| Festival Lent is one of the most renowned trademarks of Maribor. By the bank of Drava river and elsewhere in the city centre, a genre-colourful but harmonic palette of different performances takes place – opera and ballet, theatre and dance, jazz, classical and world music concerts, street and chanson singers, concerts of ethno music, folklore evenings, street theatre festival, performances and activities for children and sport challenges – alltogether more than 1.500 events on more than 30 stages in 16 days. There is no way to imagine a summer atmosphere in Maribor without this festival anymore.
The core of the festival are the performances on the Central Stage on the river Drava – a big floating stage right behind the Water Tower, the southeast end of the medieval city walls.
The old part of the city by the river was in the mediaeval times the most vivid part of the town, with the port for rafts, a lot of pubs, shops and workshops – a vivid business, transit and entertainment centre. Today this part of the city is known as Lent (from German – a harbour) and is probably the most romantic part of modern Maribor with the nostalgic narrow paved streets, embellished with attractive inns, bars, galleries, shops.... One of the renovated façades supports the venerable Old vine, more than 400 years old, which is recognised as the oldest vine in the world.
This beautiful part of Maribor is the ambient for Festival Lent, one of the biggest in Europe. In the last week of June and the first week of July its unforgettable hustle and bustle and fun attracts to its stages up to 600.000 visitors!
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