Ptuj, Slovenia – The oldest town in Slovenia, Ptuj, is renowned for its more than a thousand-year old history and 51 years of Kurentovanje, the most prominent cultural and ethnographic carnival event in this part of the world. The main mystic figure that gave name to this festival is the so-called Kurent or Korant known only in the region of Ptuj. Symbolically it represents a victory of good over evil, of the light over darkness. In 2012 Kurentovanje took place between 11th and 21st February and was one of the most outstanding events organised within the framework of the European Capital of Culture 2012 project.

52. Kurentovanje festival topped all previous festival. The visitors could see about 20.000 performers, artists and carnival figures from 17 countries in this year’s programme with 150 various arrangements, concerts, shows and presentations. There were 108 groups including 4500 individuals, who presented themselves in The 52. International Carnival Parade, which is an all time record of Kurentovanje parades. The organizers of the Ptuj Kurentovanje festival enumerated more than 150.000 visitors of various arrangements during 11 days of Kurentovanje festival. The most visited arrangement was the Sunday carnival parade (19th February), which was viewed by more than 65.000 people on the streets of Ptuj.  

Within Art & Heritage Festival in Ptuj this year's Kurentovanje festival is a part of The European Capital of Culture Maribor 2012, by which Ptuj cooperates as a Partner City. The European Capital of Culture in Ptuj was opened on 10th February with a theatre and musical spectacle Kurentova svatba (Kurent's Wedding), which was prepared in a collaboration with a lot of great Slovenian theatre and musical artists. The Kurent’s Wedding story is based on the story written by Ptuj’s local writer Zdenko Kodrič who in his story put traditional carnival figures into a modern love story.
This year Kurentovanje festival connected worlds on many levels – it connected ethnography, culture, art, fun and people from near and far places of the world. In the opening parade of Intercontinental EtnoFestival the visitors could see traditional ethnographical masks from all over Europe and also from distant places as Caribbean Island of Aruba, Japan and Russia. Kurentovanje has been for decades a link between the past, present and future. Every year for more than half a century Ptuj has put on carnival colours and become a centre of this part of the world. This is the time when boundaries of time and space disappear, and barriers between worlds and people are lifted.