Juwenalia – a week-long student festival

The 3rd of May is the beginning in Kraków of the traditional festival of all students, lasting for 7 days and nights – the Juwenalia! The tradition of the festival in May is as old as XVth century, when the students used to come together and elect a new king from among themselves. The present form of Juwenalia originate in 1964, when the students of Kraków organized for the first time a colourful – nowadays already traditional – march from the castle to the Main Market Square.

Nowadays, the festival takes place all over Poland, but not always at the same time. In Kraków it is customary to have it at the beginning of May.

What can be expected of this holiday? Things beyond imagination and description, as always;). Consider that students for the next week won’t have half of the classes (probably none from thursday till sunday), that there’s almost 200.000 of them in the city and that, well... Polish students like to have a drink or two. Absolutely anything is possible! Half of the legends You hear during our tours were created or are linked to that very festival. Besides, there are going to be a lot of concerts, cabarets and other attractions.



But the most important thing is the MARCH! Why is it so curious? Because students dress up as everything possible, from 300 Spartans, through walking street crossing, to characters from various movies. Every year, around 100.000 students take part in it. This year, the March will take place on the 7th of May (friday), starting at 10 am from the AGH Student Town (the biggest university campus in Poland!) and ending traditionally in the Main Market Sq. Both points are marked on the map below.

Is it worth staying a bit longer in Kraków to experience the Juwenalia?

It is worth flying all the way from Australia simply to see it!!