The MPS is a touring spectacle: since 1994 founder Gisbert Hiller has taken the same market, tournament arena, encampments and stages from town to town each summer, and the 2008 renaming to Mittelalterlich Phantasie Spectaculum made clear that it aims at a fantastical world inspired by the Middle Ages rather than a reconstruction. Rastede is one of its three biggest fixed stops and the only four-day one, held from Ascension Day (Thursday) to Sunday: 14–17 May 2026 was the 28th Rastede edition, and 6–9 May 2027 is already published.
In 2026 the tournament ground in the Schlosspark held around 120 market stalls and 56 encampments, with mounted and foot tournaments in the arenas, fire shows, craft demonstrations, camp life, walking acts, a historic carousel and an animatronic dinosaur for children, and music stages. Opening hours are Thursday 11:00–24:00, Friday 12:00–24:00, Saturday 11:00–24:00 and Sunday 11:00–19:00. Alcohol may not be brought onto the site, and the event uses its own Goldtaler currency.
2026 was the last season of the separate Musik-Arena with headline bands such as Saltatio Mortis, Versengold and Subway to Sally, sold as a combination ticket. Hiller announced that the arena, the giant stage and the pyrotechnics were no longer affordable and that from 2027 the MPS would be cheaper and more family-oriented, built on the market, tournaments, camps, street performers, bagpipe bands and smaller acts; in his words, ‘Rastede, Bückeburg und Luhmühlen bleiben fett’, they will just be impressive in a different way.
Schloss Rastede grew out of a Benedictine abbey founded in 1091, became the Oldenburg counts’ summer residence in the 17th century and the grand dukes’ home after 1918; the tournament ground in its park dates from 1949. Advance prices for 2027 are €82 for a four-day pass (€106 at the gate) for ages 15 and over, €41 (€53) for ages 7–14 and free under 7; a Friday-to-Sunday pass costs €58 (€76) and €29 (€38), and single days up to €29 in advance. Wheelchair users and their companions enter free. Rastede station is 15 minutes from Oldenburg on the Wilhelmshaven line.
