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We celebrate the 200th birthday of Gregor Johann Mendel, the father of genetics! The traditional festival will take place at Mendel Square in Brno from July 17 to 24, 2022.
This year, other cities will also join the celebrations!

We bring you a festival that combines science, faith, and fun! The program is designed for all age groups.

The upcoming edition will offer many new features as well as traditional events! You can look forward to stars of Czech and world popular music.

As usual, we will offer popular science activities organized together with the Mendel Museum, guided tours of the entire area, popular expert lectures, and a rich accompanying cultural program. You will also embark on a journey back to the times of Gregor Johann Mendel and see how people dressed back then, how they spent their free time, and what they prepared for lunch.

We will wish Mendel a happy birthday right in his birthplace in the village of Vražné, and on Sunday you can visit the Basilica of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Brno for a festive mass.

One of the highlights of the celebrations will be a festive concert by the Brno Philharmonic and the Czech Philharmonic Choir on Friday, July 22, 2022, featuring Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass – Janáček grew up and learned music in the monastery during the time of Gregor Johann Mendel – and the world premiere of a new piece by one of the most sought-after contemporary composers, Tigran Mansurian, which he will write for the celebration of Mendel. Mansurian is a leading world Armenian composer who has collaborated with the Brno Philharmonic in recent years. The Brno Philharmonic presented the Czech premiere of his Requiem for soprano, baritone, mixed choir, and string orchestra in 2020 to great acclaim, dedicated to the memory of the victims of the genocide against Armenians in 1915. The new piece will be performed in its world premiere just like the Glagolitic Mass under the direction of chief conductor Dennis Russell Davies and will represent the peak of the orchestra’s collaboration with the composer. The entire concert will be broadcast live around the world. The connection of Mendel, Janáček, Mansurian, and Davies in one concert is an appropriate global culmination of the celebrations.

Celebrate with us 200 years since the birth of Gregor Johann Mendel, the abbot and brilliant scientist, the father of genetics. The festival connecting science, faith, and fun will take place from July 17 to 24, 2022 at Mendel Square in Brno.

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What you can look forward to: A program for the whole family – science, history, art, culture.

Visit the Mendel Room, view the Mendel Manuscript, explore the new exhibition in the Abbey spaces, which includes the original painting Saint Augustine by the famous painter Peter Paul Rubens from 1639, and last but not least, listen to your favorite performers. Two stages, the world’s and Czech top of the music scene, as well as concerts of classical music.

The Mendel Festival 2022 is held under the auspices of UNESCO+, the President of the Czech Republic Miloš Zeman, the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, the Minister of Agriculture Zdeněk Nekula, the Minister of Finance Zbyněk Stanjura, the Minister of Health Vlastimil Válek, the Minister of Education, Youth and Sports Petr Gazdík, the Minister for European Affairs Mikuláš Bek, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Jan Lipavský, the Governor of the South Moravian Region Jan Grolich, the Mayor of Brno Markéta Vaňková, the Mayor of the Brno-Center district Vojtěch Mencl, the Governor of the Moravian-Silesian Region Ivo Vondrák, and the Emeritus Rector of Charles University Tomáš Zima.

The festival will take place with financial support from the statutory city of Brno and the South Moravian Region.