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Medieval Sighisoara Festival to take place over July 23-26
The art director of the 23rd edition of Medieval Sighisoara Festival, Liviu Pancu announced at a news conference on Tuesday that over 300 artists from Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and possibly Macedonia will perform shows on each day of the Festival to take place over July 23-26.
"This edition gets a new face. We co-worked with the Artists and Film-Makers Union and have succeeded that this edition (...) be dedicated to the memory of (film director) Sergiu Nicolaescu (...) The forte of the 23rd edition of Medieval Sighisoara Festival conducted under the slogan 'Five centuries of medieval music and theatre' is that we will try to earn our place in Guinness Book by three records: the biggest sword - a sort of local Excalibur, measuring around four metres and made during the event; the biggest flag of a festival, measuring 30 metres, to be put on a historical site, the Clock Tower; and the biggest round pretzel of 20 metres in diametre, on which 50 volunteers will work. At a national level, we seek to break another record, by making the biggest traditional mask, some four-metres high", Pancu said.
He explained the Romanian Excalibur will be stuck into a stone, will bear a range of coats of arms - the coat of arms of Sighisoara, of the Wolf Knights and the Knights Templar of Saint Bernard - and will stay in Sighisoara Fortress as a symbol of the medieval art festival.
According to the Festival art director, the squares will be differently designed this year, namely the crafts' places will be clearly set, so that the ironsmiths, goldsmiths, potters etc. should each have their own square.
The Festival will be broadcast online this year too and www.sigisoaramedievala.ro has already passed 3.5 million readers since 2011 till now, which is deemed a performance for a cultural website.
Liviu Pancu stressed that since Medieval Sighisoara is the first show-festival in Romania, this year's edition will be marked by a "confrontation" of the minstrels in the Central Square of the Medieval Fortress.
He added that, given that the partnership agreement between Scena Theatre and Sighisoara City Hall was signed rather late, the agenda of the event was still being worked on.
This edition has a budget put at between 350,000 and 407,000 lei, with 130,000 lei of it being borne by the local budget.