European Capital of Culture

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

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 France 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

Melina Mercouri

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]

List of European Capitals of Culture

Tartu (Estonia), the European Capital of Culture for 2024

Bad Ischl (Austria), the European Capital of Culture for 2024

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 Germany	Berlin since German reunification in 1990
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.^[7]
		Bergen	Norway
		Bologna	Italy
		Brussels	Belgium
		Helsinki	Finland
		Kraków	Poland
		Prague	Czech Republic
		Reykjavík	Iceland
		Santiago de Compostela	Spain
2001		Rotterdam	Netherlands
2001		Porto	Portugal
2002		Bruges	Belgium
2002		Salamanca	Spain
2003		Graz	Austria
2004		Genoa	Italy
2004		Lille	France
2005		Cork	Ireland	Cork Caucus
2006		Patras	Greece
2007		Sibiu	Romania
2007		Luxembourg City	Luxembourg
2008		Liverpool	United Kingdom
2008		Stavanger	Norway
2009		Vilnius	Lithuania
2009		Linz	Austria	Linz 2009
2010		Essen	Germany	Representing the whole Ruhr as Ruhr.2010.
		Istanbul	Turkey
		Pécs	Hungary
2011		Turku	Finland
2011		Tallinn	Estonia
2012		Guimarães	Portugal
2012		Maribor	Slovenia
2013		Marseille	France	Marseille-Provence 2013
2013		Košice	Slovakia
2014		Riga	Latvia
2014		Umeå	Sweden
2015		Mons	Belgium
2015		Plzeň	Czech Republic
2016		San Sebastián	Spain
2016		Wrocław	Poland
2017		Aarhus	Denmark	Aarhus 2017
2017		Paphos	Cyprus	Pafos 2017
2018		Leeuwarden	Netherlands
2018		Valletta	Malta	Valletta 2018
2019		Matera	Italy
2019		Plovdiv	Bulgaria	Plovdiv 2019
2020 – April 2021		Rijeka	Croatia	Rijeka 2020
2020 – April 2021		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
2025		Chemnitz	Germany	Chemnitz 2025
2026		Trenčín^[8]	Slovakia	Trenčín 2026
2026		Oulu	Finland	Oulu 2026
2027		Liepāja	Latvia	Liepāja 2027
2027		Évora	Portugal	Évora 2027
2028	1	České Budějovice^[9]	Czech Republic	České Budějovice 2028
	2	Bourges^[10]	France	Bourges 2028
	3²	Skopje	North Macedonia	Skopje 2028
2029		TBA September 2024^[11]	Poland	shortlisted:^[12] Bielsko-Biała, Katowice, Kołobrzeg, Lublin
2029		TBA	Sweden	shortlist 21 February 2024^[11] / potential candidates cities:^[13] Kiruna, Uppsala
2030	1	TBA	Cyprus	deadline 13 December 2024^[14]
	2	TBA	Belgium	deadline 2 August 2024^[15] / potential candidate cities: Brussels^[16] Leuven,^[17] Liège, Kortrijk, Ghent
	3²	TBA	TBA	deadline 16 August 2024^[18]
2031		TBA	Malta	potential candidate cities: Tarxien, Cottonera, Sliema, & Gozo
2031		TBA	Spain	potential candidate cities: Burgos, Cáceres, Granada, Jerez de la Frontera
2032		TBA	Bulgaria	potential candidate cities: Veliko Tarnovo
2032		TBA	Denmark	potential candidate cities: Næstved^[19]
2033	1	TBA	Netherlands	potential candidate city: Enschede
	2	TBA	Italy	potential candidate city: Turin^[20]
	3²	TBA	TBA

¹ The European Capital of Culture was due to be in the United Kingdom 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.^[21] The candidate cities were Dundee,^[22] Leeds, Milton Keynes,^[23] Nottingham and a joint bid from Northern Irish cities of Belfast and Derry and the town of Strabane.^[24]

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.^[25]