Events

In honour of the town's patron and protector, Saint Blaise, a town festival is held every year on 3 February. All the inhabitants are on their feet and either stroll between the various stalls, amuse themselves on the fairground rides, or offer hand-made souvenirs, fresh food or small works of art and jewellery of their own. And in the evening, after the fireworks, the bars and cafés are a little fuller than usual, the mood a little more exuberant and the visitors even more enthusiastic - in so far as that is possible!

The International Dubrovnik Film Festival has been held at the beginning of October since 2003. Once all the red carpets have been walked, all the bottles of sparkling wine emptied and all the entries viewed, the prizes are awarded in the categories of best film, best director, best screenplay, best cinematography and several others. This festival is particularly popular because the audience can award a special prize itself. So if you would like to be personally responsible for which of your favourite actors thanks their parents on stage, you should not let the festival pass you by.

Since 1950 Dubrovnik has served up a special cultural spectacle every summer: the summer games are staged by the European Festival Association and bring local and international dance, theatre and music programmes to the stage. Every summer the cultural scene meets for about 50 days in the south of Dalmatia to pay homage to the stars, honour the old masters and discover new talents. Anyone too busy marvelling to get round to taking their own souvenir photos can buy a CD-ROM with numerous photos of the city and the events each year.

In the 14th century the citizenry of Dubrovnik received permission to dress up in costume. Since elsewhere, however, such costuming was readily used to criticise the authorities and make fun of them, numerous costumes were censored in Dubrovnik. Thus the official carnival at first consisted almost exclusively of folk costume and other traditional dress. Today these clothes are still dominantly present, but visitors and younger Croats in particular are breaking with this ritual. The next Dubrovnik carnival takes place from 26 January to 5 February 2008.