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European Capital of Culture
The logo used by European Commission for European Capital of Culture

A European Capital of Culture is a city designated by the European Union (EU) for a period of one calendar year during which it organises a series of cultural events with a strong pan-European dimension. Being a European Capital of Culture can be an opportunity for a city to generate considerable cultural, social, and economic benefits, and it can help foster urban regeneration, change the city's image, and raise its visibility and profile on an international scale. Multiple cities can be a European Capital of Culture simultaneously.

In 1985, Melina Mercouri, Greece's Minister of Culture, and her French counterpart Jack Lang came up with the idea of designating an annual City of Culture to bring Europeans closer together by highlighting the richness and diversity of European cultures and raising awareness of their common history and values.

The Commission of the European Union manages the title, and each year the Council of Ministers of the European Union formally designates European Capitals of Culture: more than 40 cities have been designated so far. The current European Capitals of Culture for 2024 are Tartu in Estonia, Bad Ischl in Austria and Bodø in Norway.

Selection process

An international panel of cultural experts is in charge of assessing the proposals of cities for the title according to criteria specified by the European Union.

For two of the capitals each year, eligibility is open to cities in EU member states only. From 2021 and every three years thereafter, a third capital will be chosen from cities in countries that are candidates or potential candidates for membership, or in countries that are part of the European Economic Area (EEA)– an example of the latter being Stavanger, Norway, which was a European Capital of Culture in 2008.

A 2004 study conducted for the Commission, known as the "Palmer report", demonstrated that the choice of European Capital of Culture served as a catalyst for cultural development and the transformation of the city. Consequently, the beneficial socio-economic development and impact for the chosen city are now also considered in determining the chosen cities.

Bids from five United Kingdom cities to be the 2023 Capital of Culture were disqualified in November 2017, because the UK was planning to leave the EU before 2023.

History

The European Capital of Culture programme was initially called the European City of Culture and was conceived in 1983, by Melina Mercouri, then serving as minister of culture in Greece. Mercouri believed that at the time, culture was not given the same attention as politics and economics and a project for promoting European cultures within the member states should be pursued. The European City of Culture programme was launched in the summer of 1985 with Athens being the first title-holder. In 1999, the European City of Culture program was renamed to European Capital of Culture.

List of European Capitals of Culture

Tartu Raekoda 2012
Tartu (Estonia), the European Capital of Culture for 2024
Bad Ischl and Traun River
Bad Ischl (Austria), the European Capital of Culture for 2024
Bodø havn 3
Bodø (Norway), the European Capital of Culture for 2024
European Capitals of Culture
Year # City Country Notes/Links
1985 Athens  Greece
1986 Florence  Italy
1987 Amsterdam  Netherlands
1988 West Berlin  West Berlin City under Western Allied occupation until 1990; territory was claimed by the Federal Republic of Germany. The name "European City of Culture" was used instead of "Capital" in order to not provoke the East German government.
1989 Paris  France
1990 Glasgow  United Kingdom Glasgow Garden Festival
1991 Dublin  Ireland
1992 Madrid  Spain
1993 Antwerp  Belgium
1994 Lisbon  Portugal
1995 Luxembourg City  Luxembourg
1996 Copenhagen  Denmark
1997 Thessaloniki  Greece
1998 Stockholm  Sweden
1999 Weimar  Germany
2000 Avignon  France The year 2000 was called the millennium year and treated in a special way, in order to emphasize the enduring heritage and contribution of European cities to world culture and civilization. Because of that, nine locations were chosen, including two cities of states that were to join the EU on 1 May 2004.
Bergen  Norway
Bologna  Italy
Brussels  Belgium
Helsinki  Finland
Kraków  Poland
Prague  Czech Republic
Reykjavík  Iceland
Santiago de Compostela  Spain
2001 Rotterdam  Netherlands
Porto  Portugal
2002 Bruges  Belgium
Salamanca  Spain
2003 Graz  Austria
2004 Genoa  Italy
Lille  France
2005 Cork  Ireland Cork Caucus
2006 Patras  Greece
2007 Sibiu  Romania
Luxembourg City  Luxembourg
2008 Liverpool  United Kingdom
Stavanger  Norway
2009 Vilnius  Lithuania
Linz  Austria Linz 2009
2010 Essen  Germany Representing the whole Ruhr as Ruhr.2010.
Istanbul  Turkey
Pécs  Hungary
2011 Turku  Finland
Tallinn  Estonia
2012 Guimarães  Portugal
Maribor  Slovenia
2013 Marseille  France Marseille-Provence 2013
Košice  Slovakia
2014 Riga  Latvia
Umeå  Sweden
2015 Mons  Belgium
Plzeň  Czech Republic
2016 San Sebastián  Spain Donostia 2016
Wrocław  Poland
2017 Aarhus  Denmark Aarhus 2017
Paphos  Cyprus Pafos 2017
2018 Leeuwarden  Netherlands
Valletta  Malta Valletta 2018
2019 Matera  Italy
Plovdiv  Bulgaria Plovdiv 2019
2020 – April 2021 Rijeka  Croatia Rijeka 2020
Galway  Ireland
2022 Kaunas  Lithuania Kaunas 2022
Esch-sur-Alzette  Luxembourg Esch-sur-Alzette 2022
Novi Sad  Serbia Novi Sad 2022 (Coronavirus postponement)
20231 Veszprém  Hungary Veszprém 2023
Timișoara  Romania Timișoara 2023 (Coronavirus postponement)
Eleusis  Greece Eleusis 2023 (Coronavirus postponement)
2024 1 Tartu  Estonia Tartu 2024
2 Bad Ischl  Austria Salzkammergut 2024
32 Bodø  Norway Bodø 2024
2025 Nova Gorica/Gorizia joint bid  Slovenia
 Italy
GO! 2025
Chemnitz  Germany Chemnitz 2025
2026 Trenčín  Slovakia Trenčín 2026
Oulu  Finland Oulu 2026
2027 Liepāja  Latvia Liepāja 2027
Évora  Portugal Évora 2027
2028 1 České Budějovice  Czech Republic České Budějovice 2028
2 Bourges  France Bourges 2028
32 Skopje  Macedonia Skopje 2028
2029 Lublin  Poland Lublin 2029
TBA December 2024  Sweden shortlisted: Kiruna, Uppsala
2030 1 TBA  Cyprus deadline 13 December 2024
2 pre-selection
21 October 2024
 Belgium candidate cities: Bruges, Ghent, Kortrijk, Leuven, Molenbeek, Namur
32 TBA TBA deadline 16 September 2024
2031 TBA  Malta candidate cities: Birgu, Gozo
TBA  Spain potential candidate cities: Burgos, Cáceres, Granada, Jerez de la Frontera
2032 TBA  Bulgaria potential candidate cities: Veliko Tarnovo
TBA  Denmark potential candidate cities: Næstved
2033 1 TBA  Netherlands potential candidate city: Heerlen
2 TBA  Italy potential candidate city: Turin
32 TBA TBA

1 The European Capital of Culture was due to be in the UK in 2023. However, due to its decision to leave the European Union, UK cities would no longer be eligible to hold the title after 2019. The European Commission's Scotland office confirmed that this would be the case on 23 November 2017, only one week before the UK was due to announce which city would be put forward. The candidate cities were Dundee, Leeds, Milton Keynes, Nottingham and a joint bid from Northern Irish cities of Belfast and Derry and the town of Strabane.

2 A new framework makes it possible for cities in candidate countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine), potential candidates for EU membership (Kosovo) or EFTA member states (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland) to hold the title every third year as of 2021. This will be selected through an open competition, meaning that cities from various countries may compete with each other.

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Capital Europea de la Cultura para niños

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