In 2029, two countries will have to express the European Capital of Culture, Poland and Sweden. After Krakow (2000) and Wroclaw (2016) in 2029 it will be the third time of a European capital of culture in Poland.Twelve cities in Poland had applied to become the European Capital of Culture 2029. Four entered the short list: Bielsko-Biała, Katowice, Kołobrzeg and Lublin. The final selection meeting in Poland will take place in September 2024.

Sweden published its call in December 2022 and will convene its pre-selection meeting on 20-21 February 2024.

On the 19th the evaluation panel will fly to Stockholm to interview the teams of the only two candidate cities. It should not be a difficult choice for the minimum number of candidate cities. And in all likelihood both cities will make the short list and thus continue in the competition. It becomes really difficult to think that the evaluation panel could decide to make a short list with only one city, it would be like already awarding the title.

About the reasons why there are only two candidate cities in Sweden we have explained here.

”We’re not trying to be Paris or Rome”, says Patric Kiraly, project manager at Uppsala municipality about the city’s search for its own identity.

But Kiruna is probably not too convinced about this title either, as there is not even a site dedicated to the European Capital of Culture on the Internet as Uppsala has. Will this be one of the reasons that will influence the evaluation panel? Maybe yes maybe no.

We will see.

The press conference for the first round will be held on 21 February.

Stay Tuned !