European Capital of Culture facts for kids

The European Capital of Culture is a city chosen by the European Union for a period of one calendar year. The city is given a chance to show its cultural life and cultural development. Most of the cities are very popular and are known internationally (by people around the world).

List of by year

Past years

List of capitals chosen by year

Year	Cities	Image	Details
1985	Athens
1986	Florence
1987	Amsterdam
1988	West Berlin
1989	Paris
1990	Glasgow
1991	Dublin
1992	Madrid
1993	Antwerp
1994	Lisbon
1995	Luxembourg
1996	Copenhagen
1997	Thessaloniki
1998	Stockholm
1999	Weimar
2000	Avignon Bergen Bologna Brussels Helsinki Krakow Prague Reykjavík Santiago de Compostela
2001	Porto Rotterdam
2002	Bruges Salamanca
2003	Graz
2004	Genoa Lille
2005	Cork
2006	Patras
2007	Sibiu Luxembourg Greater Region		Sibiu 2007
2008	Liverpool Stavanger Sandnes		Liverpool 2008 Stavanger 2008
2009	Linz Vilnius		Vilnius 2009 Linz 2009
2010	Essen Istanbul Pécs		Istanbul 2010 Essen 2010 Pecs 2010
2011	Turku Tallinn		Turku 2011 Tallinn 2011
2012	Guimarães Maribor		Guimarães 2012 Maribor 2012

Future years

According to the official EU website. From 2014 to 2020, these are only the countries have been chosen, based on the rotation system.

Future years

Year	City	Details
2013	Marseille Košice	Marseille Provence 2013 Košice 2013
2014	Sweden Latvia
2015	Belgium Czech Republic
2016	Spain Poland
2017	Denmark Cyprus
2018	Netherlands Malta
2019	Italy Bulgaria
2020	Rijeka Ireland

• García, B. (2005) “De-constructing the City of Culture: The long term cultural legacies of Glasgow 1990” in: Review Issue of Urban Studies (vol 42, n5/6) (pp. 1–28)
• García, B. (2004) “Cultural Policy in European Cities: Lessons from Experience, Prospects for the Future” in: Special edition on Cultural Policy and Regeneration, Local Economy (vol 19, n4) (pp. 312–326)
• García, B. (2004) “Urban Regeneration, Arts Programming and Major events: Glasgow 1990, Sydney 2000 and Barcelona 2004” in: Gibson, L. & Stevenson, D. (Eds) Special Issue of the International Journal of Cultural Policy: Urban Space and the Uses of Culture (vol 10, n 1) (pp. 103–118)

Images for kids

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  This is a logo owned by European Commission for European Capital of Culture.

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  Melina Mercouri (1985)

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  Rijeka (Croatia), the European Capital of Culture for 2020