Finland’s Turku inaugurated as European capital of culture
By DPA, IANSSaturday, January 15, 2011
HELSINKI - Finnish city Turku has inaugurated its year-long stint as European Capital of Culture for 2011.
Turku shares the title with the Estonian capital Tallinn, less than 200 km away on the other side of the Gulf of Finland, where the opening kicked off at the New Year.
In addition to a fireworks display, the opening ceremony in Turku was to feature a performance, including acrobatics, on the banks of the river Aura which flows through the city.
Turku is Finland’s oldest city, founded in 1229, though it was ravaged by fire in 1827.
During the year, Turku and Tallinn hope to show the benefits of cooperation. They can draw on their geographical proximity and cultural and ethnic affinity - Estonian and Finnish are closely related Finno-Ugric languages.
One of the joint projects is New Baltic Drama, an opportunity to attract new talent in drama writing. The winning entries will be performed by theatre companies in Turku, Tallinn, St Petersburg and Sweden’s nationwide touring Riksteatern.
In an interesting move, Turku aims to highlight the beneficial role culture has on health and well-being. The Turku 2011 Foundation has even given 5,400 tickets to local health authorities, enabling doctors to “prescribe a visit to a cultural event” in addition to conventional medicines.
Details of the full cultural itineraries of Tallinn and Turku are available at www.tallinn2011.ee and www.turku2011.fi.
