Highlights
Discover the programme!
For its seventh edition, Lunalia, the spring festival of the Festival of Flanders Mechelen, will once again be taking over Mechelen city centre. Along with its partners, Construct Europe, nona arts centre and Mechelen Cultural Centre, it will present a rich and adventurous programme. With Pavel Haas Quartet, Simona Saturova, Musica Gloria, Voces8, Zefiro Torna, Kris Defoort, Anima Eterna and many more. Discover the complete programme here.
The Hearts of Europe
Europe has many hearts. At Lunalia, you can come and listen to these hearts beating in Mechelen. Belgium will take on the European presidency in the first half of 2024, so it’s only logical that Mechelen will have a related city theme in the spring: Construct Europe. Lunalia’s response is a motto that reflects the many voices of Europe, with a focus on Central Europe and a special place in our hearts for the Czech music scene. One reason for this is the celebrations marking the 200th anniversary of Bedřich Smetana’s birth. Smetana was born in 1824. His operas, and particularly his symphonic cycle Má Vlast, ‘My Fatherland’ (including the famous symphonic poem ‘The Moldau’), are world famous, but his chamber music, songs and choir music also deserve to be better known. For this aspect of the programme, we are working in close partnership with Czech Dreams and our Czech partner festival, Concentus Moraviae.
Traffic circulation Mechelen
Since August 2022, one-way traffic has been introduced for cars and trucks on the vesten (ring around Mechelen). Traffic will travel on the outer lanes. Bus, cyclists and pedestrians will continue to drive or walk in two directions across the vesten, on the inner lane. Of course, the new traffic circulations take some getting used to. An overview with the main traffic insights of The New Vesten can be found here.
A downtown circulation map can be found here. This shows one-way traffic, which streets are car-free and how to get to the centre.
If you come to Mechelen by car, it is recommended to leave early to avoid parking problems. You can park at parking Veemarkt, the Indigo parking Grote Markt or Kathedraal.
Current updates on road works and disruption can be found on this website.
When navigating by GPS within Mechelen, it is best to use the Waze app, Google Maps is not fully up-to-date.
Lunalia's third festival week
We ended the 2nd week of Lunalia in beauty with the mighty orchestra Anima Eterna. Those who were there enjoyed the best of timeless music last week, with Pavel Haas Quartet, Tiburtina Ensemble and Voces8.
On May 1st, up-and-coming Mechelen Ensemble Zefiro Torna will be at St Peter-and-Paul Church with the participatory project 'Unity in diversity'. This is a co-production with Mechelen's city festival Construct Europe.
Afterwards, Lunalia will be the guest of permanent festival partner arts centre nona. The piano is the focus of duo Alvin Curran & Daan Vandewalle's concert on the 3rd of May. Aishinka performs a majestic polyphony inspired by 'Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares' on the 4th of May, combining jazz, classical and urban music into a unique experience.
On the 5th of May, Andrea Voets (associate artist) of Resonate Productions will be our guest again with her latest performance FOR REAL, a theatrical radio show about the intellectual undermining of women and the lack of interest in what they make, say or try to do in life.
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