The mayor of Veliko Turnovo Daniel Panov together with his colleagues from Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas, Ruse, Shumen, and Gabrovo officially presented today the application of the Boyar town for European Capital of Culture in 2019.

The European Capital of Culture initiative dates back to June 1985 and the idea was given by Melina Mercouri. Since then, more than 40 cities were cultural capitals. Hosts for 2019 are Bulgaria and Italy and the choice will be made by a 13-member jury of independent experts. In December, the candidate cities will be presented to the jury which will select three of them to participate in the second stage of the competition next year.