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In 1985, Melina Mercouri, the Greek cultural minister launched the idea of the European City of Culture. For obvious reasons, Athens was chosen as the first city. At the time, the stated aim was to help bring the peoples of Europe closer together.
The cities that have had the distinction are Athens (1985), Florence (1986), Amsterdam (1987), Berlin (1988), Paris (1989), Glasgow (1990), Dublin (1991), Madrid (1992), Antwerp (1993), Lisbon (1994), Luxembourg Ville – Luxembourg (1995), Copenhagen - Denmark (1996), Thessaloniki – Greece (1997), Stockholm (1998), Wiemar – Germany (1999).
In 2000, to mark the millennium, nine cities were chosen and the designation was changed to cultural capital of Europe. These were Avignon, Bergen, Bologna, Brussels, Helsinki, Krakow, Prague, Rejkjavik and Santiago de Compostela. Porto in Portugal and Rotterdam were Cultural Capitals of Europe 2001 followed by Bruges, Salamanca, Shain 2002 and Graz, Austria 2003.
Future capitals of Europe already designated are Genova - Italy and Lille - France (2004), Cork (2005), Patras - Greece (2006) and Liverpool (2008).
Countries that will host the capital are Luxembourg (2007), Austria (2009), Germany (2010), Finland (2011), Portugal (2012), France (2013), Sweden (2014), Belgium (2015), Spain (2016), Denmark (2017), Netherlands (2018), Italy (2019).
Whither Malta, he smallest country in Europe with the most abundant European Culture?
Dr Chev Herbert Messina Ferrante
Attard
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