Liburnicon was visited by almost two thousand people this year, and Saturday's attendance broke all previous records, showing that Liburnicon is equally interesting to the local population and guests, as well as to people of all ages. 

After more than nine months of preparations, during which the organizers of the Cultural Front Association prepared a rich program, made creative decorations, decorated the space and connected fans of fantasy and science fiction from all over Croatia, the twelfth Liburnicon Festival began. The world of barbarians, the main theme of this year's festival, proved to be an extremely fruitful inspiration for numerous decorations, from Viking shields and flags to various weapons and tools, but also for a whole series of lectures, quizzes and games. The special atmosphere was further enriched by numerous visitors who disguised themselves as various fantastic characters and characters from fairy tales, books or films, so the entire festival was full of elves, orcs and barbarians of all kinds.

Friday

On the first day, two panel discussions attracted special attention: In the first, the festival's guest of honor, American writer Alexander Freed, and Andrija Frlan, a Liburnian expert on fantasy and board games, discussed the (inter)influence of board games and art, dealing with various examples of how artwork influenced board games, but also how the plot and board game characters inspired some artwork.

In addition to his excellent knowledge of board games, Freed writes screenplays for numerous comics and computer games, and recently published the award-winning book “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story", so that on Saturday in his new lecture he will say more about his work so far, as well as about the experiences of writing literary works whose plot is set within the already given and defined fantasy worlds of other authors.
However, the main attraction for Liburnicon was the already traditional talk-show by Krešimir Miško, who this year brought historian Maurizio Levak and archaeologist Ranko Starc to Opatija, and they were joined by the historian Robert Kurelić, who, along with Miška, hosted the talk-show not only as Opatijac, but also as one of the members of the Cultural Front Association.

The guests, in an interesting panel discussion that lasted almost two hours, presented to the interested audience numerous less known facts from the everyday life of barbarian tribes, showing that the world of barbarians is much more complex and intriguing than is commonly thought.

Tomislav Miletić's lecture on altruism, egoism and extraterrestrials proved to be the most interesting point of today's program since interested visitors stayed with the lecturer for several hours after the end of the lecture, and other lectures were equally well received, such as that of Marko Vasić on mythological parallels in the world of J.R.R. Tolkien.

However, one should not remain under the impression that Liburnicon revolved only around lectures – emphasising the ratio between serious and entertaining content, numerous workshops were also held (such as writing Viking runes, measuring the circumference of the Earth with the things that every household has, or sewing and making costumes), and visitors could also relax with numerous fun games, such as Kincet Star Wars or treasure hunts, and the bravest can prove their knowledge from various fantastic topics in multiple quizzes.

Over three hundred visitors flowed through the famous Liburnicon Crypt, a board game room, and with the help of animators from partner organizations “Zaigrane koze” and “Czech Games Edition” tried one of over a hundred different board games that were offered.

In order for visitors to swing and bounce cheerfully, he ensured the performance of the musical ensemble “Educational Programme”, which excited and raised everyone who decided to take a break from the rich program that took place in Opatija's primary school, and they went out for a little ‘fresh’ air in the school yard.
Albums of photos taken on Friday can be viewed here i here.

Saturday

The heavy rain that darkened Opatija's sky on the central day of the festival did not sway many visitors to enjoy the extremely rich program of Liburnicon. Considering that the mystical world of barbarians was the main theme of this year's festival, it is not surprising that the rain and thunder did not spoil the fun of almost a thousand brave 'barbarians', who greeted the summer storm with battle cry and song, which, apart from minor complications regarding the implementation of the outdoor program, was actually received as an inspirational sound and light scene that further enhances the already fantastic atmosphere at the festival.

Saturday's program was marked by excellently attended lectures and panel discussions. The serious part of the program began with a panel discussion on the energy of the future, which was attended by the famous environmental activist Vjeran Piršić and experimental physicist and long-time friend of Liburnicon, Davor Jadrijević, and ended with an excellent lecture on astronomy in ancient times held by Vanesa Ujčić from the Astronomical Center Rijeka.

However, the most attention and interest was attracted by the honorary guest of this year's Liburnicon, the American writer Alexander Freed, who in his presentation “Creating Star Wars Stories” spoke about his experiences of writing stories located within the already existing fantastic worlds (in this particular case, in the world of George Lucas). Freed is the author of over sixty books, comics and other publications, and his last book, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ was also listed among the New York Times Best Sellers, so that after the lecture itself, a gathering of many readers with the author was organized, as well as the signing of books.

The lecture by Korad Korlević, a popularizer of science from the Astronomical Centre Višnjan and a longtime friend of the Association “Cultural Front”, as expected attracted the greatest interest of visitors, so that a place more was sought in the large lecture hall. This was Korlević's 11th appearance at the Liburnicon, confirming his title of the most faithful lecturer and guest, participating in 11 of the 12 festivals organized so far. In his presentation “How to raise modern barbarians?” Korlević spoke about the growing commercialization of society, but also of educational systems and practices, as well as the need for greater investments, but also fundamental changes, in the way we raise and educate children. Good athletes are trained from a very early age, while scientists are expected to start more serious specialization and training only after college, thus losing one of the most valuable periods of life for education. He concluded that children and young people should be taught to think critically, analytically question existing systems and norms, and fantasy and science fiction have a very important and valuable role in this task, since they promote imagination, but also the ability to think critically and various forms of intelligence.

The festival also included numerous creative workshops, including medieval bookbinding, Celtic knots and Celtic jewellery, and creative writing, as well as presentations and screenings, among which visitors were most impressed by the narrative performance by Srebrenka Peregrin, entitled “Nordic myths or what Loki cooked up”. In addition to numerous prize quizzes in which many visitors could test their knowledge of Game of Thrones, barbarians in pop culture, Conan, the book “American Gods” and the like, tournaments were held in various social table games, as well as numerous games, of which the most interesting (and loudest) was the competition for the selection of the most-barbarbarians Liburnicon.

In addition to numerous decorations on which volunteers and members of the Cultural Front worked several months before the festival, the atmosphere was further brightened by numerous visitors who dressed up as favorite characters from fantastic (and science-fiction) books, comics, films and animated films, and a competition was held for the selection of the best mask / costumes.

“Friday was well attended, but the huge number of interested visitors who, despite the rain and bad weather announcements, constantly arrived on Saturday, surprised even the most optimistic among us, but also showed that the creative volunteer work that we invested for almost a year (more than 2500 volunteer hours throughout the year) in order to make this year's Liburnicon better certainly paid off” - said the organizers from the Opatija Association “Kulturni front”.

The entertainment program of Liburnicon crowned the concert of the music band “Slip”, whose cheerful Irish melodies triggered the legs of even the frowning barbarians, and in order for visitors to have a place to sit, rest and play during the whole event, one of over a hundred offered social organizers equipped a special room and set up special volunteers - animators who explained table games, entertained and taught everyone interested.

Albums of photos taken on Friday can be viewed here i here.

Sunday

Liburnicon continued with a relaxed morning and early afternoon Sunday program, when the festival turned to children and the youngest, providing them with a series of interesting workshops and games gathered in the fun and educational children's program “Barbari in front of the door”. Thirty children took part in workshops for making Viking shields and helmets, did Celtic decorations and magic Druid drinks, competed in the archery tournament for the youngest, and enjoyed the play "Pra priča" by the famous theatre group Theater Oz.
                                  

The Sunday program, in addition to numerous points intended for children, included several lectures, quizzes and workshops, and many visitors (especially those who are not from Opatija and Rijeka, but from other more distant Croatian cities, as well as from abroad) stayed with social games until the very end of the festival, expressing enthusiasm with Opatija and announcing their imminent return, probably to some of the other events organized by the Association “Cultural Front”.

Liburnicon was visited by almost two thousand people this year, and Saturday's attendance broke all previous records, showing that Liburnicon is equally interesting to the local population and guests, as well as to people of all ages. The organizers once again thanked all the volunteers who worked for months on the preparation of the program, equipment and space, and who represent the main driving force of the festival. They also extended special thanks to the City of Opatija, without whose financial support the project could not have been realized, as well as to others who helped implement this demanding project, including the Tourist Board of the City of Opatija, the Opatija Festival and the Millennium Hotels.