- Title: LITHUANIA: Lithuania's capital Vilnius becomes European Capital of Culture 2009
- Date: 1st January 2009
- Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Lithuanian) ONLOOKER ARTURAS SLIPAS SAYING: "We are very happy that Vilnius has become the European Capital of Culture, because we both (with my son) are working in the cultural field and hope the whole year will be like that." (SOUNDBITE) (Lithuanian) ONLOOKER DOVILE CIURILOVICIUTE SAYING: "Vilnius has become the culture capital of Europe and that is very good, because that boosts the prestige of our city, our country and our society."
- Embargoed: 16th January 2009 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Lithuania
- Country: Lithuania
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz,European Union
- Reuters ID: LVAE5CA1HW2HGLYQBJFIDS44E4Q7
- Story Text: Lithuania's capital Vilnius becomes the European Capital of Culture in 2009, a title shared with Austrian city of Linz, as the Baltic state is also to celebrate a millennium since the first mention of its name in written records.
Thousands of people attended New Year's festivities in the centre of Vilnius Old Town, a site of UNESCO's world's heritage list, famous for its northern Baroque and multicultural heritage.
Elona Bajoriniene, the head of the organizing committee, said the culminating moment of the celebration "related to the name of Gert Hof, a German lights artists, who is being called the Prometheus of the 21th century."
"He is creating the performance of lights to tell in short the history of Lithuania's millennium and Vilnius by utilizing the building Vilnius Cathedral in the mid of the Old town, which is also the heart of the city and the country," she added.
Hof has also staged millennium events in Athens, Beijing and Budapest, the 2000 Sydney Olympics, and had illuminated the Red Square in Moscow.
"The event is unique because of the use of especially powerful floodlights which would be seen as far as 50 kilometres away, and there will be also some 6,000 fireworks used," Hof said.
The program of the European Culture Capital will include more than a hundred events throughout the year, and become the biggest-ever cultural undertaking in the ex-Soviet Baltic state, with a total budget at about 30 million euros.
The economic crisis has taken its toll on the program, with the country facing recession in 2009. Organizers said parliament slashed the initial event budget by 40 percent at the end of December.
Many of those attending the festivities backed the program.
""We are very happy that Vilnius has become the European Capital of Culture, because we both (with my son) are working in the cultural field and hope the whole year will be like that," said Arturas Slipas, one member of the crowd awaiting the performance of lights.
Another onlooker Dovile Ciuriloviciute was also happy about new status of Vilnius: "Vilnius has become the culture capital of Europe and that is very good, because that boosts the prestige of our city, our country and our society," she said.
Lithuania is also to celebrate the millennium since its name was mentioned for the first time in written records.
The first mention of Lithuania was found in the eleventh century annals of Quedlinburg saying that a group of monks led by St Brunon were executed on the Russian-Lithuanian border by pagans.
Lithuania, once one of the biggest medieval states of Europe, is now predominately Catholic, but Vilnius is an important city for other ethnic and religious groups. Along with Lithuanians, Jews, Poles, Belarusians regard it as their own.
Vilnius, which used to be called the Northern Jerusalem before the Second World War, hosted a thriving Jewish community, which was almost totally wiped out by Nazis.
The concept of the European Culture Capital, initiated by a former culture minister of Greece, is aimed at showing European cultural diversity united by common European values. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None