Each year, two European cities are chosen to be that year’s “Cultural Capitals”. In a continent so vastly rich with fine art and history, this year’s selections are Mons in Belgium and Pilsen in the Czech Republic.
Mons is a university town with several unusual UNESCO designations. In honor of the designation, Mons has more than 300 events scheduled and 5 musuems will open this year. Light installations kicked off the programs last month and unique things such as Finnish saunas (open to all), silver ponchos for dancing in the streets and fluorescent robots are all part of the extravaganza.
Pilsen, probably more universally known for it’s beer than culture, is a major tourist attraction due to it’s 13th century Gothic cathedral- St. Bartholomew and the 2nd-largest synagogue, the Great Synogogue, in Europe. Four new bells will ring out for the first time at the cathedral, replacing those used for ammunition during the Nazi occupation. Europe’s top circuses will perform throughout and Pilsen will stage festivals and classical concerts in the city’s monasteries, churches and open-air squares.
These are sure to be a wonderfully unique events. For more information: Mons and Pilsen
One of the city’s most impressive installations by Belgian artist, Arne Quinze. The enormous “Passenger” stands between the Saint Elisabeth church and Maison Losseau. This will be exhibited for 5 years and took an entire 20 days to install!
Image courtesy of: Pixware.be/arnequinze
An areal view of the wooden installition titled,” The Passenger”. Enormous in size, this cost over 400 euros to build.
Image courtesy of: Blogspot
Here is a photo from ‘History Weekend’, where visitors of Pilsen can travel several hundred years back in time. The celebration transforms the city center into the historic market place where musicians, actors and other street artists in period costumes perform on stages set up throughout the city. This year ‘History Weekend’ is 13th – 15th June 2015.
Image courtesy of: Pilsen 2015