40 Years of European Capitals of Culture

Athens was the first European Capital of Culture in 1985. The initiative of the then Greek Minister of Culture, Melina Mercouri, set an impulse that was recognisable throughout Europe: culture and Europe belong together. Since then, one city has held this title every year, which has been called "European Capital of Culture" since 1999. Since the EU enlargement in 2004, two cities have held the title. To mark the 40th anniversary of the title, the city of Chemnitz organised a conference together with Chemnitz 2025 and Nova Gorica / Gorizia 2025. It was a very special honour to have leading artistic and cultural policy makers reflect on developments from different periods - and to look into the future of this programme from their wealth of experience. The presentation of the white paper "40 recommendations from 40 years of ECoC: Insights for the European Capitals of Culture from 2034" took centre stage.