Valletta: The 2018 European Capital of Culture

Valletta, together with Leeuwarden (Netherlands), will be the European Capital of Culture in 2018. Valletta's year officially opens on the 20th January 2018 with an official ceremony. 

Valletta's title is an award which will be shared amongst all localities in Malta & Gozo. This decision, supported by all of the 68 localities in Malta, was taken in order to ensure that the positive effects of the title would be spread as widely as possible. 

With around 400 events across 365 days, Jason Micallef, Chairman of the Valletta 2018 Foundation, promises that next year will include"the most cultural activity and related celebrations since Malta's independence."

Since local traditions are known for their passion, exuberance and flair, the organising committee decided to celebrate our European Capital of Culture year through the best festive language we know - that of the traditional Maltese Festa. 

The chosen themes are island stories, future baroque and voyages, and they give a colourful and vivid insight into island life.

The Valletta 2018 Foundation's cultural programme has just been officially launched, and with a strong emphasis on international collaboration, the activities will include over 1000 local and international artists, curators, artist collectives, performers, workshop leaders, writers, designers, choirs and filmmakers. 


What is a European Capital of Culture?

The European Capitals of Culture is a European Commission initiative which was started in 1985. The initiative aims to highlight the richness and diversity of different cultures in Europe and to celebrate the cultural features Europeans share. 

To this day, there have been 56 European Capitals of Culture from Athens in 1985, to Aarhus and Pafos which are the current holders of this title. 

If you would like to know more information about this initiative you can check out this infographic from the European Commission. 

Should you wish to receive more information about Valletta 2018, or if you would like to create a tailor-made itinerary for your clients, please feel free to get in touch with us by clicking here.

Comments

  1. Unknown9 November 2017 at 05:58

    Our company is made to promote businesses online, generate qualified leads, and change sales personnel with dynamic resources. We tend to rent fine folks with a need to succeed and train them extensively on the most recent selling techniques at http://digimalta.com/.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Malta's Game of Thrones Locations

Image
As Game of Thrones fans all over the world celebrate the eagerly awaited sixth season of the hit TV series, we thought that it would be appropriate to take a nostalgic trip back to the first season. Back to the season that saw Viserys receive his crown of gold, the execution of Ned Stark and the wedding of Daenerys to Khal Drogo. As some fans may know, a lot of season 1 was filmed on location in Malta and Ireland, so we decided to list some of our favourite locations in Malta.  1. Mdina Gate - King's Landing Gate Mdina is a walled hill town found in the centre of the island. It is Malta's old capital city and dates back to around 4000 years ago.  In the first season of Game of Thrones, Mdina's city gate was featured as the gate of King's Landing and saw Catelyn and Ser Rodrik Cassel ride through the gates of Mdina (or King's Landing) to investigate the attack on Bran.  2. Fort Ricasoli - Red Keep Gate Fort Ricasoli is a large fortification
Read more

Legends & Myths of Malta

Image
Malta's mysterious, 7000 years of history together with it's strong religious background makes it the perfect backdrop to a number of legends, myths and folk tales. Most of the stories find their foundations in truth and historical facts, with each story being embellished by every generation that narrated it. Other stories were used as explanations of different phenomena that people could not explain. Here are some of our favourite myths & legends... St. Paul & The Venomous Viper This is legend is probably the best known amongst the locals, as it is about Malta's Patron Saint and can be found in the Bible. The story says that when St. Paul was shipwrecked in Malta, he was gathering wood to make himself a fire, as he lit the fire a viper was driven out by the heat and bit him. The Maltese, who were very superstitious people, expected St. Paul to die of poisoning, however, he simply shook the snake off into the fire and no harm came to him. It is said th
Read more

Malta's UNESCO World Heritage Sites

Image
Malta, only 316 square kilometres in size, and home to an impressive 9 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. OK, so if you visit the UNESCO World Heritage Convention website you will find only 3 properties on the Maltese Islands inscribed on the World Heritage List - these are the City of Valletta, the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum, and the Megalithic Temples of Malta. However, under the title of "Megalithic Temples of Malta" one can find seven temples around Malta and Gozo, so that makes the total of 9 sites in all. The oldest of all these temples are the two  Ġgantija temples that can be found on the island of Gozo. These temples are renowned for their gigantic Bronze Age structures. Dating from around 3600 to 3200 BC, they are the oldest, free-standing monuments in the world and are evidence that Gozo was inhabited for at least 1000 years before the Egyptians built the pyramids in Giza. Due to the gigantic dimensions of the monuments, locals believed that the temples were built by
Read more