For a year, Plovdiv will be uncovering the pages of a chronicle that contains its history from antiquity to the present day. And even though its roots reach eight millennia back in time, the city will tell a story of past events and ancient traditions, looking into the future.

"Plovdiv - European Capital of Culture 2019" will be officially opened on January 12 with the spectacular show entitled "We Are All Colors" under the open sky of the city. More than 1500 participants from Bulgaria and abroad will be on stage, recreating a colorful metaphor on all the main themes of the program through music, dance and light.

The stage will include "Tzar Boris III" Boulevard from the Antique Theater to the former Trimontium Hotel, and a twenty-five-meter tower with 360 degrees visibility will show the program together with footage from the city. The giant facility will be linked to two podiums, 125-meters long, to accommodate the vast mass of viewers - the audience is expected to reach 60 thousand people. Organizers have refused to disclose the names of the stars, thanks to which the main message #together will be sent to Europe and the world. However, it is known that drones will draw beautiful paintings in the night sky, and fireworks will illuminate the new cultural capital of the Old Continent.

“The opening event aims to show what Plovdiv and its citizens are,” Gina Kafedzhian, project manager and event manager at the Plovdiv 2019 Foundation says. “We attract attention by a number of events - the Opera, Open, Plovdiv Jazz Festival, Hills of Rock and Puldin Ethno, the Week of Contemporary Art, the parade with giant dolls and costumes of residents and guests of the city. We also take a look at Japanese culture and have organized the Cinema Plovdiv project of seven film directors. Brexit Blues marks key relationships in Europe and draws attention to the fact that inevitability in political directions, does not affect cultural interaction - so art is the uncompromising way to be together. It is no accident that our motto "Together" is seen in all 500 events. Other highlights in our program are the premiere of the Plovdiv Theater, which will bring together several antique theater cities as well as two key exhibitions - one dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the other - on the history of tobacco, as Plovdiv became a rich administrative center and thanks to the tobacco industry.”

Residential areas, which reveal the ethnic and cultural values of the city, are also in the focus of the European cultural capital – the Romani populated Stolipinovo neighbourhood, the artistic "Kapana", the historic "Tobacco City". But will there be a focus on the preservation of this wealth, in order cases like the fire in the old tobacco warehouses not to repeat?

“Of course," Gina Kafedzhian says, adding that Plovdiv did not hide its wounds. "We would like to heal them and solve problems with the means of culture and art. For example, in just a few days in the Tobacco City, together with Matera (the other European capital of culture in 2019), we will host the City Games Festival /16-18.11/.   This is an unusual but successful method of rethinking forgotten urban spaces such as the area of ​​former tobacco factories.”

The project "European Capital of Culture" aims at involving citizens in the creation of events and thus turning them into participants. That's why Gina Kafedzhian says in the coming year each Plovdiv citizen could feel like a star.

English: Alexander Markov