We respond to the current state of the COVID pandemic, resp. measures taken by the government of the Czech Republic. We did not want to adjust the program of the event gradually, because we expected the measures to change over time, but now it is clear that we cannot expect any major relieving by the end of November, quite possibly it will be the opposite. Without blaming anyone for uncertainty about future events, we have decided, together with our partners in the given situation, not to take risks, and we are now fundamentally reducing the Austerlitz 2020 program. We apologize to all participants and potential visitors of the event, we believe that they will accept our arrangements with understanding, and we will look forward for a full-size event in better future times.
The program of the Austerlitz 2020 event will be reduced to a single day, namely Saturday, November 28. We naturally reserve the right to further limit the program in response to developments of the government regulations. We will not provide any accommodation or meals to the participants of the event. At the moment, we do not even know how many participants in the program and under what conditions (distancing, masks) we will be able to to invite. At the same time, however, we do not want to break the almost a quarter-century-long tradition of Project Austerlitz events and „retreat“ from the battlefield completely.
If the circumstances allow the participation of at least a few dozen people, the program will start on Saturday morning at 7:30 with the „Sun of Austerlitz“ceremony on the Zuran hill, as every year. Subsequently, a symbolic parade will take place on the square in Tvarožná, during which those present will be addressed and greeted by Mark Schneider through a video projection.
This will be followed by a march through the Austerlitz battlefield from Tvarožná to Prace and to the Peace Monument. We will thus combine the two essential places for commemorative events in the program of the day, which will culminate with the act of piety in the afternoon. In all circumstances, we will respect the government regulations in force at the time, whether it is the number of participants, the distancing or specific hygiene measures.
During the day, the program will include streamings and broadcast of videos from the previous years.
We hereby cancel the current registration of groups on the basis of an August invitation with regret. It resulted in 1499 registered re-enactors from 15 countries. We will address the re-enactors from the Czech Republic with a special invitation in the coming days according to the assumption of the possible number of participants. We repeat: subject to change according to the current situation.
Austerlitz 2020 will be the last of a series of large commemorative events this year, which becomes a victim of the Chinese flu. After Waterloo and Marengo and the impossibility of participating at Borodino or a very reduced commemorative event at Leipzig. All these events are transferred to the program of 2021, when, among other things, we will also commemorate the 215th anniversary of the Battle of Jena, and especially the 200th anniversary of Napoleon’s death. We all believe that the world will learn to exist with the virus without governments taking such drastic measures as we see this year.
Preliminary program of the reduced action Austerlitz 2020
Saturday, November 28
7:30 Sun of Austerlitz (Žuráň)
8:30 Parade on the square in Tvarožná, Mark Schneider’s proclamation (Tvarožná)
9:00 – 15:30 March through the Austerlitz battlefield (Tvarožná, Blažovice, Staré Vinohrady, Prace, Peace Monument)
16:00 15:00 Act of Piety (Peace Monument), approximately at the time when the fire ceased on December 2, 1805
Wednesday, December 2
9:00 – 17:00 Shared broadcasting of videos from previous years of Austerlitz events