CASSOVIA BONSAI 2026 brings Central European trees to Košice botanical garden

Košice’s botanical garden will turn its indoor halls into a cross-border bonsai showcase, bringing trees from Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary into one place from May 1-3, 2026, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Mánesova 23. The strongest reason to go is simple: this is not just a display, but a working event where visitors can compare regional material, buy indoor and outdoor bonsai, pick up care supplies, and ask for consulting on the spot.

The setting gives the show extra weight. The Botanical Garden of P. J. Šafárik University in Košice describes itself as a scientific-pedagogical workplace and says it is Slovakia’s largest botanic garden, with 30 hectares of grounds, 3,500 square meters of greenhouses and more than 4,000 plant species, subspecies and cultivars. That matters for bonsai display. An indoor university garden brings controlled conditions, better presentation and a more research-adjacent atmosphere than a standard club hall or market venue.

CASSOVIA BONSAI is also not a one-off. The garden has staged the exhibition at least since 2024, and the 2025 edition was the 14th. That year’s program showed how broad the event can become, with a bonsai-shaping competition, SHOHIN miniature trees, SUISEKI stones, tea service, and martial arts and qigong-related activities around the main exhibition. The show has grown into a real meeting point for Central European bonsai culture, not just a room of benches.

The diplomatic angle adds another layer. The exhibition is held under the auspices of Japanese Ambassador Yasuhiro Kawakami, who is expected to attend personally and award a prize for the most beautiful bonsai. Kawakami, appointed ambassador to Slovakia in September 2023, already took part in the 2025 edition, where he awarded the top bonsai prize and planted a tree in the garden’s Alley of Prominent Personalities.

That planting was not ceremonial filler. The garden identified the tree as Morus boninensis Koidz, a critically endangered species native to the Bonin Islands, with just over 100 specimens in Japan. It is the kind of detail that shows why CASSOVIA BONSAI draws attention beyond the usual exhibition circuit: it can link styling, sales, conservation and cultural exchange in one weekend. For collectors, buyers and growers looking for a dense, practical bonsai stop in Central Europe, Košice offers a rare combination of scale, setting and access.