old Town Carnival Parade with RC Prešporkovo will start at 10:00 from Zichy Palace through Ventúrska Street, Hviezdoslav, Main and Primate's Square in front of the Old Market Hall, where children can take part in a dance workshop, a parade and an award ceremony for children's masks. They can also have fun with a wooden carousel on the Velvet Revolution Square.

The evening carnival party in the Old Market Hall will continue from 7:00 p.m. to midnight with DJs RAYLAB, God Save The Vinyl!, Maikl Knight and Yanko Král on stage. Adult participants can also enjoy a folk-dance workshop with the Živel folklore ensemble, a dance school with Laci Strike and a mask competition.

Accessible Rendezvous with the City The carnival festivities in towns were also accompanied by balls. The BKIS guides will talk about their history in Bratislava on free guided tours as a part of Rendezvous with the City. The capacity of the walks is limited, and you need to book at BKIS ↗︎.

Rendezvous for the blind and partially sighted: Bratislava Balls, now and in the past 10 Feb / 14:00 / guided by Ľubomíra Černáková

Rendezvous for people with physical disabilities: balls in Pressburg 10 Feb / 14:00 / guided by Helena Navrátilová

Supporting programme in the City Gallery, Museum and Zoo

The Bratislava City Gallery also invites you to join its carnival programme. On Saturday, from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm, the Family Carnival: Mask Yourself in Art will take place in the Mirbach Palace. The programme is designed for children aged from 6 to 11 years. They will make masks inspired by Baroque dressing. The Bratislava City Museum is organising a lecture entitled _Micro: balls and carnivals _starting at 3:00 pm in the Old Town Hall. Bratislava Zoo is also offering a carnival parade. From 10:00 am to 1:00 pm you can enjoy the accompanying programme with an area game, feeding of the new wolf pack (along with commentary), carnival doughnuts and langoš (deep-fried flatbread).

The Bratislava Cultural and Information Centre (BKIS) is the city’s contributory organisation that implements and dramaturgically covers important city-wide cultural and social events (Bratislava Carnival, Bratislava City Days, Bratislava Cultural Summer, Young Wine Festival, Bratislava Christmas etc.). It creates the conditions for organising cultural events through Open Call system ↗︎. BKIS also covers the oldest Tourism Guide Training Course in Slovakia, devoted to Bratislava. It organises a series of thematic guided walks, the Rendezvous with the City ↗︎, and makes a podcast of the same name. It manages the Klarisky concert and exhibition hall and is responsible for restoration of the former Zora cinema and other premises on Biela 6.