In the European Year of Cultural Heritage, Festival Lent is hosting the exhibition Okno v svet / Window into the World at the Minoriti Church to commemorate the 30 th anniversary of Folkart, the international folklore festival that made and continues to make Maribor the crossroads of global diversity.
We will present the story of Folkart, a story that started in 1989 when members of the folk dance group KUD Študent organized the first international folklore festival to mark their 25 th anniversary. Next year, they presented the festival under the name Folkart. This was the first piece that grew into the mosaic of a grand festival and laid the foundation for the international Festival Lent. Folkart became Slovenia’s biggest folklore festival and one of the most prominent European folklore festivals. It is the first festival of the world recognized by Unesco in the convention on intangible
cultural heritage.
At the exhibit, we will remember world-class folklore groups that visited Folkart. There were over 220 of them from 72 countries. We will be able to relive unforgettable moments brought to us by the
Māori from New Zealand, the Buryats of Mongolian roots, the Argentinians, Cubans, Sri Lankans, Africans, Filipinos, the Swazi people from South Africa, and many, many more.
