Vilnius, Europe’s new capital of culture

Agence France-Presse

Lithuania's capital Vilnius has rung in 2009 as a European Capital of Culture, sharing the title this year with the Austrian city of Linz, with plans for 12 months of concerts, art and multi-media events.

"This puts us back on the European cultural map," says Elona Bajoriniene, events coordinator for the city's special year.

A member of the European Union since 2004, Lithuania was an unwilling Soviet republic until 1990 when it reclaimed its independence and much of its indigenous cultural heritage suppressed by Soviet overlords for half a century.

Founded in the early 14th Century by the Grand Duke Gediminas, Vilnius quickly became a cultural center in north-eastern Europe, seeing the creation of its university in 1579.

For centuries the city was a meeting point of the Lithuanian, Polish, Russian and Jewish cultures.

UNESCO World Heritage site
With its winding, narrow medieval cobble-stoned streets lined by an impressive mix of Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque and classical-style buildings, in 1994 Vilnius's tourist-magnet old town was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site.

In the year ahead Vilnius promises 900 special events, 60 percent of which will be free of charge and open to the public. "It's an invitation to rediscover Vilnius," says Bajoriniene.

Organising concerts in a district of Vilnius inhabited by the city's Roma, or gypsies, Augustinas Beinaravicius hopes they will also raise local awareness of and tolerance towards the city's small communities of ethnic minorities.

"I hope that people will become more tolerant towards these kinds of cultural initiatives," he said.

Series of concerts
In January a series of concerts is planned paying homage to the celebrated Jewish violinist Jascha Heifetz, born in Vilnius in 1901.

"We want some of the events to become annual ones," says Sandra Adomaviciute, coordinator of several music events, including a street music festival in early May and the Lux festival of light during December, the darkest month of the year. In June, the National Art Gallery will open an exposition focused on 19th Century Lithuanian composer and painter Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis (1875-1911) and his contemporaries.

Organisers hope this year's cultural extravaganza will attract three million visitors to Vilnius, population 542,000. Its tourism and service sectors are expected to boom by at least 15 percent during 2009, a year in which a 4.8-percent contraction of GDP has been predicted after years of robust economic growth.

As the global financial crisis bites, Lithuanian legislators slashed the organising budget for Vilnius culture capital events from 40 to 29 million litas (11.6 to 7.25 million euros, 16 to 10 million dollars).

"I hope this year of cultural events will make the outside world get to know our city better," says Sandra, a Vilnius resident who was among the tens of thousands gathered near the city's impressive cathedral to gaze at a spectacular New Year's Eve light show in the night sky by German artist Gert Hof. "It's a very charming city, with beautiful Baroque architecture and very warm, welcoming locals."Plans are well underway in Istanbul to take the torch for 2010.aeaa