It is always held on the last full weekend of August, alongside Altstadtfest, the festival of Görlitz’s old town, considered by many to be the most beautiful old town in Germany. It is a special time when, celebrating together with our neighbors, we jointly take our guests on a journey into bygone eras!
The name “Jakuby” recalls that the event’s patron is the great mystic of Zgorzelec, Jakub Böhme, who lived and worked on the outskirts of what was then Görlitz at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries. The memorial room in his restored house is now one of the attractions of the revitalized Nysa Suburb, the oldest part of Zgorzelec.
Referring to the beginnings of the settlement on the Nysa, this festival is an opportunity to encounter history, dance, music, theater and crafts. Numerous concerts, performances by street and mime theaters, demonstrations of early dances, knights’ encampments, reenactments by historical groups and shows for children—all of this helps create the unique atmosphere of one-of-a-kind events taking place simultaneously on both sides of the border.
The impression of traveling through time is heightened by residents dressed in period costumes and the joint Friday opening ceremony of both events, when the mayors of the two cities and their entourages meet in the middle of the Old Town Bridge and give the signal for three days of festivities to begin. The heralds, jesters and guards in historical costumes accompanying them are a tradition that we enrich every year with something new and surprising.
Jakuby 2014
An essential part of Zgorzelec’s Jakuby are the historical demonstrations accompanying festival participants throughout all three days of the event. This time, as last year, historical reenactment groups will take us on a journey to the city of four centuries ago—to the 17th century. Street brawls, duels, kidnappings, robberies and trials are everyday life at Jakuby.
The Jakuby program also includes staple artistic performances, such as a parade of cyclists who, traveling through the Nysa Suburb on unicycles, will recall a time when vehicles on two wheels and street theaters were considered extravagant. This year, the street theaters will be represented by:
- KRAKOWSKI TEATR ULICZNY – SCENA KALEJDOSKOP, which will present on the Nysa’s cobblestones: the performance Serce Don Juana, with spectacular pyrotechnic effects; the children’s show Eunika, inspired by Alice in Wonderland; and Graal, a combination of a performance, audio play and dance theater
- TEATR TRÓJKĄT from Zielona Góra, arriving in Zgorzelec with a great dragon, the protagonist of the show Historia smoka
- artists animating enormous GIRAFFES, who, at the organizers’ invitation, will travel all the way from Spain to Jakuby
- participants in the BUSKERBUS Festival, artists from around the world with a rich and remarkably diverse selection of street performances.
The theaters, history and parade with the great-grandfather of the bicycle are only part of the attractions making up the Jakuby 2014 program. The organizers have also made sure there will be people to dance with and artists to listen to, so the Jakuby stage will feature Hungarians from the SZELINDEK band as well as excellent folk groups: BURAKY, POD PRETEKSTEM, ETHNOHOLIC and BUM BUM ORKeSTAR.
There will also be an amusement park, which as last year will be set up on nearby Scultetusa Street, a varied shopping offer rich in handicrafts and a flea market full of antiques. There will also be original souvenirs from the “Pod zieloną kopułą” workshop operating at the Municipal Cultural Center, along with plenty of delicious food and drink—in short, everything that, together with theatrical performances, music and historical demonstrations, creates the unique atmosphere of the last August weekend on the Lusatian Nysa and makes thousands of people visit our double old-town festival every year!
Detailed program below:
Why else it is worth visiting us
Zgorzelec’s location makes the city an excellent base for lovers of historic sites, history and active recreation. Tourists and visitors can enjoy numerous attractions here, from the charming Nysa Suburb stretching along the river and filled with restaurants, cafés and guesthouses, through the many architectural monuments and museums of neighboring Görlitz, beautiful parks and gardens, to modern sports facilities and bicycle paths. The list of advantages is rounded out by the nearby Jizera, Karkonosze and Zittau Mountains, two beautiful bodies of water—the Witka Reservoir and Germany’s Berzdorfer See—Polish and German cycling routes, modern sports facilities and a rich entertainment offering.
Easy to reach
Zgorzelec lies on the European E40 route, part of which is the A4 motorway, and on provincial road 352 leading to the Czech border. You can also reach us by train, while nearby airports in Dresden (1.5 hours), Prague (2 hours) and Wrocław (1.5 hours) provide convenient connections for guests from more distant parts of Europe.
Once again, we invite you to Zgorzelec—the city where the atmosphere is always good!
(Zgorzelec Municipal Office/ii; photos: Tomasz Szeremeta, Dariusz Wachowiak)