Approximately 64,000 years ago, someone in the Cave of Maltravieso left the imprint of their hand on the rock. They didn’t paint battles or landscapes—just traced the first mark in which a human being recognized themselves. That hand, perhaps one of the oldest in Europe, became art, testimony, and awareness. It reminds us that art exists so that we may recognize ourselves, go beyond, and find one another.

Today, from Cáceres, that hand opens once again with a name: Transculture. It is the heartbeat of our bid for the title of European Capital of Culture 2031. Transculture is not a motto or a slogan—it is, quite simply, a way of being in the world.

It means going beyond: beyond borders and disciplines, labels and hierarchies, the urban and the rural, the contemporary and the ancestral. It means crossing what separates us so that we can meet and transform together.

Its symbolic and etymological roots lie in transhumance, that living heritage which for centuries connected territories, shared care and solutions—a journey made to tend sheep that could only survive by moving, by staying in the open fields, in a land without borders. Today, that movement—that way of learning by listening to our surroundings—inspires us to turn the periphery into a center of cohesion, solutions, and resilience.

Cáceres beats to Europe’s rhythm: it faces many of its challenges and dreams of the same opportunities. We hold ancestral wisdom in the kindness of our gaze and in the quiet rhythm of our countryside. Our response is called Transculture: a way to turn difference into richness, to build bridges where there were borders, and to offer Europe a mirror in which to see and rediscover itself. Because sometimes we forget that we are Europe —and that we have much to offer: the strength and wealth of a polyphony of voices that have rarely been heard, and that now can be heard with certainty and clarity.

This journey unfolds along three interconnected horizons. One is the dialogue between the urban and the rural, which understands towns and cities as a single cultural ecosystem where no one is left out. Another is sustainable culture, linking heritage, creativity, and ecology so that tradition and innovation walk hand in hand. And the third is well-being and accessibility, placing care, inclusion, and participation at the center of cultural life.

This is not an isolated project. Cáceres is building it together with its institutions and its citizens—City Council, Regional Government of Extremadura, provincial councils, towns, and neighborhoods—all gathered around the same table. That consensus, so rare in these times of polarization, is in itself a powerful message: culture can bring together what other agendas divide.

Transculture also means a genuine European dimension. Cáceres sits at the heart of the EUROACE Euroregion, where cross-border dialogue is part of daily life. What once seemed like the periphery is, in fact, a privileged space to cultivate cooperation, mobility, and shared projects. Here, being a Capital of Culture is understood as a process, not an event.

The city offers a solid and diverse cultural ecosystem: from the Helga de Alvear Museum to the Vostell Malpartida Museum, from the Gran Teatro to festivals such as WOMAD, from the golden stone of the historic centre to contemporary art. Here, heritage is not a showcase—it is a stage, a workshop, and a shared public forum.

Cáceres itself is a metaphor for Europe: diversity and dialogue. A city that knows how to listen—to the calm of its squares, to the resilience of its dehesa, to the gentle sound of a community that has learned to meet each other’s gaze. Here we discover that belonging is not nostalgia—it’s a practice of community.

Sometimes a concept can feel distant, hard to make one’s own. Yet the journey toward becoming a European Capital of Culture is, above all, an exercise in rethinking who we are—of giving voice to those who feel unheard, of creating from what has rarely been listened to, and of opening spaces for shared belonging. That is why, with our Transculture, we place people at the center.

If you live in a small village, you’ll find a local cultural program nearby. If you work in the cultural sector, new European networks and training opportunities will open up for you. If you are young, this project will connect you with Europe—and with yourself—through creation. If you are older, your memory will be a seed: not a static recollection, but a living root that blossoms through dialogue—an exchange of wisdom with new generations. If you are a shopkeeper or run a restaurant, you’ll diversify your season and clientele. And if you’re a neighbor, you’ll be able to decide what kind of culture you want—not just consume what others create.

Now let us return to the hand of Maltravieso. That gesture knew nothing of juries or committees—but it did know something essential: that art exists to bring us together. Transculture is that same imprint carried into 2031: an open hand that crosses what divides us, cares for what sustains us, and belongs to a larger we.

I invite you to place your hand beside it—in the school, in the neighborhood, in the dehesa, on the stage, on the friendly border with Portugal. If we do that, when Europe asks who we are, there will be no need to explain. It will be visible in the imprint. And that imprint, as then, will say something simple and beautiful: we are here, together. Because sometimes we forget: this self-assumed periphery is also Europe. And we are wealth.