In 1968, the year of the 500th anniversary of Johannes Gutenberg's death, the then head of social affairs Karl Delorme, who was himself a trained letterpress printer, established the festival. Since then, the memory of the great inventor Johannes Gutenberg is celebrated every year during the Mainz Johannisnacht particularly lively.
With many actions during the Mainzer Johannisnacht, the city keeps the memory of its greatest son, the inventor of letterpress printing with movable type, alive: with the largest antiquarian book market in Germany, exhibitions and demonstrations in the Gutenberg Museum and the print store, creative activities for children around the topics of printing and calligraphy. And of course with the "Gautschen", the baptism of the book printer: During this ceremony, since the 16th century, journeymen have been immersed in a large wooden barrel filled with water and thus symbolically freed from the sins of the apprenticeship years and the lead dust. Today, this tradition is always continued on St. John's Eve Saturday, in historical costumes on the stage at Liebfrauenplatz. With the apprentices it concerns in the meantime mainly Mediengestalter*innen, which terminated their training freshly.
A special public magnet is also the artist market: On a total length of 700 meters the creative distance at the Rhine bank and Fischtorplatz with all kinds of handicraft and Originellem leaves no desire open. Traders from all over Germany and abroad offer their fine wares for sale here. Look, try on and take away!
