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European Capital of
Culture is one of Europe's most successful projects ever. Cities that receive
this title benefit from its popularity and prestige, profit from the growth of
tourism and investments, and become permanent visible points on the cultural
map of Europe. Each year the title of European Capital of Culture is awarded to
two cities in two EU member states. For the year 2015, was won by the Belgian
city of Mons and Pilsen. Ostrava advanced to the second and final round of
selection.
On 25 March 2009, Mayor of the Statutory
City of Ostrava Petr Kajnar officially announced that Ostrava would compete for
the title of European Capital of Culture 2015. The preparatory team was headed
by film and television producer Čestmír Kopecký. The other Czech cities
competing for the title of European Capital of Culture 2015 in addition to
Ostrava were the cities of Pilsen and Hradec Králové.
Ostrava's application for the European Capital of Culture 2015 competition was
submitted to the Czech Ministry of Culture by the 30 October 2009 deadline
(download here).
On 8
December 2009, all candidate cities presented their projects at the Czech
Ministry of Culture. Ostrava and Pilsen advanced to the main selection round.
Both cities subsequently supplemented their applications for the competition by
30 June 2010. You can view the updated version of the application here.
After a
brief visit by a delegation of representatives of the European Commission and
the Czech Ministry of Culture, on 8 September 2010 the commission declared
Pilsen the winner.
Therefore
Ostrava did not become European Capital of Culture 2015. Of course, it is still
a European city of culture. Members of the Ostrava 2015 team together with the
Ostrava cultural community are continuing the initiative. The Old Arena - club
for culture and information 2015 continues to operate and will also offer
visitors a rich multi-genre program in the future.
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