The first festival dedicated to the Danube – DUNAVFEST will be held at the Belgrade Fortress in the period from August 31 to September 11, was announced at a press conference of the Public Enterprise “Belgrade Fortress.” The festival will be part of the initiative of Serbia for the Danube strategy – promoting the Danube as a common cultural heritage and a fruitful basis for the promotion of cooperation and creativity.

Ivana Lučić Todosić, director of PE `Belgrade Fortress`, said that visitors of the Dunavfest would be presented ancestral connection between the river and Belgrade, and also everything the Danube brought over time which changed and shaped the city. Pointing out the multi-layered aspect of the Belgrade Fortress, Todosić Lučić said that the Fortress inspired artists and invited them back to create in this specific area. She said that this festival had the potential to last for a long time and to have more visitors and content in the years to come.

Vesna Marjanović, a member of the City Council, welcomed the initiative for holding the Dunavfest, a project that contributes to the culture of the city and its touristic potential. She pointed out that the Belgrade Fortress was not only a monument of culture, but a monument that, through various projects, showed the importance of cultural heritage as a resource and an opportunity to further promote potentials of Belgrade and Serbia. As an example of this, Marjanović mentioned the recently opened and restored Nebojša Tower in the Lower Town of the Belgrade Fortress.

Dimosthenis Stoidis, Ambassador of Greece to Serbia, said he was pleased to be a part of the program that took place in the Nebojša Tower and the fact that the audience would once again be reminded of the principles of the Greek revolutionary Rigais Ferais: human rights, equality and democracy.

Members of the Arts Council of the Festival – director Nebojša Bradić and a soprano Katarina Jovanović, director of the National Theatre Opera, presented the program of the Dunavfest, which will be held in three locations of the Belgrade Fortress: Nebojša Tower, Big Gunpowder Magazine and the plateau at the Beton Hall. The main program is consisted of the two premieres: musical and theatrical works “Istar” and “Last Voyage of Rigais Ferais”, based on the story of Ivo Andric. Visitors will have a chance to attend a concert of Edin Karamazov and Katarina Jovanović at the unfinished multifunctional hall of the Nebojša Tower, as well as the concert of St George String Orchestra.

The following program for children and young people, planned to be held at the Gunpowder Magazine, will primarily deal with mythology and history of art photography that covers this topic. As part of this program, there will be an exhibition and a film by Rastko Ćirić “Ale and Bauci” (‘Dragons and Boogeymen’), many workshops, sand sculpture of the Danube, etc. Promenade at the Beton Hall will be a place reserved for the exhibitions which present the Danube in an original way, as well as the interweaving of cultures and their mutual influence.