Rotenstein

If you like the fairytale atmosphere, find your way to Rotenstein. Knightlike tournaments, but also the battle with the fire dragon will be the main attractions. Come to witness whether in the end good will triumph over evil at the Red Stone Castle.

Focused on an extensive historical programme, the festival with the participation of numerous chivalry will amaze with the magnificence of the knights’ horse tournament. Not only fans of knights and their duels will be impressed. At Rotenstein, the best of the best will meet to win the glory and recognition of thousands of spectators in fierce knightly duels.

Medieval cuisine, tastings and presentations of medieval animal breeds will please even the smallest fans of rural life. There will be period music, fencers, drummers, beautiful conjurationers or jugglers, falconers, dogs, painless demonstrations of medieval torture, an original period fair full of craftsmen and stallsmen with handmade products and news from the surrounding countries. Children will only have sunny smiles on their faces.

Hundreds of performers from five countries will meet again after a year to fulfill all the ideas and dreams about the Middle Ages. Landsknechts, hoplites, knights, archers, conjurors… they all live in the contemmporary camps here. You will also see them in the period programme, whether it is an archer tournament, armored combat or an amazing horse show.

This year’s historic programme will draw you directly into the fairy tale. The story begins in huge chess with live figures and the muscles of the knights will afterwards verified by a great battle between good and evil followed by a spectacular horse tournament, where a fire dragon crosses the knights’ path.

Rotenstein is coming home. From the Holíč Castle, it heads to its birthplace, the mighty Red Stone Castle. It is a well-known monument with an unmistakable genius loci. Its picturesque area is an ideal place for a family picnic, but also a space of unlimited possibilities for activities or children’s games. The castle is located near the municipality of Častá and can be easily reached by car, on foot or by bicycle. It will be possible to park directly at the castle free of charge during the festival.

On the Red Stone Castle you will get lost in a busy marketplace, you will taste period specialties in the historical kitchen, or you will come across conjurationers, swordsmen and duelants in the period camps. It will be up to you to believe their rambling tales and let them drag you into the whirl of combat stories.

There will also be a period craft fair on Rotenstein. The selection of crafts and vendors is rigorous, focused on the diversity of the offer. This is not any fair, craftsmen are chosen here with greater and greater precision every year. Do not miss the attractions of historic cuisine and dine also periodically. Since they did not know plastics in the Middle Ages, you will drink from period clay glasses and eat from wooden plates.

The whole atmosphere is underlined by a diverse period program, whether it is archery, competitions in buhurt, creative workshops of medieval dance or lectures of historians with illustrative demonstrations. This year, the festival emphasizes diversity and related news. The main theme of Rotenstein are horses and therefore you can look forward to a spectacular horse tournament. Of course, there are period attractions and a manifold programme for children.

The magnificence of the knights’ horse tournament at the festival moved up another level this year. On the last weekend of May, the most famous knights from all over the area will gather at the Red Stone Castle in a large horse tournament, where they will fight not only for the favour of ladies of the court. Diverse chivalry disciplines will eventually replace dangerous duels and raids with long wooden lances. Bertrand de Bezié and his mighty blackhorse Jack, Duke Heinrich of Wittelsbach with wild steed Lucas, Angelo da Champagne and horse Rudiger or knight Vajk Hunyadi and horse René will also perform there.

Each of us wanted to be a knight or a princess. When we were little, we used to chase sticks and fight for our child’s honour with deadly enemies, which were our best friends from the street. These days are long gone for many of us, but none of us have forgotten that joy. This is precisely why they have set up a children’s arena on Rotenstein with soft “weapons”, where children will really go crazy fighting bravely to their last gasp.

Children have been, are and will always be a priority at the Rotenstein festival. Every year the festival tries to prepare new and more interesting performances for children, which is why this year the children’s programme is even richer. In addition to face painting, juggling lessons, lots of conjurationers, stilts acrobats or musicians, you can also look forward to children’s theatres with unconventional fairy tales, or rehearsals of military formations for mini-knights or true fencing training. Children really won’t have enough smiles.

Every single one of the Rotenstein shows thinks of a children’s viewer. That’s why the children here will have fun not only in theatres or funny artists on stilts walkers. They will surely also be thrilled by medieval fencing or an exciting horseback knights’ tournament. And they will surely be most happy with a picture of a sweaty and satisfied winner of the knights’ tournament.

In addition to the programme at the two-day festival you will also find numerous children’s attractions. Archery, crossbow shooting, axe throw on target, riding a wooden knight’s horse, adventure track, children’s arena with soft weapons, unicorn horn competition and many other attractions catch children and will not let them go. Feel free to take your chivalrous toddlers to the festival. There are extensive meadows around the castle, so children can have a comfortable nap in the lunchtime to be fresh to continue the medieval entertainment. Pack your blankets too, it’s worth staying at the festival all day.

On Rotenstein you will find really many period attractions. Starting with classics such as archery or throwing an axe at a target, through a less traditional ride on a wooden knight’s horse, firing a crossbow at a wooden castle, up to the original wooden carousel. Be sure not to miss the period torture chamber, where the executioner called Fleischhacker demonstrates the true medieval torture in a painless way.

Fine smells of goodies intermix with the light breeze. Shouts and laughter can be heard all around. Rotenstein is an honest medieval festival, and it must be experienced. Listen to stories and tales and enjoy adventures like from another world. Come and enjoy a horseback tournament, a medieval marketplace, period camps and performances. See you at Rotenstein on May 28 and 29.

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