Chemnitz - European Capital of Culture 2025
Record visitor numbers, full museums and growing tourism
Successful mid-term review for Chemnitz 2025
After half a year as European Capital of Culture, the City of Chemnitz, the European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025 gGmbH and its many partners are extremely positive. Chemnitz 2025 is attracting the much hoped-for attention - from the people of Chemnitz themselves, but above all from visitors from the region, Germany, Europe and all over the world: visitor numbers have risen significantly, both in the city and region and in the museums and cultural institutions.
There has also been a noticeable increase in catering, conferences and congresses as well as in public transport. The entire Capital of Culture region is benefiting from increased interest, which is also reflected in the number of overnight stays.
The Capital of Culture motto "C the Unseen" could not have been more apt. A city and a region have become visible and have been attracting cultural tourists for six months. Many are visiting Chemnitz and the region for the first time. The general tenor: they like being here.
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All the latest information on the way to the European Capital of Culture:
City portrait and press photos
"C the unseen" is the motto of Chemnitz's application to become European Capital of Culture 2025. Chemnitz is the city of makers.
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Successful outcome of the "EUJA!" funding programme
Around 120 projects have been launched
One year after the start of the application phase for the funding programme "EUJA! Initiative Projects for the Capital of Culture" funding programme, the results are now available: Around 120 projects from individuals, associations and initiatives have been approved within the programme and will be implemented over the course of 2025. The total funding amount totals 505,000 euros.
The programme comprised three funding pillars with different focal points: the special fund "Places of Awakening", the special programme "Microprojects on Intervention Areas" and the special programme "Civic Engagement". EUJA!" was initiated by the City of Chemnitz, which was able to win over the European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025 gGmbH, Sparkasse Chemnitz and Grundstücks- und Gebäudewirtschafts-Gesellschaft mbH (GGG) as project partners.
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Regional showcase
38 cities and municipalities show culture
The regional showcase will make the Capital of Culture Region 2025 visible in the centre of Chemnitz. Until the end of the year, all 38 municipalities will be presented on ten pillars next to the Petrified Forest on the ground floor of the TIETZ with information, event details and QR codes for further offers.
Two of the main projects of the European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025 are also on display: Makers, Business & Arts and the Purple Path art and sculpture trail.
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Intervention areas
The urban development project of the Capital of Culture
The city will change in the coming years, as the European Capital of Culture 2025 is also an urban development project. Places will undergo a transformation in very different ways on a total of 30 so-called intervention areas: From the traditional Hartmann Factory (the visitor centre of the European Capital of Culture in the festival year and headquarters of Kulturhauptstadt Europas Chemnitz 2025 gGmbH), to a new district park on a small, renaturalised river (the Pleißenbach) on a former railway site, to a fairground in a rural district where Christmas markets and village festivals will be held in future.
White paper on the future of European Capitals of Culture presented at conference
40 impulses for the further development of Europe's largest cultural programme
The white paper "40 recommendations from 40 years of European Capitals of Culture" was presented in Chemnitz at the conference to mark 40 years of European Capitals of Culture. The paper, initiated by Chemnitz and Nova Gorica, the two European Capitals of Culture 2025, contains 40 concrete proposals that are to be incorporated into the redesign of the legal basis of the programme for the future.
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Cooperation project strengthens heritage beyond the title year
Joint initiative from nine countries
Nine European countries have launched a joint initiative to strengthen the long-term impact of the European Capitals of Culture (ECoC) on regional development beyond the title year. The ECoC Echo project focuses on solutions to maintain and strengthen the momentum created during the title year, which promotes growth in the cultural sector, regional development and international co-operation.
The project brings together past, present and future European Capitals of Culture. In addition to Chemnitz, these are Leeuwarden 2018 (Netherlands), Novi Sad 2022 (Serbia), Veszprém 2023 (Hungary), Tartu 2024 (Estonia), Oulu 2026 (Finland), Liepāja 2027 (Latvia), Évora 2027 (Portugal) and Bourges 2028 (France). In addition to the ECoC cities, the project also includes partners at local and regional level who play a key role in cultural policy.
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The Chemnitz 2025 budget
The budget (as at February 2025, values rounded)
| Total | 115 million euros |
|---|---|
| City of Chemnitz | 33 million euros |
| Free State of Saxony | 25 million euros |
| Federal Government | 25 million euros |
| Third-party funds (including the EU's Melina Mercouri Prize endowed with 1.5 million euros as well as specialist funding programmes, sponsors, etc.) | 31 million euros |
(In euros as of March 2025, values rounded)
Background:
- The total budget of the Capital of Culture has increased in recent years from just under 81 million to around 115 million euros. There are various reasons for this:
- On the one hand, the City of Chemnitz has increased its own contribution from originally just under 22 million euros to around 33 million euros. With these 11 million euros, it has succeeded in acquiring an additional 32 million euros in funding from the EU, the federal government and the state.
- The Free State has also increased its share from 20 million euros to 25 million euros.
- Of the approximately 115 million euros for the Capital of Culture, around 82 million euros come from outside the city of Chemnitz, which is around 70 per cent of the total funding.
- The breakdown of the total sum of 115 million euros is as follows:
- The long-term and sustainable intervention areas in the city account for just under 57 million euros.
- Operational expenditure for the Capital of Culture in the years 2021 to 2026 (incl. Theatre of the World) accounts for around 58 million euros.
Chemnitz 2025: This is the programme
Cultural beacons and diverse projects from civil society in the European Capital of Culture
"C the Unseen": Chemnitz, together with 38 municipalities from the region, presents itself as a lively, hospitable and surprising place in eastern Germany, in the centre of Europe. With around 150 projects and more than 1000 events, people from Chemnitz, the Ore Mountains, Central Saxony and the Zwickau region are putting themselves and their region on the cultural and tourist map. The focus is on local stories and faces that blend with European narratives and well-known names.
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80,000 celebrate the opening in the city centre
Big show on Brückenstraße - Ceremony in the opera - A look at the programme in the Stadthalle - Varied stage programme
Chemnitz experienced an overwhelming start to the European Capital of Culture 2025 on 18 January.
An estimated 80,000 people from Germany and abroad celebrated a huge opening party. Bright weather ensured a great mood and a good atmosphere on all streets and squares.
"Visions of Europe"
1st Legacy Conference on the long-term effects of the European Capital of Culture
On 12 April 2024, the first legacy conference of the city of Chemnitz came to an end under the title "Visions of Europe". The three-day conference marked the start of a process aimed at securing the legacy of Chemnitz's title as European Capital of Culture 2025 in the long term.
Around 200 participants from Chemnitz, the region, the European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025 gGmbH and many other representatives from the Saxon State Chancellery and state ministries, organisations, associations and urban society discussed expectations, experiences and challenges of successfully implementing the legacy with experts from six former European Capitals of Culture.
Chronicle: On the way to the title
Co-operation
In Nova Gorica on 29 October, the Lord Mayors of Gorica, Nova Gorica and Chemnitz, Ziberna Miclavic and Schulze, agreed to work together intensively and to strengthen the European level of the European Capitals of Culture 2025 with joint ideas and projects.
Financing agreement
Minister of State for Culture Monika Grütters, Minister President Michael Kretschmer and Lord Mayor Sven Schulze signed the agreement on joint funding on 2 July 2021. A total of 66 million euros is available from the federal, state and city governments, which makes up part of the total budget of 91 million euros.(more ...)
Conference of Culture Ministers
The Conference of Culture Ministers has nominated Chemnitz as the European Capital of Culture for 2025. In doing so, it followed the professional vote of the European expert jury.
Under the motto "C the Unseen - European Makers of Democracy", Chemnitz has also presented a convincing concept in the opinion of the Conference of Culture Ministers.(more ...)
Jury decision
The decision in favour of Chemnitz on 28 October 2020 marks the end of a four-year application process that was supported by many tireless players, volunteers and civic initiatives. And so it is no coincidence that the programme year focuses on the movers and shakers.(more ...)
Bid Book: "C the unseen"
Bid Book: "C the unseen"
Chemnitz has won with an impressive bid book. With the motto "C the unseen", Chemnitz2025 focuses on the unseen: on the unseen of the "quiet centre". On the unseen city, the unseen European neighbours, the unseen places and biographies, the unseen talents in each individual.
The programme also includes many other unseen cities or regions in Europe that contribute a strong statement for democratic coexistence and, in particular, the people who help to live a cosmopolitan community across national borders.
Financed and supported by:
This measure is co-financed by tax funds on the basis of the budget adopted by the Saxon State Parliament and by federal funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.