The Bank of Lithuania together with the European Central Bank (ECB) will organise three concerts of performers of classical music at Europe’s financial centre Frankfurt am Main at the end of summer and in autumn. During them, our culture and the 100th anniversary of the restoration of the State of Lithuania which is commemorated this year will be presented to the Eurosystem and the German public. The focus of the European Cultural Days, which are organised already for the sixteenth time by the ECB and are for the first time hosted by Lithuania, will be on these events.
The international event of the ECB will start at the end of August on the banks of the River Main with an open air, free of charge concert ‘Europa Open Air Concert’ with a renowned Lithuanian conductor, Mirga Gražinytė Tyla conducting a symphonic orchestra. Later, a charity event will take place at Paulskirche, where cultural events are often organised. The European Cultural Days will end with a concert at Alte Oper of Frankfurt.
Symbol of event handed over to Bank of Lithuania
In addition to the planned concerts, the European Cultural Days have a tradition each year to hand over the event’s symbol – statuette to the host country. This year, it is exhibited at the Money Museum of the Bank of Lithuania and all visitors of the Museum can view it. Each year, this symbol is not only given over to that year’s host country, but the name of the country which organised the previous year’s event is engraved on it as well.
Last year, the host of the European Cultural Days was Spain, while next year they will be hosted by Poland.
The focus of the annually organised European Cultural Days is usually on a different Member State of the European Union. The event provides the opportunity for Members States to show the ‘pearls’ of their culture and for the residents and visitors of Frankfurt and Main – to get acquainted with the culture of different states and directly feel the ‘unity in diversity’ cherished by the EU.
