Don't miss the second H2LO Festival – take part in the interesting programme

This festival celebrates the anniversary of 12 May 1879, when drinking water flowed the first time from the public Rodićevac water pipe on Šibenik’s Mala Loža square

To celebrate this historic moment in Šibenik’s history, a two-day programme with educational workshops for adults and children, water tours, thematic quizzes, screening films about water, a panel discussion, ecological action to clean the seabed, and interesting musical programme will be held on the Mala Loža Square, on the waterfront, and in the Civitas Sacra interpretation centre of the Cathedral of St. James.

“Be the change you wish to see in your community – act locally, think globally!” is the message of this year’s H2LO festival, inspired by the UN slogan celebrating World Water Day on 22 March, which is “Accelerate change – be the change you wish to see in the world”.

“One of the objectives of H2LO 2023 is to raise awareness of the historical and current important of drinking water, by encouraging people to use tap water, and use refillable drinking bottles, since our tap water is of excellent quality,” was the statement from the Festival organisers, the society Na Maloj loži, which organised this event in cooperation with the Šibenik Tourist Board and the Public Institute of Krka National Park.

The H2LO Festival begins on Friday, 19 May at 4:30 pm on the Šibenik waterfront with an ecological action to clean up the seabed. After this, the festival moves to Mala Loža Square, where the remainder of the programme envisioned for that day will unfold. At 5:30 pm, two workshops will be held for children and two for adults. The staff of the Public Institute of Krka National Park will present the “Story of Water”, an educational and interactive workshop for children aged 6 to 10 years. No registration is necessary beforehand.

On Saturday, 20 May, the programme begins at 5:30 pm in the multimedia hall of St. Michael at Civitas Sacra, with a screening of the film River Blue, shown for the first time during the Green Eye Festival organised by the Public Institute of Krka National Park. This documentary film follows world renowned river protector, Marko Angel, on his quest to reveal the dark side of the fashion industry. In travelling from the most important to the most polluted navigation routes in the world, Angelo reveals the tragic issue of water pollution, hidden behind the scenes. Due to the chemicals used in the production process and the irresponsible disposal of toxic chemical waste, the clothing industry is contributing to the destruction of rivers around the world.

At 7:15 pm, a panel discussion will be held entitled “How to preserve drinking water for future generations? Is water the oil of the future? What kind of future awaits in old city cores?”. The panel will consist of Ante Vrban, world renowned and award winning architect originally hailing from Šibenik and owner of the company Architect Ante Vrban, Dr. Irena Ateljević, founder of Terra Meera, Centre for regeneration and human resources, Gordana Goreta, expert associate at the Public institute of Krka National Park, Franka Baranović, designer and owner of the Idearium design studio, and Dr. Neven Cukrov, scientific advisor at the Ruđer Bošković Institute, Department for Marine and Environmental Research.

H2LO also includes an excellent evening music programme.

For more detailed information on the programme and the Festival, check out the festival website at https://h2lo.com.hr/, and follow it on social media, on Facebook https://bit.ly/3oXWoUj and Instagram https://bit.ly/42lozLp.