site.btaPlovdiv Officially Inaugurated As European Capital of Culture 2019

108 CULTURE-PLOVDIV-EUROPEAN CAPITAL OF CULTURE update 1

Plovdiv
Officially Inaugurated
As European Capital of Culture 2019


Plovdiv, Southern Bulgaria, January 12 (BTA) - A performance entitled, "We Are All Colours" on Saturday marked the official start of Plovdiv - European Capital of Culture 2019. The official opening was attended by European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society Mariya Gabriel, National Assembly Chairperson Tsveta Karayancheva, Culture Minister Boil Banov, representatives from the Italian town of Matera, the twin European Capital of Culture 2019, diplomats, other officials and members of the public.

Earlier on Saturday an exhibition of drawings on pieces of the Berlin Wall kicked off the opening events of the Plovdiv European Capital of Culture 2019. The exhibition, entitled "The Art of Freedom: From the Berlin Wall to Street Art," was opened by Karayancehva, Plovdiv Mayor Ivan Totev, and French Ambassador in Bulgaria Eric Lebedel.

In his address at the opening, Totev said that the Plovdiv is the first city honoured to mark the 30th anniversary since the fall of the Berlin Wall. He said that one of the exhibits will remain in Plovdiv forever as a remembrance of the day and what people can do when they are united.

The exhibition, which the only and also the biggest travelling collection of pieces from the Berlin Wall, has 31 concrete blocs property of the French collector and curator Sylvestre Verger. The drawings on the fragments are of artists from the time of the Berlin street art in the 1980s and of young street artists born after the fall of the Wall.

Artists who did drawings on the western side of the Berlin Wall before 1989 attended the opening of the exhibition.

The first day of the inaugural weekend of the Plovdiv European Capital of Culture 2019 programme continues with many other events, including exhibitions, concerts and drama productions. One of the concerts on Saturday is of musicians from Matera. LY/ZH////