Koprivnica’s Renaissance Festival is the only manifestation taking place in continental Croatia that won the Plautilla award this year
The Renaissance Festival in Koprivnica took away the gold Plautilla award for the best cultural tourism product at the International Historic Cities Congress that took place in Solin last week. Organised by the Koprivnica Tourist Board, the festival was recognised for the quality of interpretation of cultural and historical heritage. It’s the only awarded project taking place in continental Croatia, reports Lokalni on March 26, 2018.
Koprivnica thus joined the elite ranks of renowned European historic cities. Renato Labazan, the director of the Koprivnica Tourist Board and the founder of the Renaissance Festival, stated the gold Plautilla is only the latest in line of awards the festival won on the national level, and the first international award they have been presented with so far. “This award is significant for us because the Renaissance Festival and its presentation of historical heritage were recognised by people originating from historic cities. We cannot really call Koprivnica a historic city, considering we have few attractive historical monuments. Nevertheless, we have shown we’re able to create a presentation and a project unmatched by any other city in Croatia, even those with world-renowned historical buildings”, Labazan said.
As it often happens in these parts, the manifestation still hasn’t been properly recognised on the local level, not only in Koprivnica, but also in the wider Podravina area and the entire northern Croatia. “In the north, there’s more talk about manifestations based on concerts than [events] like this one, which are complex and take considerable efforts to organise”, said Labazan.
The upcoming edition of the Renaissance Festival will boast new attractions not yet seen in Croatia and this part of Europe in general. One of those attractions will be a giant labyrinth that is sure to attract numerous visitors: “We’ve decided to build a real labyrinth, and judging by the first reactions, we can already see it’s going to be a top attraction, not just for the young [visitors] but for all other age groups as well, as there’s nothing of this kind to be found in Croatia”, said the Tourist Board director. He also promised the main theme of this year’s festival will be announced shortly, only revealing it’s something that can’t be found at similar manifestations in Europe.
Last year’s Renaissance Festival took place in August and was visited by over 40.000 people in four days. Missed it? Read about the 12th edition of the attractive manifestation in Koprivnica here – they set a Guinness Record in a quite amusing category.
The International Historic Cities Congress also recognised the Split Tourist Board with a silver Plautilla award for the project ‘Šotobraca Split’, while the Sinj Tourist Board placed third with their traditional homemade pottery from Potravlje. Congratulations to all winners!
