Borderless City [antikvár]

FOREWORD I do not believe that there is a city that wishes to win the title of European Capital of Culture more eagerly than Pécs, where for nearly three years this has been the most important and most hotly debated public issue. In the course of these three years the debates have gradually evolved into co-operative actions, and the present bid document is the outcome of these joint efforts, based on wide public and political consensus. A city, especially a rich one, can easily import various cultural assets. Pécs is a city where cultural export is equally important to cultural import. This is so not only because it is a university city, but also because one of its greatest assets is the high level of local cultural production. It is this aspect—in addition to its heritage, the early Christian necropolis, the Turkish remains, the "Museum Quarter"—that makes people in Hungary immediately think of culture when they encounter the name of our city. Here in Pécs we all feel that by winning the European Capital of Culture title, the cultural development process of the past four decades would achieve its main goal—during these four decades the city became one of the most important centres of Hungarian culture. We believe Pécs deserves this title and needs it, so that it can receive new impetus for development and reorganise the structure of its economy on the basis of culture, leaving behind the former phase of development characterised by mining and various branches of industry. From a European perspective the most interesting feature of Pécs is perhaps its political and cultural position: it is a city lying on the Balkan borders of the European Union, enjoying lively connections with neighbouring countries which may not become member states for some time. Pécs is better situated to find common ground with the people living in these states than a remote Western European city, and can therefore mediate between the cultures of the Balkans and Western Europe. As European Capital of Culture in 2010, Pécs will strive to represent Hungarian culture and accommodate the near-limitless diversity of European and world culture. Our city wishes to present the culture of a European borderland region, as well as demonstrate how culture may crosscut borders. This is something that can only be achieved together. Dr. László Toller Mayor of Pécs