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Wrocław jubilant after culture capital nomination

PR dla Zagranicy
Peter Gentle 22.06.2011 10:06
  • Wrocław celebrates its big success - 22.06.2011
Several hundred people attended an open-air concert in the Market Place of Wrocław last night, to celebrate the town’s nomination as a European Capital of Culture in 2016.

photo
photo - PAP/Grzegorz Hawałej
The performers included Ariel Ramirez of Argentina and Cuban-born musician Jose Torres for whom Poland is a second homeland.

A decision to choose Wroclaw was taken unanimously by an international selection panel of EU and Polish experts.

Announcing the verdict in Warsaw on Tuesday afternoon, chairman of the panel Manfred Gaulhofer said that the selection process was a success for all of Poland, for all the five cities in the final stage of the competition, and for Wroclaw, the winner.

Over the next five years, the city will continue to develop its cultural offer in order to become a truly European centre, capable of attracting an international audience and involving a broad spectrum of its residents into a wide range of cultural projects.

A seven-strong commission appointed by the European Parliament will monitor the city’s preparations for serving as the European Capital of Culture.

In May 2015 it will present its final report, on the basis of which the European Commission will be able to approve a 1.5 million euro in prize money, the so called Melina Mercouri Award.

The four losers in the race for the ECC title were Warsaw, Katowice, Gdańsk and Lublin. The delegates of Katowice and Lublin seemed to be particularly disappointed with the verdict and complained to the media that the title of the European Capital of Culture should be given to those cities for which culture only recently became a catalyst for growth whereas Wroclaw already now is a great cultural centre of a European calibre.

According to insiders, Lublin was close behind the winner.

The final decision approving one Polish and one Spanish city as the European Capitals of Culture in 2016 will be taken by the Council of the European Union in the second quarter of 2012, after consultations with the European Parliament and the European Commission.

The only Polish city which already served as the European Capital of Culture was Kraków, in 2000. (mk/pg)

Audio by Michał Kubicki

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