Slovakia’s Trenčín, co-European Capital of Culture 2026 with Finland’s Oulu, offered a first glimpse of its rich cultural scene at Oulu’s opening festival last weekend. While Oulu launched its cultural year from January 16–18, Trenčín is preparing its own opening weekend from February 13–15, highlighting the city’s traditions, creativity, and community spirit.

With just a few days to go before the opening ceremony of Oulu 2026, the programme for the opening ceremony of Trencin 2026 is now online.

In 2026, the cities of Trenčín, Slovakia and Oulu, Finland will jointly hold the title of European Capital of Culture. On Tuesday, November 4, the two cities presented their title-year programmes together at the Council of the European Union in Brussels.

Trenčín 2026 launches TrenAir, the very first international residency program in Trenčín. With this initiative, they are opening the city to new creative impulses and collaborations, transforming it into a vibrant space of cultural exchange, dialogue, and artistic innovation. 

After being presented at the Venice Biennale last year, the site-specific project “Disobedience Archive” makes a stop in Trencin, European Capital of Culture 2026 in a Site specific installation, designed by Zbyněk Baladrán.