Hohenberger Wiesenfest

A Homeland Festival with Almost 200 Years of Tradition

The Hohenberger Wiesenfest has been celebrated since 1823, making it one of the oldest Wiesenfeste in the Northern Bavarian region. It is deeply ingrained in the consciousness of the small town in the far northeast of the Fichtelgebirge and brings together locals, former Hohenberg residents, and numerous guests from near and far every year on the third weekend of July.

The Historic Margrave Play of 1663

The centerpiece of the festival is the historical reenactment of an event that actually took place in 1663: At that time, the local Margrave of Brandenburg, a cousin of the Elector of Brandenburg Christian Ernst, visited Hohenberg with his wife Erdmuthe Sophia, Princess of Saxony, and a large retinue. The four then-mayors presented the Burgrave with petitions for the restoration of rights that had been abolished during the Thirty Years' War. Schoolchildren from the Schirnding-Hohenberg primary school perform this play in magnificent historical costumes for a large audience in the square in front of the castle.

Procession and School Festival Character

Following this, a colorful procession with many guests of honor winds through the town. The Wiesenfest is explicitly a school and homeland festival: it deliberately avoids modern amusement rides and focuses on school plays, club performances, and communal celebration – a preserved piece of lived festival culture.

Cross-border Encounter Festival

For several years now, the Hohenberger Wiesenfest has been celebrated together with the neighboring Czech municipality of Libá as an encounter festival – a symbol of good neighborliness in the formerly divided border region. The festival is considered intangible cultural heritage of Bavaria.