RIJEKA, CROATIA – The traditional 26 th International Carnival procession took part in the centre o Rijeka on Sunday with over 8,000 participants in 97 masked groups, along with 74 chariots.

Guest groups from all Croatian regions passed through Rijeka: Dalmatia, Istria, Gorski kotar, as well as guests from abroad, for instance Italy, Montenegro, Macedonia and Serbia. According to estimates, nearly 100,000 people attended the great international carnival in Rijeka.

The Carnival procession is the pinnacle of the carnival period, not only in this area, but is also the biggest and most famous carnival in Croatia.

Costume themes at the Rijeka procession ranged from fantasy, like cartoon characters, popular culture to entirely original masks crafted by imaginative carnival goers, with months of effort put into them. There were satirical comments on current events, like recession or the especially relationship between Croatia and Slovenia at the moment. Mandatory bell-ringers were there, while 250 Halubaj bell-ringers closed the procession.

Carnival city

The Rijeka Carnival has been a full member of the Association of European Carnival Cities, and was included among the most significant in Europe.

As the procession ended, the Pust was set on fire at Rijeka Harbour, a puppet symbolising all the sins and negative events of the past year.

According to police information, there were no incidents throughout the day. Take a look at the attached photo gallery: Rijeka Carnival Entertains 8,000.