The European Capital of Culture is a city designated by the European Union for a period of one year. In this one year time the city is given a chance to showcase its cultural life and its development
Once it was gold that people saw as the perfect blend of the four elements. Istanbul, which once ruled lands on three continents, throughout the ages has served as a magnet for migrants for whom its streets are paved with that proverbial gold. After all the evolution it has experienced since its foundation, symbolically guided by the four elements, Istanbul is now promising to revitalise the formula imprinted in its genes. In cultural and in artistic terms it will be worth its weight in gold to the world as a European Capital of Culture.
2008 Liverpool -Britain, Stavanger –Norway
2010 Essen -Germany, Pécs -Hungary, Istanbul -Turkey