Today, 12 January, is the culmination of the long festive weekend (11-13 January) of the launch of the initiative Plovdiv – European Capital Culture, 2019.

The show “We are all colours” will be staged in the very heart of the city on a 360-degree stage put up expressly for the purpose. More than 1,500 participants from Bulgaria and abroad will recreate on the open stage a large and colourful metaphor of all the main themes of the programme “Plovdiv 2019” and their relationships under the motto “Together”. The official part is from 7 until 8 PM, the programme then continues with musical performances.Fringe events are planned at various locations in the centre of Plovdiv – a food festival in the city’s central square, an exhibition of fragments of the Berlin Wall in Roman Stadium square, two stages and a special edition of Kapana Fest. All bars and restaurants in the central part of the city will remain open until late. Members of the public wishing to attend the opening ceremony will pass through one of 23 police checkpoints. Four buffer parking lots will be made available free of charge. 

“We are expecting more than 30,000 people to come to the opening,” said Atanas Ilkov, director of Plovdiv police and added that all counterterrorist measures have been taken for the event.

More than 180 journalists have been accredited for the opening weekend, 50 of them are from popular international media outlets with an outreach of millions, who will be broadcasting the opening show live. They include Euronews, Deutsche Welle and France Presse.