Logo of the European Capital of Culture on the streets of Galway
In its turbulent centuries-old history, powerful influences of the Normans and the English intertwined, but today it is Galway on the rugged west coast that is considered the "most Irish" of all Irish cities, notes Deutsche Welle. A stronghold of traditional folk music, it hosts the most famous music festival in Ireland in the second half of July, and is also famous for its theater and poetry festivals, oysters and horse races.
The charming university town with colorful houses is populated by young, friendly and creative people. Street musicians on every corner guarantee a good mood even in bad weather. "Galway is like Barcelona with rain, because it rains here 240 days a year," says Helen Marriage, artistic director of the cultural year program. An extraordinary city amid pristine landscapes on the edge of Europe with a view of the Atlantic Ocean.
For 2020, Galway has prepared a program with a focus on three themes: language, landscape and migration. Of the 154 different projects in the program, 30 are dedicated to the Irish language. "Migration" covers both the history of Ireland itself and the cultural and ethnic diversity in Europe. This theme, emphasizes Helen Marriage, artistic director of the cultural year program, is intended to show what it means to be "a modern European country in difficult times."
Galway is 160 kilometers from Northern Ireland. The proximity to the border heightens tensions in connection with the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union. Pessimists fear that relations between British Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland within the EU could again become sharply strained.
The decades-long conflict between Catholic nationalists in Northern Ireland, who demanded unification with Ireland, and Protestant unionists, who wanted to remain part of the United Kingdom, has subsided but is not yet fully extinguished. Thousands dead and tens of thousands wounded – that is the outcome of the civil war known as the Troubles.
Taking on the role of one of the two European Capitals of Culture for 2020 comes at a more than opportune time. As Ireland's ambassador to London, Adrian O'Neill, stated: "We need culture now more than ever." Culture has the potential to change psychological attitudes and mindsets, emphasized the Irish representative in the UK in December 2019 at the presentation of the European Cultural Year program in Galway.
Ireland's President Michael D. Higgins also alluded to the post-Brexit situation when speaking of the cultural year program as a festival "for the local, national and European community of which we are all a part."
Thus, one of the artistic projects of the Irish European Capital of Culture 2020 is the installation "Borderline," created by local residents on both sides of the green border – in Ireland and Northern Ireland. Finnish artist Kari Kola will illuminate the mountains in the Connemara region near Galway with green light on St. Patrick's Day, March 17. Accompanied by harsh winds, Homer's "Odyssey" will be read aloud on the beach. Canadian writer Margaret Atwood, recently awarded her second British Booker Prize, is participating in the program. The official opening of the European Capital of Culture program in Galway is scheduled for early February.
"Lonely Planet" included Galway in the list of ten cities to visit in 2020 – after Salzburg, Washington and Cairo. And from Ireland, again following the recommendation of the respected guidebook, one should definitely visit Bonn, which ranks fifth in the Top Ten Best in Travel 2020 list.