The announcement of Évora (Portugal) as European Capital of Culture in 2027 – was made on December 7, 2022, by Beatriz Garcia, president of the international selection panel during the press conference held at the Cultural Center of Belém (CCB) in Lisbon. Évora will share the title with the city Liepaja, Latvia.

Among the selection criteria, the cities had to prepare a cultural program with a strong European dimension, which favors the participation of the city’s stakeholders as well as its different neighborhoods, attracting visitors from all over the country and Europe. The program should have a sustainable impact and contribute to the long-term development of the city.

The candidacy of Évora, historical capital of the Alentejo region for the year 2027 of the European Capital of Culture, was based on the concept “Vagar”, which reflects a strong element of the intangible heritage of the region and the urgent need for Europe and Europeans to move to a “philosophy of slow living”.

Mr. Carlos Pinto de Sá,  mayor of Évora, during his participation as a member city in the 16th OWHC World Congress held last September in Quebec City (Canada), said: “Vagar is nothing more than the full awareness that, as humans, we are always in relation with the universe – an awareness that challenges our position of dominance. Vagar implies coexistence, co-evolution, containment, creation and construction, distance (in time and space), memory and collective, but also resilience and tension.”