On 9 January 2023, the 2022 European Capitals of Culture Esch-sur-Alzette (Esch2022, Luxembourg & France), Kaunas (Kaunas 2022, Lithuania) and Novi Sad (Novi Sad 2022, Serbia) officially handed over the titles in the cities and regions that will represent the European Capitals of Culture in 2023, Elefsina (2023 Elefsis, Greece), Timisoara (Timisoara 2023, Romania) and Veszprém-Balaton (Veszprém-Balaton 2023, Hungary). The official Title Handover Ceremony of 2023, held at the Acropolis Museum and symbolically captured through a sculpture, was also an opportunity for the official representatives to highlight the meaning and purpose of the European Capitals of Culture as unique projects aimed at celebrating European cultures. Their mission is to connect people, cities and countries through culture and thereby contribute to strengthening Europe in a sustainable way.
“The European Capitals of Culture represent what Europe is known and valued for, beyond its diverse culture: our principles of freedom, peace, justice and human rights. Culture is Europe and Europe is all of us – the six cities of today’s handover ceremony and all the European Capitals of Culture of the past and the future,” said Margaritis Schinas, Vice-President of the European Commission.
“For Greece, the Cultural Capital 2023 Elefsis returns to its native land. 2023 Elefsis is a unique opportunity for the international promotion of modern Greek and at the same time European Culture, in a city full of masterpiece monuments, ancient memories and historical writings of the Greeks, and therefore also of the European cultural heritage. […] We are proud of the symbolic, holy city of Elefsina. We are proud because with what it has achieved, it is certain that it will transmit, as the European Capital of Culture, the power and passion of modern creation”, said the Minister of Culture, Lina Mendoni, among others.
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