From Caspar David Friedrich to Liszt: Europe's cultural tourism proposals for 2024

What will be the cultural tourism proposals of some of Europe’s leading tourism promotion bodies for 2024? They revealed this to us today in a preview at the conference Cultural Tourism in Europe. Projects and Proposals for 2024 that was held as part of the TTG Travel Experience fair in Rimini, organized by Finestre sull’Arte in collaboration with Adutei (Association of Official Foreign Tourism Delegates in Italy). Speakers included Giovanna Sainaghi, secretary general of Adutei and Italy director for Visit Flanders; Ester Tamasi, Italy director for VisitMalta; Anna Malagoli, head of Press & PR German National Tourist Board; Francesca Rovati, media manager for Switzerland Tourism; Kathrin Ploder-Augurusa, b2b travel trade manager for Ente Turismo Austria; and Máté Terjék, Italian, UK and Spanish market development manager for Visit Hungary. Kalanit Goren, director of the Israeli National Tourist Office, was also supposed to attend the event, but due to the current situation in Israel she was unable to be present and we extend our full sympathy to her. Finestre sull’Arte director Federico Giannini moderated the conference.

Revealing a preview of her cultural tourism proposals was Giovanna Sainaghi: in 2024 Flanders will focus on three main events, two related to contemporary art and one linked to an artist of Flemish origin active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In fact, two triennials of contemporary art will be held in Bruges and on the Flemish coast: the one in Bruges will have as its theme “Spaces of possibilities” and will propose twelve installations scattered throughout the territory to look at Bruges with new eyes and get off the best-known tracks, while on the Flemish coast the Beaufort festival will be held, which will propose installations in dialogue with the territory. Selected works will then become permanent. The third event will focus, as mentioned, on a Flemish artist-James Ensor, whose seventy-fifth anniversary of his death will be in 2024. The painter of masks and the grotesque will be celebrated between Ostend and Antwerp, two cities with close ties to the artist. In fact, in Ostend there is his house and an exhibition will be held in the city focusing in particular on his still lifes; in Antwerp, on the other hand, the world’s largest collection of his works is housed in the KMSKA museum.

Malta, on the other hand, as Ester Tamasi explained, will focus on an important goal: in the spring of 2024 it will in fact present its first Art Biennial, which has obtained the patronage of UNESCO. The aim is to propose Malta as the center of culture in the Mediterranean: twenty-seven different countries will participate and it will host the works and installations of local and international artists in some of the most significant art venues of the Maltese islands and UNESCO sites. An event intended to be of great cultural significance. The translated title of the Biennale in Italian will be Gli ulivi del Mar Bianco (The Olive Trees of the White Sea), through which the artists involved are invited to address the themes of centrality and geographical and cultural marginality in the Mediterranean area. In addition to the Biennial, the archipelago also aims, as always, to highlight the important role of art by publicizing Caravaggio’s great masterpiece housed in the Co-Cathedral of St. John of Valletta, the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, and the capital city itself, which is very active from a creative point of view. Indeed, there will be activities and initiatives to raise awareness of the cultural-historical aspect of a year-round archipelago. New will be the underground part of Valletta.

Germany, said Anna Malagoli, will focus on the great master of German Romanticism: Caspar David Friedrich, whose two hundred and fiftyth anniversary of his birth will be in 2024. There will be, as Anna Malagoli states, many exhibitions on the painter throughout the year. The main ones will be held in Hamburg, Dresden, Berlin, and Greifswald, his hometown. The aim is to combine the exhibitions with local knowledge, since the painter depicted many of the landscapes in his works. Itineraries will also be offered to explore places found in the painter’s paintings, including the White Cliffs of Rügen. As many as four exhibitions will be held in Friedrich’s hometown, and Berlin is home to the largest number of his works. The exhibitions will also be accompanied by events and festivals that will extend throughout the year.

As for Switzerland, the Alpine country will focus on culture in a broad sense, partly because, as Francesca Rovati mentioned, there are 980 museums in the territory. A new museum hub has been opened in Lausanne that includes design, photography, and contemporary art. Then a new wing of the Beyeler Foundation will be opened. The focus is also on the uniqueness of the experience: for example, in Lausanne there is the only Olympic museum in Europe, in Zurich the FIFA Museum not to be missed by soccer fans, and in Lucerne the Transport Museum. In addition, with the Swiss Travel Pass you have access to 500 museums: an initiative that also aims to promote sustainable, slow and green tourism.

In Austria, Kathrin Ploder-Augurusa reminds us, there will be the European Capital of Culture 2024 this year, with Bad Ischl and the Salzkammergut region (23 municipalities will be involved) in the center of the country: it is an area with more than 70 lakes, trails, cycling and hiking routes. The motto of the European Capital of Culture is “The New Salt Culture” (in reference to the fact that the Salzkammergut historically thrived on its salt mines): 150 projects to highlight both tradition and the past, as well as new approaches toward sustainable tourism. The main exhibition will be held in Bad Ischl, and there will also be pottery exhibitions with artists from all over the world, pottery being a traditional activity in the area.

Turning toHungary, the new Hungarian House of Music in Budapest will be inaugurated, Máté Terjék pointed out, housed in a building designed by Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto, with walls made entirely of glass, two indoor halls and one outdoor hall: the focus is on music education and the dissemination of knowledge about the history of music (including through children’s activities). The National Opera was reopened last year, there will be highlights on one of the greatest composers ever, Ferenc Liszt, there will be major exhibitions, one of them dedicated to Renoir, and from 2024 there will also be a permanent exhibition in Budapest dedicated to Robert Capa, the great Hungarian-born photographer. Finally, the Spring Festival will also be renewed: ten intense days of events, activities, and exhibitions.

Israel, on the other hand, will continue to present to the public its archaeological discoveries, some of which are of great significance, offer the opportunity to visit the new (and interactive) Tower of David museum, hold events to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, and finally open a museum dedicated to Albert Einstein. All in the year of the 75th anniversary of the birth of the State of Israel.

Pictured is a photo from the conference.

From Caspar David Friedrich to Liszt: Europe's cultural tourism proposals for 2024

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