Vilnius Announced European Capital of Culture 2009

Under the decision of the European Parliament and the Council on the “European Capital of Culture” event for the years 2005 to 2019, Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, has been announced European Capital of Culture 2009 and is the first among new EU-10 capitals to be given the name. Every year for the last twenty years the European Union has chosen a city to be European Capital of Culture. Since the EU has grown in size, from 2009 there will be two European Capitals of Culture per year to enable the countries that joined the EU at the last enlargement to take part as early as possible. The aim of the 'European Capital of Culture' event is to forge closer ties between the citizens of Europe and to highlight the richness and variety of European cultures.