Students will celebrate the Olomouc Majáles. Dina Štěrbová will be crowned Queen

May is traditionally associated with the Palacký University Olomouc student festival, the Olomouc Majáles. This year’s event, the 14th edition, will take place on May 6 and 7. For the first time in history, the busy programme will be hosted at the Olomouc summer cinema complex, known as Letňák. Visitors can look forward to two music stages featuring two dozen bands and performers, plus a theatre tent, an AZ quiz, presentations by more than seventy student clubs and non-profit organisations, and an accompanying programme for the whole family. The queen of this year’s May Day Festival will be Dina Štěrbová, a well-known mountaineer, activist, and educator closely associated with Palacký University.

The main programme will start on Thursday, May 7, but the organisers have planned a warm-up event the day before. “Visitors to the Majáles festival will have the opportunity to learn about more than seventy student and non-profit organisations and university departments, which will have their booths in Letňák, congratulate the recent winners of the UP Literary Competition, or participate in the popular AZ Quiz with Aleš Zbořil. The popular O.LI.V.Y. and slam poetry will also be there,” said Matěj Dostálek, Vice Rector for Communication and Social Responsibility at UP.

“We are very pleased that the kings who reigned over previous editions of the Majáles will be succeeded this year by a queen on the imaginary throne. She will be Dina Štěrbová, one of the greatest figures in Czechoslovak mountaineering, who has conquered two eight-thousanders and whose professional life has been linked to Palacký University for nearly thirty years.” Ondřej Martínek

Fly Tomorrow, Kristýna Smutná, and Hudebka Live—a group formed by students from the Department of Music Education in Olomouc—will provide plenty of musical energy. The entire Wednesday programme will last until the early hours of the morning and will conclude with a silent disco. The first day will also feature several charity events, an outdoor programme, and a major contest with prizes worth fifty thousand crowns.

Last year, musician Petr Fiala was crowned King of the Majáles. The symbolic royal sceptre was passed to the frontman of the band Mňága a Žďorp by the previous year’s Majáles ruler, singer-songwriter Michal Horák. Photo: Vojtěch Kmenta

On Thursday, participants in the Majáles celebrations can look forward to a lavish musical lineup. From early afternoon until late at night, rock, pop, rap, folk, and dance music will fill the air from two stages. “There will certainly be great interest in the performance by Vypsaná fixa, a pop-punk legend that has been playing for over thirty years and is always a welcome guest in Olomouc. On the other hand, Slavíček, a phenomenon of the digital music scene who carefully guards his identity, will be performing in our city for the very first time,” noted Ondřej Martínek, the main coordinator of the Majáles celebrations from the UP Marketing and University Events Offices. He also highlighted another name—singer Kaya. As a teenager, she won the Mattoni Music Talent competition. She even had her own billboard in Times Square in New York. The series of live performances will conclude with the band Elektrïck Mann. “Last year we welcomed Mňága a Žďorp to the May Day Festival; this year we decided to invite another legend from Valmez,” summarised Michael Kozák, the festival’s coordinator.

Details and the programmw are available at  olomouckymajales.cz

The highlight of the main programme will be the coronation of the Queen of Majáles shortly before 5:00 p.m. “We are very pleased that the kings who reigned over previous years of Majáles will be succeeded by a queen on the symbolic throne this year. She will be Dina Štěrbová, one of the greatest figures in Czechoslovak mountaineering, who has conquered two eight-thousanders and whose professional life has been linked to Palacký University for nearly thirty years,” emphasised Ondřej Martínek. Dina Štěrbová taught mathematics at the Faculty of Science. Her involvement in humanitarian projects is also significant—twenty years ago, she helped establish a high-altitude hospital in Pakistan. In 2023, President Petr Pavel awarded her the Medal of Merit, First Class. “The programme will also include a discussion with the newly crowned Queen of Majáles,” added Ondřej Martínek.

On Thursday, visitors can also look forward to a sale of handmade goods, massage therapists, tattoo artists, and high-quality Olomouc cuisine. The organisers have also planned a sports programme, including morning yoga for the public, discussions and lectures at UPoint and the UP Student Club, and a special Majáles quiz at the Jazz Tibet Club. Afterparties will take place at the Olomouc clubs Bocca and Varna.

A Majáles celebration wouldn’t be complete without plenty of music. This year is no exception. Photo: Vojtěch Kmenta

As is tradition, admission to the event is free on the first day. Tickets for the second, main day can be purchased at a discounted price until Tuesday, May 5, at the university store and the UPoint information centre. Student tickets will be available on-site for 150 CZK; other visitors will pay 250 CZK. The organiser of the UP Olomouc Majáles is Palacký University. The general partner of the event is Tvarg, and the main partner is Veolia.

The UP Olomouc Majáles is organised by the university as one of the last traditional student Majáles festivals. The university’s marketing office and some forty students are behind its preparation. In the past, Josef Jařab, Jindřich Štreit, Ivana Plíhalová, Marek Eben, David Koller, Erika Stárková, Petr Fiala, Michal Horák, and Miroslav Krobot have been crowned at the festival.