Marseille (France), the European Capital of Culture for 2013

Košice (Slovakia) is the European Capital of Culture for 2013 along with Marseille.

The European Capital of Culture is a city designated by the European Union for a period of one calendar year during which it organises a series of cultural events with a strong European dimension.

Preparing a European Capital of Culture can be an opportunity for the 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.

In 1985, former actress Melina Mercouri, then Greece’s Minister of Culture, and her French counterpart Jack Lang came up with the idea of designating an annual Capital 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.

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.

A 2004 study conducted for the European Commission demonstrated that the choice of European Capital of Culture served as a catalyst for the cultural development and the transformation of the city.^[1] Consequently, the beneficial socio-economic development and impact for the chosen city are now also considered in determining the chosen cities.

History [edit]

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 Greek Minister of Culture. 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. During the German Presidency of 1999, the European City of Culture programme was renamed the European Capital of Culture. (put in as Reference: Kiran Klaus Patel, ed., The Cultural Politics of Europe: European Capitals of Culture and European Union since the 1980s (London: Routledge, 2013). European Capital of Culture 2013 is Košice and first Audio Tour od historical center of Košice is on www.kosiceaudiotour.com

Past years [edit]

• 1985: Athens
• 1986: Florence
• 1987: Amsterdam
• 1988: 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, Kraków, Prague, Reykjavík, Santiago de Compostela
• 2001: Rotterdam, Porto
• 2002: Bruges, Salamanca
• 2003: Graz
• 2004: Genoa, Lille
• 2005: Cork
• 2006: Patras
• 2007: Sibiu, Luxembourg, Greater Region
• 2008: Liverpool, Stavanger
• 2009: Vilnius Linz
• 2010: Essen (representing the Ruhr), Istanbul, Pécs
• 2011: Turku, Tallinn
• 2012: Guimarães, Maribor

Present year [edit]

• 2013
  • Marseille^[2] (Marseille 2013)
  • Košice (Košice 2013)

Future years [edit]

• 2014: Umeå, Riga ^[3]
• 2015: Mons, Plzeň
• 2016: San Sebastián, Wrocław^[4]
• 2017: Aarhus,^[5] Paphos
• 2018: Valletta,  Netherlands
• 2019:  Italy,  Bulgaria
• 2020:  Croatia,  Ireland and candidate or potential candidate country
• 2021:  Romania,  Greece
• 2022:  Lithuania,  Luxembourg
• 2023:  Hungary,  United Kingdom and candidate or potential candidate country
• 2024:  Estonia,  Austria
• 2025:  Slovenia,  Germany
• 2026:  Slovakia,  Finland and candidate or potential candidate country
• 2027:  Latvia,  Portugal
• 2028:  Czech Republic,  France
• 2029:  Poland,  Sweden and candidate or potential candidate country
• 2030:  Cyprus,  Belgium
• 2031:  Malta,  Spain
• 2032:  Bulgaria,  Denmark and candidate or potential candidate country
• 2033:  Netherlands,  Italy

See also [edit]

• European Capital of Sport
• European Youth Capital

References [edit]

1. ^ Palmer, Robert. "Study on the European Cities and Capitals of Culture and the European Cultural Months (1995-2004)". European Commission. Retrieved 24 January 2010. 
2. ^ (French) https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marseille-Provence_2013 French Wikipedia article
3. ^ [1]
4. ^ San Sebastián and Wroclaw are the European Capitals of Culture for 2016!
5. ^ Press release from the Danish Ministry of Culture on the Selection Committee’s decision August 24, 2012 (in Danish)

External links [edit]

• European Cultural Capital Report 3 (2011) A report by Robert Palmer, Greg Richards and Diane Dodd. Association for Tourism and Leisure Education (ATLAS)
• The Commission proposes countries to host European Capitals of Culture after 2019

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