Liberation Festival Pilsen 2026 will be held May 1-3, May 5 and 6 will be dedicated to commemorative acts

This year, 160,000 unique visitors (real people who visited at least one part on the program) attended the Liberation Festival Pilsen commemorating the liberation of Pilsen by the U.S. Army. This is a record of attendance. The dates of next year's event are already known, it takes place in the first days of May.

 "The total attendance of this year's annual Liberation Festival Pilsen was nearly a quarter of a million. It was the most attended event in the city. A significant number of the 160,000 unique visitors attended the program on consecutive days. This record clearly confirmed the importance of Pilsen as a European destination with a living history and respect to it," said Roman Zarzycký, Mayor of Pilsen.

Attendance at this year's Liberation Festival Pilsen was measured over four days, May 2-6, 2025, using geolocation data from mobile operators. Approximately 60,000 people were in the downtown area during the Convoy of Liberty parade of historic military vehicles. The program of living history reenactment camps and the offer of a rich cultural program attracted the attention of the broad public as well. This year's anniversary was a jubilee, marking 80 years since the liberation of Pilsen by the U.S. Army and the Belgian 17th Rifle Battalion.

The City of Pilsen was expecting the high attendance and was carefully preparing itself. The intensive cooperation of the involved departments of the city and the Pilsen Region, including the cooperation of the Police of the Czech Republic, contributed to the safe and relaxed course of the festival. The Communication and Marketing Department of the Pilsen City Hall, which is responsible for the organization, has also prepared a new festival website, which will serve visitors in future years. In order to increase the accommodation capacity, it built a caravan park in cooperation with the third municipal district.

Compared to 2024, there was a noteworthy increase of 35,000 people this year, or about a quarter. The proportion of non-Plzeň visitors also increased significantly. The interest of tourists was also reflected in the occupancy rate of accommodation capacities. Overall, 5 thousand more tourists stayed overnight than in the previous year. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, all beds in hotels and guesthouses (capacity of about 4,500 beds) were fully occupied. Demand far exceeded supply.

In addition, a number of people used private accommodation at relatives or friends or through platforms such as Airbnb, and tourists also stayed in the surrounding area.

"The results of the visitor analysis confirm that the Liberation Festival Pilsen is of crucial importance not only in terms of historical memory but also as a engine of tourism. One in two visitors returned to the event at least once during the Festivities. The average length of stay was around three hours, indicating a direct economic benefit for gastronomy and other services in the city," explained Lucie Kantorová, Deputy Mayor for Education and Tourism.

The staff of the Visit Plzeň Tourist Information Centre also reported several times higher interest and record sales, both in the traditional brick-and-mortar branches and in the festival infopoint directly in Republic square. The infopoint was mainly used to sell gift items. Items commemorating the 80th anniversary of the liberation as well as a new collection of Pilsen May 1945 souvenirs with motifs of lilacs and period photographs were available.

The Patton Memorial Pilsen Museum also had a significant number of visitors during the Festival. More than 1,500 visitors toured the exhibit, including 99-year-old veteran Harry Humason, General Patton's grandson George Patton Waters, and other descendants and relatives of American and Belgian veterans. They also brought valuable memories and artifacts to Pilsen.

"We received several new written memoirs, period photographs and documents and, last but not least, a tank periscope from the estate of Belgian veteran Louis Gihoul. We plan to place it in the upcoming exhibition of the new museum at Klatovská 19," said Ivan Rollinger, curator of the Patton Memorial Pilsen Museum.

Pictures: Mirek Chaloupka, Roman Muchka, Milan Říský, Milan Štefák