May 21, 2021 - The Renaissance Festival 2021 to be held from August 19 to 22 in Koprivnica features the revival of various old crafts of Croatia as one of its biggest attractions this year to preserve these traditional practices.

As turistickeprice.hr reports, this year, the Tourist Board of Koprivnica leads in reviving and promoting old crafts of Croatia to tourists. As the generation who knows and carries these rare skills and practices gets older, most Croatian traditional crafts become less and less practiced and are now on the brink of completely disappearing. Due to this, the organizers of the festival decided to launch free training for those who are interested, especially to the young people, who they think will play a big role in preserving and saving these almost extinct practices. The available traditional workshops that will be offered are: wheelwrighting, coopering, basket making, gold washing, and thatching (straw-roofing). The workshops will consist mostly of hands-on practices and basic theoretical knowledge. Furthermore, the last masters of these crafts in Northern Croatia will be spearheading the transfer of these traditions to the new generation.

After the training, the Tourist Board of Koprivnica and Central Podravina will give the participants a chance to be involved in future events that preserve cultural heritage and history and they will also be able to offer their own arrangements in cooperation with travel agencies. The workshops have been announced to take place in June, in accordance with the relaxation of epidemiological measures, and will last from 3 to 5 days depending on the type of workshop. For those who are interested in learning the old crafts and participating in the workshops, you may contact the Tourist Board of Koprivnica.

Other fun things to expect at the Renaissance Festival 2021

The Renaissance Festival will be held on the remains of Koprivnica's city walls and is also featured as one of the Best Tourist Events in Croatia 2019/2020. To bring you back to the long-gone times of the Middle Ages, the festival offers medieval music and entertainers, knightly tournaments and horse fights, fencing, the largest fair of old crafts, and the largest and most unique wooden maze. It offers, as well, a unique gastronomic experience with their variety of medieval beers made of nettle, mead, capon, and pheasant or boar. The festival is also expected to have over 1,300 costumed participants from 15 European countries!  

The use of plastic has been completely banned since several years ago, so expect your meals to be traditionally prepared - on the spot and in clay or wooden pots. The meals will showcase medieval recipes and it will also highlight the use of nettles (kopriva) - a plant that dominantly grows in this region and to which Koprivnica owes its name.

It will be a unique and authentic experience of the Middle Ages. Through interacting with historical figures such as brave knights, noble ladies, old crafts, beggars, lepers, court jesters, executioners and others - each visitor will be given a treat of a truly unique, bewitching, and fun return to history!

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