Liepaja Unveils 500-Event Program as European Capital of Culture 2027

Key facts

• Liepaja presented its program as European Capital of Culture 2027 with more than 500 events under the motto "(un)rest."
• Program director Baiba Bartkevica announced the program, divided into five thematic areas including choir festivals and participatory activities.
• Highlights include a solo exhibition by Chiharu Shiota and performances of the opera "Sun & Sea" about man-made climate change.
• The cultural capital year officially opens from January 22 to 24, 2027.
• Liepaja is Latvia's third-largest city, located on the Baltic Sea coast with just under 70,000 residents.
• Around 450,000 visitors from Latvia and abroad are expected in Liepaja and the surrounding region.
• Mayor Gunars Ansins called the title a "significant event" and "great honor," hoping for visitors from Germany.
• Liepaja is the second Latvian city to hold the title, sharing it with Evora, Portugal; Riga held it in 2014, and the title has been awarded annually since 1985.
• The 2026 European Capitals of Culture are Oulu, Finland, and Trencin, Slovakia.
• Swann in New York holds an annual August LGBTQ-themed auction; Eddy Varekamp's stencil print sold for 500 dollars.
• Max Beckmann's 1912 painting of Judith and Holofernes sold for 156,000 euros at Nagel in Stuttgart, more than doubling its estimate.
• Sonia Delaunay's brooch "Flamenco," produced in 1995 in an edition of 500, sold for 6,500 euros at Quittenbaum in Munich.