European Capital of Culture

Short description: Cities recognized by the European Union as culturally significant for Europe

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 60 cities have been designated so far. The current European Capitals of Culture for 2025 are Nova Gorica in Slovenia with Gorizia in Italy, and Chemnitz in Germany.

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)^[1]^[2]– 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.^[3] 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.^[4]

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.^[5] In 1999, the European City of Culture program was renamed to European Capital of Culture.^[6]

New Voices in Creative Capitals: A Shift Toward Community-Driven Culture

After 35 years of history, the European Capital of Culture (ECOC) initiative has experienced a significant shift in its approach to city branding, moving from a top-down model to a more inclusive, bottom-up strategy. This shift is reflected in the rise of innovative online projects, where a diverse range of participants—from volunteers and community activists to bloggers and interpreters—now play pivotal roles in shaping the creative landscape of the designated cities.

In Galway, Ireland, Polish journalist Malgosia Doczyk launched the platform Blue Tram, inspired by her previous involvement in similar initiatives in Sibiu 2007 (Romania) and Wrocław 2016 (Poland). This platform serves as a catalyst for creative exchange and collaboration among artists and residents.^[7]

In Plovdiv, Bulgaria, Tatyana Garkavaya — a Bulgarian-Ukrainian award-winning writer, researcher, and web designer — established a networking platform aimed at connecting creative professionals from various ECOC cities, including Plovdiv 2019, Galway 2020, Kaunas 2022, and Veszprém-Balaton 2023. Through interviews with local artists and designers, the platform fosters new partnerships and collaborations, while offering an in-depth look at their projects and experiences.^[8]

The Cultural Insights, Garkavaya’s initiative, extends the findings of her master’s thesis, which focused on Aarhus 2017 and Paphos 2017.^[9] Through that academic work at the University of Milan, Garkavaya identified overlooked narratives within the local creative communities and used cultural and environmental advocacy to amplify the voices of musicians, designers, and artists often sidelined in the mainstream dialogue,.^[10]^[11]

This initiative holds particular significance for creative professionals in Bulgaria, where the official program of Plovdiv 2019 faced numerous scandals and a lack of public engagement. The inability of the official channels to adequately promote the event and connect with local participants led to widespread disillusionment.^[12] By contrast, Garkavaya’s platform provided a much-needed space for genuine, grassroots collaboration and visibility.

List of European Capitals of Culture


Year	City	Country	Notes/Links	Candidate cities
1985	Athens	Greece
1986	Florence	Italy
1987	Amsterdam	Netherlands
1988	West Berlin	Template:Country data 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.^[13]^[14]
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.^[15]
	Bergen	Norway
	Bologna	Italy
	Brussels	Belgium
	Helsinki	Finland
	Kraków	Poland
	Prague	Czech Republic
	Reykjavík	Iceland
	Santiago de Compostela	Spain
2001	Porto	Portugal
2001	Rotterdam	Netherlands
2002	Bruges	Belgium
2002	Salamanca	Spain
2003	Graz	Austria
2004	Genoa	Italy
2004	Lille	France
2005	Cork	Ireland	Cork Caucus	Galway, Limerick, Waterford^[16]
2006	Patras	Greece
2007	Luxembourg City	Luxembourg
2007	Sibiu	Romania
2008	Liverpool	United Kingdom		Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Newcastle and Gateshead (joint bid), Oxford^[17]
2008	Stavanger	Norway
2009	Linz	Austria	Linz 2009
2009	Vilnius	Lithuania
2010	Essen	Germany	Representing the whole Ruhr as Ruhr.2010.	Braunschweig, Bremen, Görlitz, Halle an der Saale, Karlsruhe, Kassel, Lübeck, Potsdam, Regensburg
	Istanbul	Turkey
	Pécs	Hungary
2011	Tallinn	Estonia
2011	Turku	Finland	Turku 2011
2012	Guimarães	Portugal
2012	Maribor	Slovenia
2013	Košice	Slovakia
2013	Marseille	France	Marseille-Provence 2013	Bordeaux, Lyon, Toulouse^[18]
2014	Riga	Latvia
2014	Umeå	Sweden
2015	Mons	Belgium	Mons 2015
2015	Plzeň	Czech Republic
2016	San Sebastián	Spain	Donostia/San Sebastián 2016 (Donostia 2016)	Burgos, Córdoba, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Segovia, Zaragoza^[19]
2016	Wrocław	Poland		Gdańsk, Katowice, Lublin, Warsaw^[20]
2017	Aarhus	Denmark	Aarhus 2017	Sønderborg^[21]
2017	Paphos	Cyprus	Pafos 2017	Limassol, Nicosia^[22]
2018	Leeuwarden	Netherlands		Eindhoven, Maastricht, The Hague, Utrecht^[23]
2018	Valletta	Malta	Valletta 2018
2019	Matera	Italy	Matera 2019	Cagliari, Lecce, Perugia, Ravenna, Siena^[24]
2019	Plovdiv	Bulgaria	Plovdiv 2019	Sofia, Varna, Veliko Turnovo^[25]
2020 – April 2021	Galway	Ireland	Galway 2020	Limerick, The Three Sisters (joint bid Waterford, Wexford, Kilkenny)^[26]
2020 – April 2021	Rijeka	Croatia	Rijeka 2020	Dubrovnik, Osijek, Pula^[27]
2022	Esch-sur-Alzette	Luxembourg	Esch-sur-Alzette 2022
	Kaunas	Lithuania	Kaunas 2022	Klaipėda^[28]
	Novi Sad	Serbia	Novi Sad 2022 (Coronavirus postponement)
2023¹	Eleusis	Greece	Eleusis 2023 (Coronavirus postponement)	Kalamata, Rhodes^[29]
	Timișoara	Romania	Timișoara 2023 (Coronavirus postponement)	Baia Mare, Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca^[30]
	Veszprém	Hungary	Veszprém 2023	Debrecen, Győr^[31]
2024	Bad Ischl	Austria	Salzkammergut 2024	Dornbirn, St. Pölten^[32]
	Bodø²	Norway	Bodø 2024	Banja Luka, Mostar^[33]
	Tartu	Estonia	Tartu 2024	Kuressaare, Narva^[34]
2025	Chemnitz	Germany	Chemnitz 2025	Hannover, Hildesheim, Magdeburg, Nuremberg^[35]
2025	Nova Gorica/Gorizia joint bid	Slovenia Italy	GO! 2025	Ljubljana, Piran, Ptuj^[36]
2026	Oulu	Finland	Oulu 2026	Savonlinna, Tampere^[37]
2026	Trenčín^[38]	Slovakia	Trenčín 2026	Nitra, Žilina
2027	Évora	Portugal	Évora 2027	Aveiro, Braga, Ponta Delgada^[39]
2027	Liepāja	Latvia	Liepāja 2027	Daugavpils, Valmiera^[40]
2028	Bourges^[41]	France	Bourges 2028	Clermont-Ferrand, Montpellier, Rouen, Saint-Denis
	České Budějovice^[42]	Czech Republic	České Budějovice 2028	Broumov, Brno, Liberec
	Skopje²	North Macedonia	Skopje 2028	Budva^[43]
2029	Kiruna^[44]	Sweden	Kiruna 2029	Uppsala^[45]
2029	Lublin^[46]	Poland	Lublin 2029	Bielsko-Biała, Katowice, Kołobrzeg^[47]
2030	TBA December 2025^[48]	Cyprus		Shortlisted cities:^[48] Larnaca, Limassol Other applicants: Nicosia^[49]
	Leuven^[50]	Belgium	Leuven 2030	Molenbeek, Namur, Bruges, Ghent, Kortrijk^[51]
	TBA² autumn 2025^[52]	TBA		Lviv, Nikšić^[53]
2031	TBA bids until 26 September 2025^[54]	Malta		Birgu, Victoria^[55]
2031	TBA bids until 31 December 2025^[56]	Spain		potential candidates:^[57] Burgos, Cáceres, Granada, Jerez de la Frontera, Las Palmas, Toledo
2032	TBA	Bulgaria
2032	TBA	Denmark		potential candidate: Næstved^[58]
2033	TBA	Netherlands		potential candidate: Heerlen^[59]
	TBA	Italy		potential candidates: Turin,^[60] Pesaro/Urbino,^[61] Viterbo^[62]
	TBA²	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.^[63] The candidate cities were Dundee,^[64] Leeds, Milton Keynes,^[65] Nottingham and a joint bid from Northern Irish cities of Belfast and Derry and the town of Strabane.^[66]

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.^[67]