Evora, in 2027, will be the European capital of culture together with Liepaja, in Latvia.
The Portuguese Minister of Culture, Pedro Adão e Silva, during the press conference, announced that the other three cities that had entered the short list, Aveiro, Braga, Ponta Delgada, will be named Portuguese Capital of Culture for 2024, 2025, 2026 And that each of them will be assigned a contribution of 2 million euros from the government to continue working in the direction started.
Since its foundation, Évora has been in constant transformation. Despite its geographical position in the interior of the country it has been a city of convergence where people meet to think about the world. It was the meeting place of civilisations and kings, then a centre of expansionist knowledge, and then one of the main cities of the Portuguese Renaissance.
Classified as a UNESCO World Heritage since 1986, Évora still boasts a rich tangible and intangible heritage today. The marks of their history as human beings remain visible in its megalithic archaeology, yet it is simultaneously a place where innovation is growing, with an ambitious smart city agenda on the horizon.
Évora 2027 is a bid by both the city and its surrounding area, the Alentejo region. For three different reasons: geostrategic, historical-cultural, and political. Évora is a medium-sized Portuguese city with a population of just over 50,000. Yet the fact that it performs the functions of a regional capital gives it additional importance and responsibility as an urban centre of representation, innovation, and economic, social, and cultural diffusion. The city's bid for European Capital of Culture therefore includes Central Alentejo as an active partner. Évora is centrally located in the Alentejo region, at the intersection of the main transverse axis of southern Portugal, the Lisbon-Madrid connection, and the North-South interior axis.
Source: https://www.ecocnews.com/events/item/323-portugal-2027-a-journey-among-the-12-candidate-cities-evora