The March for Europe

A simultaneous march in European cities divided by national borders and projects that turn border-crossing into art.

Starting on 1 May 2025 at Europe Square, the traditional Friendship March will cross the border in different and innovative ways, accompanied by the Crossings intermedia installation by the BridA Institute. The nine-day celebration of Europe and cross-border friendship will conclude on 9 May with a programme at the upcoming EPIC exhibition space.

DAILY SCHEDULE:

1. 5. 2025, 8:00–23:00, Europe Square

FRIENDSHIP MARCH

Join us for the unique Friendship March – 2 Cities, 1 Heart, which will symbolically connect Nova Gorica and Gorizia for the third year in a row. The event revives the tradition of the legendary march of the 1970s and 1980s, when thousands of people crossed the border once a year without being checked. As the two cities are building a new future together today, the march remains a symbol of integration, healthy lifestyle and community. You can choose among the 7, 12 or 16 km route, all while enjoying a rich programme!​

Hourly schedule:

• 8:00–10:00: participant gathering and registration,
• 9:00: speeches by both mayors and the official beginning of the march,
• 9:30: the beginning of the march,
• 13:30: the end of the march,
• 14:00: award ceremony,
• 14:00–23:00: concerts and musical events throughout the afternoon in ECoC distrit among the Super Eight and EPIC centre.

1.–5. 5. 2025, Kolodvorska pot, Nova Gorica

CROSSINGS 

With the Crossings art project, the BridA collective creates an in-between space that takes the visitors into a unique immersive experience beyond sensory perception. The project emphasises border crossing and borderlessness, creating a new social reality between the physical and the virtual world. Through VR technology, lighting and artistic performance, a completely new conurbation is built in interaction with the architecture.​

6. 5. 2025, Ingeborg Bachmann Dome, Kolodvorska pot, Nova Gorica

MAJA HADERLAP AND LEONIE HUMITSCH

The focus of the dance performance will be on moving outward, both literally and figuratively. Our inner processes will be revealed, everything that touches us, frightens us or calms us down. Thus, the dome will create an extra dimension that will constantly encourage the protagonists to move from the inside to the outside. The performance is inspired by Ingeborg Bachmann's unpublished poetry work entitled Ängste (Fears).

Maja Haderlap is a bilingual Austrian (Carinthian)-Slovenian poet, writer, and university professor at the University of Klagenfurt. She writes poems, novels, essays, radio plays, drama adaptations and opera texts published in Slovene and German journals. She is best known for her novel Engel des Vergessens (Angel of Oblivion) and her poetry collection langer transit (long passage).

Leonie Humitsch holds a Master's degree in Dance Pedagogy from the University of Vienna and works as a dancer, choreographer and dance teacher. She works under her own dance label feitanz in Austria, Germany and Switzerland and participates in international festivals.

7. 5. 2025, Rafut Park ampitheatre, Nova Gorica

SYMPHONIC FOREST

Rafut Park is a magical world of numerous dimensions. Developed by the Dresden Symphony Orchestra and artistic director Markus Rindt, this virtual sound installation will take us on a walk through this special place, discovering open-ended narratives, accompanied by the sounds of Schumann's Forest Scenes and a new composition by Matej Bonin. His composition was inspired by this exotic park and its trees of arboricultural significance.

Visitors are advised to use smartphone, headphones and the mobile app.

March for Europe programme will be updated shortly.