Student Festivities in Czechoslovakia 1945–1990

Open-air exhibition in Kampa Park

Museum Kampa – The Jan and Meda Mládek Foundation and the Twentieth Century

Memorial Museum

The exhibition aim is to present the tradition of Majáles – the student festivities celebrated at the beginning of May, by showcasing their form and contemporary context, with a focus on the period after the Second World War, when they took on distinctly political connotations. Student festivities reflected the nature and changes of political regimes, the atmosphere in society and the degree of emancipation of the student movement, which played an important role in many historical breaking points. Students used the Majáles celebrations in Prague, Bratislava and Olomouc not only to have fun, but also to speak out critically about the political situation. Therefore, the festivities could only be held again in 1965. Unofficial May

Day gatherings of young people were held from 1962 on Petřín Hill. The participants were subsequently treated by expulsions from schools and political trials. The renewed Majáles celebrations became a major event in 1965. The election of the American poet Allen Gingsberg as King of the Majáles contributed to this as well. Majáles celebrations were then restored only in 1968, in the relaxed atmosphere of the so-called Prague Spring. The exhibition will also present the changes in lifestyles of young people and popular art. The

lives of students in different historical periods can be used to illustrate the society-wide atmosphere and important cultural contexts. Learning about modern history through an exhibition devoted to Majáles celebrations is closely related to the intention of an objective interpretation of Czechoslovak history in an accessible and comprehensible form. Through 24

panels in Kampa Park, the exhibition aims to provide interested visitors with information about the broader context of unofficial May Day gatherings of young people.

Museum Kampa