ÚĽUV Master Craftsmen Days 2025

Let’s Celebrate 80 Years of Living Craft Together

For 80 years, the Centre for Folk Art Production has been protecting and developing living heritage in the form of traditional crafts and homemade products. This remarkable anniversary will be celebrated at the largest urban craft festival in the country.

On September 6–7, 2025, ÚĽUV Master Craftsmen Days will transform the heart of Bratislava into a vibrant square of craftsmanship for the 35th time. Visitors can enjoy traditional craft demonstrations, a marketplace of master artisans, a diverse cultural program, and the popular craft workshops for children organized by the ÚĽUV School of Crafts, listed in the UNESCO Register of Good Safeguarding Practices of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

The festival will also present an open-air exhibition “We celebrate craft. Eighty years and counting” along with a family relax and play zone, and food areas offering traditional Slovak specialties.

The 35th annual ÚĽUV Master Craftsmen Days, a festival of traditional crafts, is held under the auspices of the Slovak Commission for UNESCO and with the financial support of the ZSE Foundation.

Rybné Square / CRAFT DEMONSTRATION AREA

• Demonstrations of traditional crafts: processing of sheep’s wool and angora wool, bell casting, making of fujara pipes, Čilejkár bonnet, iron-bound Easter eggs, an oversized clay jug, woodturning, cattail weaving, basketry.

Hviezdoslav Square – stage / CULTURAL PROGRAM  Craft in tones

concept, script and direction: Katarína Babčáková
hosts: Michal Slanička, Tibor Jánoška

SATURDAY | September 6, 2025

• 10.30 a.m.
  Festival opening, welcome speeches by the CEO of ÚĽUV, the Secretary General of the Slovak Commission for UNESCO, and Mayor of the Bratislava Old Town district
• 10.45 a.m.
  Live stream:  pottery making / Ján Viglaš
  CFE Magdalénka from Modra / Strýčko črípkár idú!, Majster Kalafúz a hrnčárski škrátci, dance workshop for children
• 11.30 a.m.
  Live stream: sheep wool processing / Viera Kranz
  FG Javorina from Torysky / Na večurkoch v Toryskoch
• 12.15 p.m.
  Live stream: bell casting / František Bodó
  FG Kriváň from Východná / shepherd songs and dances from Východná
• 1.00 p.m.
  Live stream: blueprint dyeing / OZ Farbiareň, Matej Rabada
  FG Javorina from Torysky / Na vesiľu v Toryskoch
• 1.45 p.m.
  Live stream: fujara making / Ľuboš Straka
  Fujara players Tomáš Fekiač, Milan Ďurica, Ján Sekereš / fujara tones from Podpoľanie
• 2.30 p.m.
  Live stream: woodturning / Michal Hanula
  FG Kriváň / songs and dances from Východná
• 4.00 p.m.
  Ceremonial awarding of the title “Master of Folk Art Production”
  Musical performance by SĽUK

SUNDAY | SEPTEMBER 7, 2025

• 11.30 a.m.
  Festival opening
• 11.45 a.m.
  Live stream: Čilejkar bonnet making / Ľubica Chlebová
  FG Tekovania from Starý Tekov / songs and dances from Čilejkar villages, Tekov region
• 12.30 p.m.
  Live stream: iron-bound Easter eggs / Miroslav Homola
  FE Ekonóm from Bratislava / spring and couple dances from central Slovakia
• 1.15 p.m.
  Live stream: weaving from catttail, Eva Horváth
  CFE Kopaničiarik from Myjava / children’s games, songs and dances from the Myjava hills
• 2.00 p.m.
  Live stream: artistic blacksmithing Jozef Tomčala
  FE Ekonóm / men’s dances (Verbunk) and couple dances from eastern Slovakia
• 2.45 p.m.
  Live stream: basketry / Erika Rudíková
  CFE Kopaničiarik / children’s games, songs and dances from the Myjava hills
• 3.30 p.m.
  Live stream: decorating grand ceramic jug / Ján Viglaš
  Dragúni Dance House Association / dance workshop with instructor Lenka Šútorová-Konečná
• 4.30 p.m.
  Festival closing ceremony