kaZantip

How it all began

In 1984, windsurfer Nikita Marshunok discovered Cape Kazantip in north-western Crimea — a spot with a perfect wind. In the early 90s windsurfing competitions were held there, and the after-race parties turned out to be so powerful that they quickly eclipsed the sport itself.

The festival's birthday is considered to be August 1993. The most legendary page of its early history: raves inside the turbine hall of the unfinished Crimean nuclear power plant in Shchyolkino. "The Reactor" became the most unusual dancefloor on the planet, and Kazantip — "the atomic party in a nuclear reactor".

By the late 90s the festival had outgrown the sport and become the biggest electronic open-air of Eastern Europe. From 2002 the Republic settled in the village of Popovka near Yevpatoria — kilometres of sandy beach, dozens of dancefloors and fantastic white structures right on the shore.

Republic Z and its politics

In 1999 Kazantip proclaimed itself a state — Republic Z (also known as the "Republic of Happiness"). Nikita Marshunok became its permanent president. Instead of tickets — viZas (the first ones cost just $3); instead of visitors — citizens, the "paradiZers".

The Yellow Suitcase 💛

The main symbol of the Republic was born from the Soviet film "The Adventures of the Yellow Suitcase". By the law of Z, a citizen arriving at the Republic's border with a perfectly yellow suitcase earned the right to free, viZa-free entry.

The suitcase had to be immaculate: real, yellow, flawless — the commission checked strictly. Thousands of people painted, glued and crafted suitcases, and every year the queue of yellow suitcases at the checkpoint was a performance of its own.

Legendary DJs

Over two decades, the biggest names on the planet played the dancefloors of Z — from techno titans to trance legends:

And that's just the tip of the iceberg: hundreds of artists every season, round-the-clock sets and not a single minute of silence.

Timeline