Chemnitz 2025: Departure to the Capital of Culture with diversity and ideas!

The Saxon city of Chemnitz, the third largest city in the state with around 250,000 inhabitants, faces an important step in its history. Chemnitz became the European Capital of Culture in 2025 and hopes for this title a sustainable image gain. Mayor Sven Schulze (SPD) describes Chemnitz as a city that has repeatedly reinvented itself.

The Capital of Culture Year begins next Saturday with a large street festival and a ceremony in which Federal President Frank Walter Steinmeier is expected. Chemnitz, which was known in the past as a "Saxon Manchester" and has a strong story in textile production and mechanical engineering, would like to come up with over 150 projects and more than 1000 events under the motto "C the Unseen".

cultural diversity and challenges

The history of the city is characterized by profound changes; Bomb attacks in the Second World War and the loss of thousands of jobs after the fall of the wall have shaped the cityscape. From 1953 to 1990 Chemnitz was called Karl-Marx-Stadt and was strongly shaped by prefabricated buildings. Despite these challenges, the city has developed a lively cultural scene, which includes art collections and old industrial buildings.

The planned projects within the framework of the cultural capital include an exhibition on Edvard Munch, contemporary art in the surrounding area and the “3000 garages” project. In particular, the European Workshop for Culture and Democracy will be a focus on strengthening civil society. Chemnitz was selected in 2020 to convey a positive picture after the city was in the headlines due to xenophobic demonstrations. The city wants to demonstrate cultural diversity and cosmopolitanism and regain the people from the "quiet center".

The upcoming cultural capital year will also be accompanied by challenges, since the right -wing extremist party has announced Free Saxony to demonstrate to one of the opening events. Mayor Schulze emphasizes the importance of the presence of the citizens to demonstrate a cosmopolitan city.

In order to further develop the program for the European Capital of Culture in 2025, Chemnitz 2025 gGmbH was founded as a 100 percent subsidiary of the city. This society brings together regional, national and international partners and focuses on socio-culture, art, corporate culture, building culture, nutrition and eating culture as well as sustainability. Their goal is to set positive impulses beyond 2025 and to create sustainable structures and communication rooms for citizen participation.

Further information on the activities and job options of Chemnitz 2025 gGmbH can be found at chemnitz2025.de .

For more details about Chemnitz as a cultural capital, read the article on Puls24 .